“Open the gates for King Ian!” Mistress Cedrice yelled over Ian’s shoulder, stoking the crowd.
“Open the gates!” They took up her cheer.
“Let’s get you out of—” Peter bent over, his words cut off by a violent, rattling cough.
Alarmed, Ian reached out to support the man’s shoulders.
Still coughing, Peter leaned his weight against Ian. Mistress Cedrice pushed against Ian’s other side, forcing him to step away from the main gate.
The crowd parted as Ian, supporting the still-coughing Peter, was pushed down the hill by Mistress Cedrice.
When they were safely protected behind a wall of people, Peter stood up tall, breathing normally.
“What are you thinking!” Mistress Cedrice yelled, her voice barely louder than a whisper. “You are going to get yourself killed. That isn’t why I called you here. You should have come straight to my shop, in secret, you dolt!”
“We are out of time!” Ian quietly yelled back. “Gareth is going to kill...You called for me?”
“Ashlin has made progress with the tapestry,” Mistress Cedrice replied. “Did the messenger not reach you in Lockwood last night?”
“I have not been in Lockwood for three days,” Ian replied.
“The needle worked!” Mistress Cedrice clasped her hands together in excitement. “She’s been at the castle day and night stitching away, and she uncovered new information about the magic!”
Ian stood up taller, his heart racing for a different reason as he felt a suspicious glimmer of hope. “What is it?” he said. “Where is she?”
“Stuck in the castle,” Peter replied. “Gareth closed all the gates last night after he returned from the shore and has not let anyone in or out.”
Ian looked over his shoulder at the castle. “What is he planning?” He said the words out loud, but not loudly enough for anyone to hear them.
The crowd was still focused on the gate, yelling at Zimri to open it, though several of them were watching Ian, Peter, and Cedrice as well. Lane was slowly making his way toward them, leading both horses behind him.
Ian turned back to his older companions. “I need to get inside. He is going to kill my father, if he hasn’t already.”
“The old tunnel?” Peter asked.
Ian did not ask how the man knew about a secret that only the royal family was supposed to know. He no longer questioned how River’s Talon knew anything. “I already checked. Gareth discovered it and had the end caved in.”
Peter looked to Mistress Cedrice.
She looked to Ian.
Ian turned fully around, staring back up at the castle.
Peter must have sensed his desire to just walk right back up to the gate and bang it open with his fists, because he felt two hands on his arm, holding him back.
Ian was not actually going to knock the gate down, but they did not know that. Peter and the seamstress had literally just seen him try to do that.
For an old man, Peter had a surprisingly strong grip.
Ian sighed. It was his own home. There had to be another way inside.
He turned back around.
It was not Peter Cabril who held his arms tightly.
Chapter 54
“Robin.” Ian breathed her name like he had been waiting his entire life to say it.
