Lily pressed her hand to her stomach to fight the sudden nausea that roiled through her. They really thought she was going to spend the night in that? This was a nightmare. An absolute nightmare. Maybe she should have stayed at Dunhaven Manor with Lord Eberwyn. At least then she would have had half-decent walls and a roof over her head.
Oskar strode over and held his hand out to her. She stared stupidly at it.
“Well?” he said. “Are ye getting down or not?”
Not,she wanted to say.I’m not staying here. No way. Take me to a hotel right now.
But instead, in something of a stupor, she found herself taking Oskar’s hand and allowing him to help her down from the wagon. Her legs nearly gave way as she hit the ground and pain shot all the way up the back of her legs and into her spine. It was strong enough to make her gasp.
“Whoa, steady there, lass,” Oskar said, putting his hands around her forearms to steady her.
Despite herself, Lily clung to him, his strong grip reassuring in a world where nothing seemed to make sense right now.
“What is it?” he asked, peering at her intently. “What’s wrong?”
What’s wrong?she wanted to shout.What’s right don’t you mean? Look around you! Does any of this look normal to you?
But she only shook her head mutely and pushed away from his grip. Magnus and Emeric lifted Alfred Brewer from the back of the wagon and took him into the barn. Lily watched them go. What was she supposed to do now? Just go inside with them?
“It will be warmer inside,” Oskar said. “Magnus makes a mean campfire. Dinna told him I said so though.”
She watched as he walked over to the huge carthorses and began undoing the traces. He moved slowly, talking to the horses in a gentle voice far removed from his usual gruff manner. Once he had the harness off he reached up and gently stroked the velvet end of the horses’ noses and the huge beasts’ eyes closed contentedly.
Lily pulled in a breath. She couldn’t stand out here all night. Steeling herself, she tightened her grip on her bag and walked over to the door, ducking below the low lintel.
Inside, she found exactly what she’d expected to find: an old barn, with rough stone walls, an earth floor and a beamed ceiling that had seen better days. It had been divided up into two roomsand Magnus was busy building a fire inside a circle of rocks in the first room. There was no sign of Emeric or Alfred Brewer.
“Everything all right, lass?” Magnus asked, looking up at her.
She realized she was standing in the doorway, staring. “What? Oh, yes. Where’s Alfred? I need to check him over.”
Magnus nodded to a doorway on the far side of the room. “Emeric’s taken him through there. More secure.”
Clutching her bag, Lily crossed the room and went through the door. Beyond was a smaller room that still had mounds of moldy straw in the corners, attesting to what it had once been used for. There was no door out of this room and no windows of any kind. If anyone wanted to escape from here, they would have to come through the main room where the others were.
Not that Alfred Brewer had much chance of escaping, mind you. He was sat with his back against a post, his broken leg stretched out in front of him and wrists tied together. Emeric was just straightening from tying him to the post with a rope around his waist.
“Is that really necessary?”
“I’m afraid it is,” Emeric replied, climbing to his feet and adjusting the band that held his hair back. “He’s already tried to escape once. We canna risk it happening again.”
“Well, I need to check his injury.”
“Be my guest. He isnae going anywhere. Shout if ye need anything.” He went back into the first room, leaving her alone with Alfred.
She crouched in front of him and put down her bag. His eyes were more alert, indicating that he was sobering up. His gaze followed her as she opened her bag and began pulling out supplies.
“What are ye doing with these men?” he asked her. “Ye aren’t one of the Order.”
“No,” she agreed and gently began unwinding the bandage to check his leg. “I’m just an idiot who’s got caught up in this.”
Alfred winced in pain but didn’t howl as he had before. She didn’t know whether this was a good sign or not. Beneath the bandage the break looked clean and the skin wasn’t broken although a huge blue and black bruise was spreading down the leg.
“It’s no worse,” she pronounced, taking a clean bandage from the bag and winding it around the splint. “If you’re lucky, they might just be able to put a cast on it and you won’t need surgery.”
Alfred cocked his head as he watched her. “Ye could let me go, ye know.”
Her hands faltered for an instant before continuing their work. “I can’t do that.”
