The Robber Knight's Love (The Robber Knight Saga #2)(105)

“I’m sorry, Burchard,” she interrupted her steward. “My mind was somewhere else. What were you saying again?”

Burchard's bushy eyebrows drew together in a frown. They looked at least as suspicious as his mustache did.

“Very well, Milady,” he said, rather gruffly and stiffly. “One of the guards told me what Hans confessed, Milady. I'm not here to disturb you for long. I just wanted to ask you one thing.”

“Yes?”

“When,” Burchard inquired grimly, “is Hans’s execution going to be?”

Ayla felt the world crumble beneath her.

~~*~~*

“But must he be condemned to death?”

Pleadingly, she looked at Burchard, her father's steward, the man who had cared for her since she was a child, who had taught her how to ride and told her bed-time stories.

He stared back, his expression as immovable as stone. She was a child no longer.

“Milady, he is a traitor. He must pay for his crimes.”

“Yes, but with his life? After all, nobody died in the two incidents he’s responsible for, and…”

“That was pure chance, Milady!” Burchard cut her off. “If the Margrave's men had succeeded in capturing you or opening the gates to the castle, hundreds would have died. You know this as well as I do. Because of that traitor, you yourself had a knife at your throat!”

“It wasn't a very big knife…”

“Milady!”

“Reuben saved me, anyway.”

“That does not change the fact that you could have been killed! The intent is what matters, not the outcome. Hans must die!”

“But his poor wife…” Ayla looked around for help. Burchard, Reuben and she had been joined in Ayla's temporary audience chamber by the other commanders. When it became apparent to Burchard that Ayla wasn't simply going to put her father's seal on the execution order, he had insisted on Captain Linhart, Sir Rudolphus, and Sir Waldar joining them in order to convince her. She had happily agreed, thinking they might convince him.

Judging from the expression on Captain Linhart's face, though, that was not going to happen. He shook his head.

“I have to agree with Burchard, Milady. Personal considerations should not influence you in your decisions when it comes to justice. His life is forfeit.”

Never in her life had Ayla condemned anyone to death before. In fact, as far as she remembered, nobody had ever been condemned to death at Luntberg Castle. The mere idea of her having to do it, having to order the ending of another human being's life, made her skin crawl. Desperately, she looked for support at Sir Waldar—who burped loudly.

“Oops. Sorry, Milady. I say, off with his head!”

Ayla's pleading eyes wandered to Sir Rudolphus. His big ears drooped sadly.

“The proposal outlined by Sir Waldar does seem like the wisest course of action,” he admitted.

Ayla's shoulders sagged.

That's what you get for swearing to do everything to achieve victory, she thought sadly. You actually have to do everything, no matter how horrible..

“This is what you all advise?” She looked around. “You all say he must die?”

Burchard, Linhart, Sir Waldar, and Sir Rudolphus nodded.

Ayla took a deep breath.

“Very well,” she whispered. “I will…”

“Perhaps,” said a firm voice from behind her, “we should exercise clemency.”

Ayla turned around in her chair to stare. She wasn't the only one. Everybody stared at the figure of Sir Reuben Rachwild, who had uttered those words. They stared at him as they would have stared at an executioner who proclaimed he was firmly opposed to corporal punishment.

“Um…Reuben?” Ayla inquired. “Are you quite well?”

Without answering her, he strode off to one of the embrasures that lined the wall. Peering out over the castle, he muttered, “The trajectory would be just right…the space is perfect. Yes! Yes! Why haven't I thought of it before? Satan's warty prick! I'm the most miserable excuse for a knight that has ever been born!”

“What is the matter with you?” Ayla demanded. “And what is a 'prick'?”

Burchard cleared his throat, but nobody else noticed. Reuben didn't answer Ayla's question. Instead, he strode to another embrasure and looked out of that one, too.

“Opportunity,” he muttered. “It is all about opportunity and the element of surprise. The killing fields…yes, we must use the killing fields!”

“Reuben?” Rising from her seat, Ayla took a few tentative steps towards him. “Please, you're beginning to worry me! Are you well?”

He whirled around to face them all. His eyes were only for her.

“Oh yes!” Reuben's eyes were burning with gray fire. The sight nearly knocked the breath out of Ayla. What was the matter with him? Was it love? No. Not even love could induce such a crazed fire.

“Oh, yes!” he repeated, savage satisfaction in his voice. “I am definitely very well. In fact, I am better than I have been for ages. Because I have just thought of a plan to save the castle, end the siege, and triumph over our enemies!”

“What?”

The shout didn’t come from just the Lady of Luntberg. It came from all their throats. Ayla rushed forward, coming to a halt, breathless, only a few inches away from Reuben.