“Wait a minute.” Bug Eyes stepped forward. “I recognize you. That red hair. Your green eyes. You were at Bergenay.”
I stiffened, all the horrible memories flooding me. But this time, I didn’t try to push them back. I let them come, and I let myself feel every emotion that came with them, my heart breaking all over again.
The other man, pock marks dotting his neck and chin, pointed. “You were the princess’s servant.”
“Lady’s maid,” I corrected.
“You got away,” Pock Marks said. “We wondered where you’d disappeared to.”
I grabbed my sword, attempting to unsheathe it, but instead, I yanked it too hard and almost sliced my arm off. Holy godwitches, the shield and sword together weighed a ton.
The men laughed, and the woman flicked out her hand. “Dispose of her. And then take the bookwyrm.”
I held out my sword as the men approached, sweat gathering at the base of my neck, trickling down my back, Wolfe’s voice echoing in my head.You are brave.
He’d told me I didn’t have to be a great fighter, that bravery camein many forms, and that gave me an idea. “Morton,” I whispered. “I have an idea.”
I whipped around one of the tall stones, pressing my back to it so I was out of their sight.
“She’s trying to hide,” Pock Marks said.
“Not a great hiding spot. You know we can see where you went,” Bug Eyes said.
The woman spoke, voice singsong. “Come out, come out. We won’t hurt you if you give up the bookwyrm.”
“You’re going to have to run,” I whispered to Morton, then shook my head. “Or slither. The grass is tall. You’re small. You can get away and hide while I distract them.”
“But they’ll kill you.”
“Maybe,” I said. “But maybe not. Maybe I’ll be okay. Either way, I won’t let them take you.”
“We’re getting impatient,” the woman said. “Stop with the insipid games and get out here.”
Morton shook his head. “I can’t just leave you.”
“You can. I have no value to them. You’re the one they want. They’ll use you in horrible ways, Morton. Make you tell them things to help them spread their evil. This isn’t just about you and me. It’s about the entire world.” I took a deep breath. “I wish I hadn’t spent the last three years locked in a tower convinced that was the only way I could survive. I wish I’d been brave enough to face my past and move forward. I need to do this now. For me and for you.”
Morton blinked a few times, and after a beat, he nodded. “Okay, I’ll go. But promise you’ll find me.”
“Always.”
Morton slithered down my body and into the grass, disappearing so that I wasn’t even sure what direction he’d gone in. I breathed out a sigh of relief.
“Okay, boys. She’s not going to play nice, so you’re going to have to go in and get her.”
I whirled around the rock, sword pointed at the men and thewoman, shield held high. I couldn’t fight them, but I could delay them long enough that Morton would have a chance.
“If you want him”—I glanced at the pocket in my cloak—“you’ll have to get through me first.”
The woman rolled her eyes from behind her mask. “This is painful to watch.”
I dropped my sword on the ground. “Oops. So clumsy.” I fell to my knees, my shield wedging into the mud, attempting to grab the sword while the men laughed.
“Gonna have to go through me,” Bug Eyes mocked, and I tried to hide my smile.
I grasped the hilt of the sword and popped to my feet, yanking at the shield until it finally gave way. “There!” I cleared my throat and pointed it at them. “So who wants at me first?”
The men looked at each other, and Pock Marks stepped forward, holding out his sword. “Go easy on me,” he said, making Bug Eyes guffaw behind him.
