He paused, blinked, then frowned. “Would you even know?”
I rolled my eyes. “My lord, I have been working at the palace for fifteen years. I know everyone, I assure you. Which office?” Seeing he wasn’t sure if he should answer me, I started rattling off names. “Hammerman, Cooper, Porter, Elmstone—oh, Elmstone? So the judicial office is where the leak originated.”
“I didn’t say anything!”
Maynard was done with his friend and growled, “Your face gave it all away. You have theworstpoker face!”
“Then you shouldn’t have included me in your plans!” Bray snarled in return, getting in the other’s face. “The plan that was so fantastic itfailed within the hour. For such a clever mastermind, you sure can’t make a good plan!”
“You liked it up until things went awry, I’d like to remind you!”
Heaton finally decided to join this conversation by hissing, “Will you both keep your voices down? If you give our location away, we’re fucked.”
“Like anyone will be looking for him,” Maynard said dismissively.
“You idiot, he’s Prince James’s lover! Of course he’ll be missed! It’s why I said we should leave him alone in the first place!”
Heaton at least seemed aware of the pitfalls in this adventure. He sadly didn’t have the spine to either remove himself or report his friends before he got caught in this web, which meant there was no saving him.
The three started arguing in earnest, ignoring me, and I had to wonder, why had I been taken to begin with? Were they hoping to use me as some kind of informant on their friend, or had it occurred to them they could use me to barter for Chuffey’s freedom?
They weren’t good at thinking of long-term consequences, were they?
I heard a rustling sound, like footsteps in a hurry on the other side of the window. Oh? That might be promising. I’d have to see if there was someone out there to help me.
“Oi!” Louder, louder, I must be louder. “I must ask again, why did you abduct me?”
The barred door abruptly flinched inward as something heavy and solid impacted it from the other side. My heart leapt into my throat and I prayed like never before. Yes, let this be a rescue party, whatever form it might take!
The lords panicked immediately, frantically running about, trying to find a way to get through a window.
You know, the boarded-up windows.
That no one had a crowbar for.
I will say, this was highly entertaining. Not as good as my book would have been, but it was a solid night of entertainment regardless.
Well, I found it entertaining. James was going to lose his shit.
Oh dear, an upset lover with trauma about me dying. Hmm, this suddenly became less amusing.
The fourth solid hit against the doors was enough to make the wood give way. There on the other side stood several burly men—dock workers, from their dress and appearance. Oh, I thought I recognized two of them?
“Edwin?” one of them demanded, eyes flaring wide. Then he turned his head to shout, “Someone get the guard! They’ve captured Prince James’s lover!”
Well, he certainly recognized me. Delightful. Saved me some legwork.
“You can’t lay hands on us!” Maynard bellowed.
The dock workers didn’t need anyone to paint the picture for them; they could clearly see what was going on. Obvious enough with three lords and me, the only one tied down. The dock workers set upon the lords immediately, roughly grabbing them despite their squeals of protest. A little rough handling would be character building.
One of the dock workers rushed to me, eyes scanning me from head to toe, and a frown gathered on his face. “Edwin, I’ll untie you.”
“Thank you.” I looked him over for a moment more, a name swimming to the surface. “Joe, isn’t it? The foreman for the docks.”
He gave me a slight smile, barely a quirk of the lips. “That’s me. You’ve got a good memory for names and faces.”
“I certainly try. Thank you for this. I wasn’t sure how to get out of this mess.”
