Nodding his thanks to Torvik, he strode along the corridor and into the warren of rooms and passages that made up the Order of the Osprey’s guild house.
Finally, he reached a stout wooden door and knocked. When there was no answer, he let himself in. The room beyond was definitely Kai’s. Perhaps it was normally a neat, orderly study, but now it looked like a whirlwind had passed through. Kai’s gear trailed across the back of a chair and onto the floor, there was a platter of half-eaten food on the desk, the pallet in the corner was unmade, and the desk was strewn with books and papers piled in haphazard fashion wherever Kai happened to drop them.
Kai Stewart might be a formidable warrior and a brilliant tactician, but tidy he was not.
Oskar frowned. How was he supposed to find what he needed in this?
He crossed to the pile of clothes strewn across the chair and checked the pockets. All empty. Next, he picked up the leather satchel that Kai had hung on the back of the door, but that didn’t contain what he wanted either.
He paused in the middle of the room, hands on his hips, and looked around. He moved to the desk and searched the cluttered desktop, running his fingers over the various papers and books.
Sitting down in Kai’s chair, Oskar crossed his arms and contemplated the chaos around him. He noticed a thin leather-bound notebook half hidden beneath a stack of books and documents on the corner of the desk. He carefully pulled it out, revealing a hidden drawer beneath. He opened the drawer. Inside was a single object: a signet ring bearing the spread-winged shaped of an Osprey.
Kai’s seal.
Oskar picked up the ring, turning it over in his hands. Such a small thing. Insignificant. And yet it spelled Oskar’s doom. He dropped it into the pocket of his tunic and climbed to his feet. He’d almost made it to the door when it burst open and Kai came striding in.
“Oskar!” he said brightly. “Torvik said ye were waiting for me. What are ye doing here? I thought we agreed ye would guard Lily?”
“Aye, we did,” Oskar replied, a little flustered at his commander’s sudden appearance. “But she’s at the town house and safe for a little while. I just came to see if there is any news of Magnus and Emeric.” The lie sat heavily in Oskar’s gut, like a granite boulder.
Kai’s expression turned dark, something like fury flickering in his normally bright blue eyes. “Nothing yet, although I hope that’s about to change.”
“How do ye mean?”
“I’ve just received some good news. Lord Eberwyn has managed to capture Alfred Brewer. Found him hiding in an abandoned cellar in the city. I’ve just come straight from a meeting with the magistrates and the king’s justiciar.”
“Eberwyn found Brewer?” Oskar said, trying to keep his voice steady, even though his heart was suddenly thundering in his chest.
What was he playing at? Why would Eberwyn hand Alfred Brewer over to the authorities? It made no sense. Unless...
Oskar went cold. Eberwyn had ordered him and Bryn to break someone out of gaol. No. It couldn’t be. Could it?
“His trial has been set for tomorrow,” Kai continued. “The justiciars are ironing out the finer points of the proceedings. Conall is still with them and he’ll let us know when we can go and question Alfred. Dinna worry, my friend,” he said, clappingOskar on the shoulder. “He’ll talk. We’ll find out where Magnus and Emeric are, one way or another.”
“No,” Oskar said, shaking his head. “It’s not that simple. Ye canna trust him.”
“I dinna trust him,” Kai said with a frown. “But what can he do now? He’s locked in a cell.”
But not for long, Oskar thought.
It suddenly felt as if the room was shrinking around him, trapping him in its suffocating walls. He looked at Kai, who was still speaking, but the words washed over him like the distant hum of a bee.
He couldn’t do this. He just couldn’t.
He needed to tell Kai everything. His commander was a brilliant strategist, so he’d be able to devise a plan to rescue Lily, Magnus and Emeric. Wouldn’t he? Oskar had no idea where they were being held. He’d been blindfolded as he’d been escorted away from their lair and didn’t even know what area of the city they were being held in. Would Kai be able to elicit a rescue before the Disinherited got word of it and killed the prisoners?
“Kai,” he began. “There’s something I have to tell ye—”
As the words left his lips, there was a sudden commotion in the corridor outside. Before he could even react, the door to Kai’s office burst open, and Lord Henry Eberwyn strode in. His gaze flicked briefly to Oskar before he turned to Kai.
“Everything is in order,” he said breathlessly. “The trial will start first thing tomorrow.”
Oskar’s shoulders tensed and he felt his hands curling into fists, itching to slam his knuckles into Eberwyn’s traitorous face.
“Aye, thanks to ye,” Kai said, slapping Eberwyn on the shoulder. “If not for ye we might never have found the bastard. I dinna understand how we missed him though. The Order have scoured that part of town twice already.”
“Aye,” Oskar growled, glaring at Eberwyn. “Do tell us how ye managed to find Brewer when the Order couldnae.”
