She nodded, forcing a smile. “Trust me. I won’t be forgetting this place in a hurry.”
Oskar placed a hand on her shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze. Bryn appeared from the shadows and hunkered down beside them and the three of them watched the house in silence for several minutes. There was little to see and the place looked empty of life save for a lantern burning in one of the lower windows.
“Emeric and Magnus are in the cellar just as they were when we were first brought here,” Lily whispered. “There’s a long hall inside with lots of doors leading off. I didn’t see where they lead. The door to the cellar is the second on the left.”
Oskar nodded. “And the guards? How many are there?”
“I counted four inside,” Lily replied. “But they were just the ones that came to give us our meals. There are probably more in the house.”
One of Bryn’s men materialized out of the shadows and conferred quickly with his leader before melting away again.
“My boys count six guards by the front door and two round the back,” Bryn said. “But there are more of us. We can take them out in no time—”
“No,” Oskar cut him off. “That would only alert those inside and bring the town guard running to see what all the noise was about. We need to use stealth, not brawn.” He fell silent, considering. “The back way is our best option.”
“All right, we’ll go in the back way then,” Bryn said. “My boys can have the door down and be inside before—”
“I’llgo in the back way,” Oskar said. “Alone. The more of us there are, the more likely we are to be seen. I’ll take out the guards around the back and then sneak into the house. I want ye and yer men ready by the front door, ready to stop anyone coming out that way. Dinna reveal yerselves until I open it and let ye in. When I do, ye need to take out those guards as quickly and quietly as ye can. Think ye can manage that?”
Bryn scowled at him. “I assume ye are trying to be funny, Galbraith. We’ll be waiting.”
He signaled to his men who had gathered silently in the shadows of the courtyard. They vanished, circling the building around the front, their footfalls as silent as whispers on the wind.
Lily was left alone with Oskar. He reached out, his fingers tracing the contours of her face in the pale moonlight.
She knew what he was going to say and cut him off before he could. “I’m coming with you, Oskar.”
He looked about to argue but then merely nodded.
With her heart thudding like a wild drum, Lily quietly followed Oskar as they crept out of their hiding place and flitted through the shadows. The crunch of pebbles beneath their feet echoed ominously, but they moved as soundlessly as they could manage.
They took a wide berth around the house, keeping to the perimeter of the courtyard. When they reached the back of the property, Lily saw one solitary figure leaning against the wall—a guard who was bundled up against the cold night air. His breath fogged in front of him in hasty puffs, and he stomped his feet on the ground in an attempt to keep warm.
Where was the other one? Gone inside the house for something?
Oskar placed a finger against his lips, indicating silence. He gestured to Lily to stay put while he handled the guard. With soft and careful footsteps barely audible even in this eerie quiet, he snuck up on the unsuspecting man.
The guard didn’t have time to react before Oskar was upon him. With a swift blow to the back of the head, the guard collapsed into Oskar’s arms. He lowered the unconscious man to the ground.
Lily held her breath, silently praying that the guard’s fall hadn’t been heard by others inside. But no alarm was raised, and Oskar quietly signaled for her to come closer.
Lily held her breath as she approached the back entrance. The door stood tall and ominous; she could see its dark timber frame etched with years of wear and weathering. In there, somewhere, were the people who had taken her captive.
Oskar pressed his mouth close to her ear. “Take this,” he whispered, pressing a dagger into her hand. “And wait here.” He held up a hand to forestall Lily’s protest. “No arguments this time. Wait here until I call that it’s clear. If this goes badly, I want ye to promise me that ye will run. Try to get out of the city and to Dun Saith if ye can. The Order will protect ye. Promise me, Lily.”
His voice was low and urgent, his gaze intent. Lily curled her fingers around the hilt of the dagger. “I promise.”
Oskar studied her for a moment, his eyes dark pools in the night. Then he leaned forward and kissed her, his lips warm and soft in the night.
“I love ye,” he whispered.
Then he was gone, pulling open the door and disappearing into the darkness.
OSKAR DIDN’T RECOGNIZEmuch of the place as he slipped inside. He’d been blindfolded when he was brought here and had only seen the cellar and the room where Eberwyn had interrogated him. A single lantern burned in a bracket on the wall, illuminating a kitchen with a fire banked in the large fireplace.
Oskar closed the door softly behind him and waited in its shadow, listening. He could hear muffled voices somewhere inside the house and the creak of floorboards as people moved around upstairs. Across from him another door stood closed and he guessed this led to the hallway that Lily had described.
Squaring his shoulders, Oskar crept across the kitchen, each footfall light as a feather on the cold stone floor. He could smell the remains of a meal from earlier—roasted pork with cloves, mashed swede rich with butter and cream. How out of place these everyday aromas seemed in such a place.
