She met his stare. “I’m risking far more than you are, General. You could break your word and kill me the second I turn Argent over. My life hangs in the balance. Which, I must point out, gives me every reason to be telling you the truth.”
Cregon didn’t respond. His gaze shifted to Carver. “Keep her quiet.” With that order, he slipped away to confer quietly with the others.
Carver remained with Tam, both of them standing in the shadow of a towering tree.
“Aren’t you curious?” Tam asked softly.
He glanced over at her. Her wrists were shackled, the end of the chain wrapped around his hand. “About?” he grunted.
“Who betrayed Amryn’s secret to me?”
Tension suddenly bracketed his spine.
Tam must have noticed, because a slow smile grew. “I could tell you, you know. If you gave me something in return.”
“What?”
“Your word that you won’t kill me.” Tam eyed him in the darkness. “I’m not a fool, Carver. Even though you agreed to this deal, I can see how you look at me. You plan to kill me, regardless of what happens in there.”
He didn’t bother denying it.
Tam’s expression tightened. “You’ll want to know the things I can tell you. About who in the Rising told me Amryn’s secret. Because if you think she’s not in danger, I can assure you, you’re wrong.”
Carver’s scalp prickled. But he didn’t get a chance to question Tam, because Ford melted out of the shadows.
Cregon and the other men gathered close to hear his report. “The perimeter is silent. Most of the drapes are drawn, but I couldn’t detect any movement in the house. There are some scattered tracks, maybe a few days old.”
“How many entrances?” Carver asked.
“The ground floor has three,” Ford said. “Main, side, and back.”
“We split up,” Cregon decided. He made assignments, then looked at Tam. “Where is Argent being held?”
She hesitated. “I can’t know for certain. They may have moved him to a different room.”
Carver snorted. “Convenient,” he muttered.
Cregon eyed Tam. “You’ll remain out here. Gagged.”
Tam rolled her eyes but didn’t resist as Carver tied a cloth between her teeth.
Carver didn’t want to entrust her to anyone else, but he handed the end of her chain to another soldier. Meeting the man’s gaze, he said, “If she tries to run, or even speak, you kill her.”
Tam expelled a huffed breath through her nose, but Carver waited until the soldier nodded before he turned his back on them.
Carver followed his father toward the front of the mansion, Ford at his side. The main door was locked, but Ford picked it easily. Cregon led the way inside, moving with cautious but steady steps into the dusty great hall. Even in the dimness, Carver could make out a grand wooden staircase that wound to the upper floor, an unlit chandelier dangling from the high ceiling. A sitting room was to the left, a library to their right. Large sheets had been placed over the furniture, but there were footprints marring the dusty floors. Most of the steps seemed to follow the same path.
It led deeper into the house.
Adrenaline spiked at this sign of life, even though the house was silent except for the few low creaks as soldiers made their way through the darkness.
Cregon followed the tracks in the dust, leading them to a large kitchen that had dirty dishes on the counter. The cloying rot of old meat and vegetables pervaded theair. Carver cringed at the stench of decay. He was quite certain that Tam, at least, had used this as her hiding place since leaving Esperance.
The footsteps in the dust veered to a padlocked cellar door.
Ford pulled out his lockpicks, but Cregon halted him. His voice was quiet as he said, “We need to make sure the rest of the house is secure, then we’ll enter the cellar with more men and lanterns.” His jaw hardened. “If thisisa trap, we won’t be lured into the deepest part of it without being prepared.”
While they waited for the rest of the house to be searched, they lit lanterns. Carver kept glancing at the cellar door. Dread built every time he saw it. He knew that exploring the other side of that door would make Argent’s death wholly real.
