I woke up groggily, the side of my head throbbing, completely disoriented and confused. I’d been walking home, hadn’t I? Walking home was the last thing I remembered.
But now I was sitting upright on the ground, my arms tied behind my back. Had I been abducted?
I still wore my glasses, somehow, although they sat crookedly on my nose. Lifting my head, I surveyed the area, trying to get my bearings. Jittery panic tried to set in, urging me to get up and run. But run where? I had no idea where I even was!
It smelled of the sea, the strong scent of brine invading my nose. The place felt damp, too, like I was close to the wharf? The wooden floor was rough and dirty, and the beams high overhead looked old and damaged. Since the rebuilding, some spaces had been left aside for renovation later, and this smacked of such a building, one waiting to be properly rebuilt. A whole side had caved in, leaving a giant mountain of debris in its place. The remaining windows were all boarded over, as well.
Two—no, scratch that, three men hovered in the far corner and talked in rushed tones. I couldn’t pick out many individual words, but I recognized the three men.
Lewis Heaton, Ralph Maynard, Quinby Bray. Lewis was easy to pick out, with his flaming red hair, and he looked so incredibly pale his freckles were more like ink dots. My abductors were the other three lords who had been trying to court Prince Royce and convince him to ascend the throne.
Had they been cohorts with Chuffey?
Chuffey claimed he’d acted alone, but to be honest, I hadn’t entirely believed him. I didn’t think anyone had.
Now, I was pissed. By all rights, I should be cozied up with my book, not sitting here with a headache because of these assholes. Perhaps I should be scared, but that was not the foremost emotion right now. Anger had won out.
I sat there watching them, realized no one had noticed I’d awakened, and decided I had better announce my presence. If I could be loud enough, perhaps someone on the outside would hear me. The wharf wasn’t really a quiet place at any time; there were still pubs open until late into the night. If I was right about my location, I should be on the footpath near one of the pubs.
I’d take my chances.
I wasn’t a loud man by nature, but I truly put effort into my volume as I spoke. “ANYONE OUT THERE?! HELP!”
They jolted, whirling around and staring for a second, caught off guard. Then Bray stormed toward me, expression quite cross. He wasn’t a small man, and his footsteps made the floor under me jump. He’d lost his tie at some point, shirt open at the throat, and his five o’clock shadow was very pronounced, making me think he’d not shaved at all in a few days. His dark brown eyes snapped with anger and fear as he looked at me.
“You! Stop calling for help and answer my questions! What happened to Chuffey?”
“My good man, there’s no reason to abduct me to get an answer to that question!”
Was I being loud enough? I didn’t know how to be louder without straining my throat, though. Where was Allen when I needed him? He was so loud by nature he had to consciously lower his tone in the office. He could be heard across an ocean if he put his mind to it.
Bray stopped in front of me, glaring, but under the glare he looked scared. His feet kept twitching, like he wanted to run. “Answer our questions. No one’s telling us anything. Is Chuffey under arrest?”
“Chuffey will be under the jail by the time James is done with him.” Truth, and not an exaggeration. “Why did you think discrediting the princess was a good plan? I mean, seriously, this was the best plan you could come up with?”
“She’s not fit to rule!” Bray snapped.
“Nimus take me, just because she’s a woman? You backed Victor and he’s an incompetent buffoon!”
Bray faltered, seemingly not having an answer.
I pressed him, still keeping my outrage on my face, hoping to draw answers from him. “Did you just slap this plan together? How could you have done something like this and thought it would work?”
“We didn’t slap it together, we planned everything carefully!”
Maynard stormed over to join his friend. From the breath on him, he’d been imbibing heavily and swayed where he stood. He kept clasping his hands over his rotund stomach before shoving them into his pockets, only to take them out again. He was clearly nervous, but it was anger that poured out of his mouth as he snapped, “It wasn’t so careful if he got caught before he could even use this to discredit Helena. And why in hell didn’t you verify with your own eyes that the files were on her desk? How did they even end up in the Aurora office to begin with?”
“I don’t know. I told you, I clearly left them on her desk!”
Oh, so Bray had planted the files. Good to know, good to know.
Bray paused and muttered under his breath, “Was it that asshole guard who moved them? I paid him, though. He should have kept his mouth shut.”
Guard? Oh dear, had we missed someone in the manhunt? “Which guard, the one at the judicial office or the one watching over Princess Helena’s rooms?”
Bray sneered at me. “Like I’ll tell you.”
“Why not?”
