Gray stepped forward, cautious, alert. As he reached the turn in the corridor, he lifted his blade and swung it toward the man who lay waiting for him in the gloom.
Only it wasn’t a man. It was a woman…a battered woman, whose hair hung in wild, tangled strands to cover half of her face. Her upraised hands clutched a makeshift weapon, a wooden leg she’d obviously broken from a chair or stool somewhere.
Sweet Jesu in heaven.
“Catherine…?”
She stood there for a mere instant, staring at him, eyes wide with apprehension. Then, with a sobbing cry, she dropped the piece of wood and threw herself into his arms.
Gray embraced her with a groaning cry that echoed her own, his heart contracting with love and relief. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head before pulling back to cup her face very gently in both of his hands.
“How did you know?” she asked, her voice thick with tears. “How did you know to come here so quickly?”
Gray shut his eyes for a moment, wishing that he could spare her the pain of what he was about to tell her. But there was no way around it. “’Twas Heldred, love,” he said quietly. “He intercepted a spy who was fleeing to Eduard. While trying to stop him, he was wounded. But he fought valiantly and managed to drag himself into the open before ’twas too late, to alert us of the breach.”
Gray saw Catherine’s eyes widen, fresh tears spilling over as she suddenly grasped the full meaning of what he was saying.
“Then Heldred is—?”
She couldn’t finish, and so he just nodded stiffly, holding her close as she cried her grief into his embrace. He wanted to let his love seep into her through his palms, to take away all of the pain she’d already suffered, all the hurt she was suffering now.
“He was a dear and loyal friend,” she murmured finally, pulling back a little. “I will never forget him.”
Gray nodded again and smoothed her hair from her brow, breathing in sharply at the bruises he saw along her temple and cheekbone. He clenched his jaw against the renewed flood of rage that swept through him. Beyond her visible injuries, he knew that she must have been hurt in many places that he couldn’t see just by the careful way she held herself in his arms.That bastard. That hell-spawned, treacherous bastard.
“God, Catherine, I’m sorry,” he said, his voice rough with emotions that threatened to swallow him whole. “I’m so sorry I didn’t get here in time to stop him from doing this to you.”
“Nay,” she answered softly, shaking her head. “Don’t blame yourself. There was no way to know. I’m just thankful that you’re safe and that you’re here with me now.” She pulled back again to look at him. “But we must hurry, Gray. We need to get the children. Eduard ordered them locked in the solar. I was going to them when you found me.”
He nodded, still supporting her weight. “Aye. We need to get them out of here.” He looked into the shadows behind her, seeing nothing. “Where’s Alban?”
“Eduard wounded him when he caught us. The last I saw of him he was being carried from my chamber between two of Eduard’s men. I don’t know where they’ve put him.” She swallowed and added more quietly, “Or if he’s still alive.”
Gray clenched his jaw, keeping his reactions in check. He nodded. “We’ll have to trust him to take care of himself for now. Your children must needs be rescued first. Come.”
Taking her hand, he helped her down the corridor, following her instructions for where to turn. By the time they reached the short jut of hall leading to the solar, he uttered another silent prayer of thanks. He knew now that he’d never have found the chamber on his own. Not through the maze of corridors they’d followed to get here. ’Twas undoubtedly why Eduard had chosen the place as ideal for securing the twins.
Only two men stood posted outside the door. From his position with Catherine down the hall, he could see that they looked very young and very nervous. He’d hazard a guess that these new-bloods were all that Eduard could spare as guards, once he realized that he’d be faced with an all-out battle beyond the boundaries of the keep.
Suddenly, a banging arose from within the solar, followed by shouts and screams. Gray lunged forward just behind the sentries, who’d turned to each other at the noise and scrambled to open the door.
But before Gray and Catherine could reach them, there was a loud clatter, and a cloud of soot billowed out of the now open door. Throwing himself into the chamber, Gray tripped over the prostrate forms of the guards. He waved his arms and coughed, unable to see anything. Ash filled the air, along with the fearsome shrieking of two very small warriors wielding knobby sticks at him.
They swung their sticks wildly, and one of the blows connected with his shin. He cursed, shifting his weight to grab the miscreants, one in each hand, by the backs of their shirts. He hoisted them into the air, carrying them unceremoniously into the corridor, where he put them down before spinning back to shut and bolt the door on the two sentries still lying, half-senseless, inside.
“Ian! Isabel!” Catherine cried, kneeling to enfold them into an embrace.
“Mummy!” they croaked simultaneously, coughing and sneezing as they wrapped their arms around her neck, both trying to talk at once.
“Oh, Mummy, you’re hurt!” Isabel said, coughing again and blinking back tears from the ash as she cupped her hand gently over her mother’s cheek. She pulled a grubby doll from her waist sash, where she’d obviously secured it to do battle with the guards. “Lily was worried about you too, Mummy. We were trying to get to you, to save you from Uncle Eduard. That’s why we had to trick those bad men. But we didn’t want to kill them, really. We only—”
“It was my idea to hit them with sticks, Mummy!” Ian crowed between coughs. “You’re not mad, are you? I didn’t hit them too hard, I just—”
“Oh sweethearts!” Catherine pulled both of them tighter in her embrace. “I’m not angry. I just thank heaven that you’re both all right.”
“We must make haste,” Gray said quietly, loathe to end their reunion, but knowing that ’twas dangerous to linger. Catherine nodded, pushing herself to her feet with a grimace.
“We’ll go this way,” he said, taking her hand and directing the twins to walk next to her as he led them all back down the hall toward the courtyard.
