“No onelostme,” she informed him, walking faster. “Ievaded. Now, as charming as you think you are, I hereby fully and irrevocably decline this and all future offers of assistance. Good day, sir.”
He hesitated, visibly confused. “Youareon the run?”
She blinked at the unfamiliar phrase.
“Fleeing capture?” he clarified. “Attempting to escape from the two hunters who have been stalking you?”
All right, yes. That was exactly what she was doing. Howhehad guessed her circumstances, Kuni hadn’t the slightest clue. But the more time she spent chatting with him, the greater the likelihood one of her brothers would be lucky enough to fall with his nose in butter, as they say. Once they heard or glimpsed her, they’d—
She gasped and flattened herself against the nearest wall.
Her knight blocked her protectively as his fingers hardened into fists. “Who is it? Tell me where to look.”
Floris and Reinald were two hundred meters away. Though she couldn’t see their faces, the uniforms were unmistakable. They hadn’t found her—yet. But they were heading in this direction. She had minutes. Perhaps seconds. If she made any sudden movements, they would spy her all the faster.
“Two gentlemen,” she mumbled to her knight’s smartly tailored back. It really was a nice coat. A rich blue superfine that begged to be touched. If she got out of this… “Tall, burly, skin a deep chestnut like mine, dove-gray coats—”
“I see them.” Her knight’s low voice rumbled into her fingertips.
She was touching his coat? When had she started touching his coat? Kuni snatched her hand from his hard, warm back.
“You cannot allow them to seeme,” she whispered.
“That will be tricky,” replied her knight. “The closer they come, the less I can block you from view. Unless we pretend to be lovers, engaged in a passionate kiss…”
“Of all the blistering rumpwhistles,” Kuni snapped. “You shall not kiss me.”
Her muscles tensed, preparing for a fight. Why had her brothers stumbled across hernow? Her fingers itched for the blades strapped to her thighs beneath carefully concealed slits, but she did not reach for them. The crowd was too dense, and a distraction of that nature could prove dangerous.
“If it wouldn’t offend your sensibilities overmuch,” her knight said presently, “might you rescind your earlier injunction and allow me to save you? Just this once?”
She considered her options. “You said you couldn’t block me from view.”
“Always have a contingency plan, princess. You run in the opposite direction. Take the first left, then the alley on the right. Go in the unmarked door twenty feet from the next street. It’s the servants’ entrance to the Puss & Goose. Tell them Winifred Winklemeyer sent you to reserve a north-facing room for one.”
She stared at him. “What?”
“Meanwhile, I’ll deal with these two. Are you in agreement?”
“Do not injure them.” She doubted anyone outside the Balcovian Royal Guardcouldgain the upper hand, but this Englishman was full of surprises. “They are my—”
“I’m not going to harm them,” he assured her. “I’m going tolosethem. What’s your name?”
“This is not the moment for formal introductions!”
“And I do hope to have that moment when we’re through. I need your name to give them a reason to chase me. If they think I know where you are, they’ll followmerather than look about foryou.”
Oh. Her cheeks burned. “My name is Kunigunde de Heusch. But you can call me—”
He took off so quickly, he seemed to vanish into thin air. By the time she managed to spot him, he was almost to her brothers. He must have shouted something, because Reinald immediately gave chase.
Her knight narrowly evaded him, darting across the street. But Reinald was swift. He reached out to grab the back of her knight’s handsome blue coat, only for the Englishman to…scale a sheer wall with his bare hands? Reinald looked just as thunderstruck as Kuni felt—and just as startled when her knight dropped back down from nowhere, one meter behind her brother.
Floris started forward to help, then jerked around to rake his gaze through the bustling street. He left Reinald and the Englishman to their own devices and pushed through the crowded street toward Kuni.
“Not today, you suffocating saffron.” Kuni sprang into action, sprinting in the opposite direction.
Floris hadn’t glimpsed her yet—he often operated on a Royal Guardsman’s intuition—but his long legs would gain on her with every passing second.
