The three men looked at her.
“What do ye mean?” Oskar asked.
Lily frowned, thinking it through. Something had been bothering her and she was only just beginning to puzzle it out. She met each gaze in turn. “Why did they rescue Alfred Brewer when and where they did—on the road? If Eberwyn was a traitor all along, why didn’t they just snatch him from Eberwyn’s manor while you were there? Why go through all the convoluted charade of getting him treatment for his leg then have you take him in a cart towards Edinburgh and then rescue him from that? It doesn’t make sense.”
Nobody answered. Oskar’s eyes narrowed and she could see a vein throbbing in his temple. Magnus’s expression turned thoughtful and Emeric stared at the floor, his hair falling forward to curtain his face.
“Because the timing wasnae right,” Magnus said at last. “They weren’t yet ready to show their hand and reveal Eberwyn as a traitor. My guess is that they didnae expect Emeric and I to follow them back to the manor either. They kept us locked up for days before they finally moved us.”
“So what changed?” Lily pressed. “What made them suddenly decide to come to Edinburgh? What were they waiting for?”
Oskar looked up suddenly. “The Order of the Osprey,” he breathed. “That’s what’s changed. Some of the Order’s commanders are here. Kai and Conall arrived right before ye did.”
Magnus nodded, his face grim. “We’ve been played. They’ve been using us as pawns in their game. And now, we’re stuck in this damned chamber with no idea what their next move will be.”
A heavy silence fell. Lily leaned her head back against the wall. She longed to feel Oskar’s arms around her, to hear him tell her that everything would be all right, but her chains wouldn’t let her reach him and she knew that everything was most definitelynotall right.
How had it come to this? Tears of rage and frustration stung her eyes and she blinked rapidly, refusing to let them fall. Her back and hips were aching from her rough treatment at the hands of Eberwyn’s men and her head pounded like someone was drilling on the inside of her skull.
What were they going to do?
Think, woman!she told herself.There has to be a way out of this, there has to be.
She was still trying to figure all this out when the key rattled in the lock and the door swung open. Two of Eberwyn’s men came down the stairs, each holding a dagger in their hands. They approached Oskar.
“His lordship wants to see ye,” one of them said, halting just out of the range of Oskar’s chains. “Are ye gonna play nice or does this need to get ugly?”
Oskar grinned up at them, cold rage shining in his eyes. “Why dinna ye come closer and find out?”
The guard sighed. He nodded to his companion who strode over to Lily, grabbed her by the hair, and laid the blade of hisknife against her throat. Lily froze, the knife feeling like an icicle against her skin.
“Get away from her!” Oskar yelled. He threw himself to the extent of his chains, fighting to reach her, but the chains yanked him up short.
“Come with us quietly and she willnae be harmed,” the first guard said. “Cause any trouble and ye know what will happen.”
Oskar’s nostrils flared and his eyes swiveled to Lily. For the first time since she’d met him, she saw true fear in his eyes. She swallowed thickly, the knife bobbing precariously close to her jugular.
“All right!” Oskar cried. “I’ll come quietly. Just please dinna hurt her.”
The first guard nodded and began unlocking the manacles from around Oskar’s wrists. The second didn’t remove his knife from Lily’s throat until Oskar had been prodded ahead of them up the stairs.
At the top Oskar paused and looked back, his eyes meeting Lily’s, before he was shoved through the door. It swung shut behind him with a boom.
“Oskar!” Lily shouted, her voice hoarse and desperate. “Oskar!”
But he was gone.
OSKAR WALKED BETWEENhis captors as they led him out of the cellar and into the townhouse. He glanced around as he went, assessing possible avenues of escape, the strength of the place’s defenses. If he could somehow distract the guards, grab their weapons...
He discarded the idea almost immediately. He could do nothing whilst Lily, Magnus and Emeric were locked in the cellar. Brute force would not serve him here. No, he had to beclever about this. Yet strategy had never been his strong point and for the life of him he couldn’t think of what to do.
His captors led him through one of the doors in the hall and into a large, low-ceilinged room.
Three people waited within. Lord Henry Eberwyn sprawled in a chair by the fire with Alfred sitting opposite, his splinted leg stretched out in front of him. The third figure sat hunched on the table but as soon as Oskar was through the door, the figure leapt off the table and slammed into him, taking him tumbling to the floor. The figure straddled him, pressing a knife against his throat that glinted orange in the firelight.
“I’ll gut ye like a pig!” said a woman’s voice.
She was gaunt, as tall as him, with wild curly hair and sharp, suspicious features. She glared at him with undisguised hatred.
