Strike at Midnight(17)

“Good. Then that’s your first job for me in the morning. You’ll need to head out at first light.”

“I’ll do that,” he said, looking a little bit lighter as he sat up in his seat.

“What’s your brother’s name?” I asked, and he flinched slightly.

“Sam.”

“And where did he go hunting?”

“To Evergreen East Forest. He left at dawn and never came back.”

The Evergreen East Forest was harmless enough. It was the kind of place where you could expect butterflies and rainbows, and pretty prancing animals that didn’t want to eat you. It was the complete opposite of the Northern Woods that it bordered—also known as the Nightmare Woods. That place would make even me think twice about entering it.

“What’s your family name?” I asked him.

“Smithson. My dad used to be a blacksmith,” he said, the last part quietly, and I saw the grief.

“Then I’ll ask around when I get the chance,” I said, feeling a slight kinship with the kid. “But I’m not promising anything.”

“It’s better than doing nothing.”

“I suppose it is,” I said, contemplating him for a second. “Go and get your food.”

He got up and followed Marcel’s finger that was pointing to a door behind him.

“What do you think?” I asked as soon as the kid was out of earshot.

“Reminds me of someone else I know.”

He was referring to me when I had turned up on his doorstep. He hadn’t liked my attitude much at first—probably because I had been a bit of a feral bitch—but he had soon come around.

“A scraggy orphan?” I asked, knowing I had looked worse for wear than Rem did right now.

“You think that’s what he is? An orphan?”

“It’s an assumption. He said his brother looked after him, but I don’t suppose that means his parents are dead. Some people aren’t cut out for parenting.”

“She was never your mother,” he said, putting his hand on my own. My heart hardened as it always did when she came up.

“She was never much of anything,” I said, pushing the anger back. That part of my life was over. I wasn’t that weak person anymore. At least not the one she had wanted me to be.

“Jacque thought you were going to be trouble,” he said, “and I think he was right.”

I scoffed, fond memories coming back of the man who had practically raised me from the age of fourteen. “That’s why he used it to his own advantage. He had a crossbow in my hands because I could even blink.”

“And you took to it like a duck to water. She didn’t break you.”

No. She hadn’t broken me. And neither had the asshole who had delivered her punches. But she had ruined me for the future I had been born for. Or at least what I’d thought I’d been born for before my father put a ring on the bitch’s finger.

“She tried. I had only known kindness and pretty dresses before they turned up. I loved my books and the animals on our small estate. I never knew hate. Or bitterness. Or anger. At least not until her.”

“But now you have us,” he said, nudging me. “And it was all worth it.”

He was teasing me. I knew that. Nothing would have been worth the shit I had been put through. But he was right in the fact that it had brought me here. It had made me who I was today.

“Don’t I know it,” I said, looking back at the kitchen door. “This place was made for strays.”

“This place won’t turn them away, but I’d like to think that we’re all here to make something of others. As well as ourselves.”

“Soppy bastard.”

“Grumpy bitch.”

“A grumpy bitch that everyone seems to want a piece of lately,” I reminded him, and it made me think of the parchment in my pocket. “I guess I had better hit the sack early tonight. But I wouldn’t mind an early nightcap after all.”

“Of course you wouldn’t. But brandy is off limits for you.”

“Who said anything about brandy?” I asked, standing up and heading out to the bar. “I know where you keep the wine.”





CHAPTER SIX

Watch out for the Crossbow





Melody had been easy enough to pin down after I’d had my nightcap.

Thankfully she had agreed to go and try to get my slipper back—or at least she had after I had promised to owe her a favor for her trouble.

She had enough nice gowns to sink a ship, so she was okay in that regard. They had been no good for me when I had needed to gain entry to the castle because she was tall and willowy, but they would be decent enough for her to pass for a lady. Not that she would need them. Melody could wear a sack and most likely be let into the castle grounds, seeing as no man stood a chance around her.

She had agreed to go and inquire about the slipper as soon as she woke up this morning, and hopefully, she would be successful and save me the trouble. She just needed to lay it on thick that she knew me, give them a sob story, and voila. The slipper would be in her grasp before the poor clerk could blink. If the guy liked ladies, that is. She could wrap any straight man around her little finger, but the alternative could be troublesome. I supposed I could always send in Marcel if she failed.