The Beautiful Pretender (A Medieval Fairy Tale #2)(82)

“The king is coming,” she whispered. “Odette wants you to go somewhere safe, because when Geitbart finds out, they fear he will kill you to keep you from telling the truth.”

“The king? Coming here?”

“He had been visiting the Duke of Pomerania. The letter you sent him through Lady Magdalen must have reached the king as he was on his way back to Prague.”

“Avelina, you must go. They will find you here and you will be in danger. I forbid you to be here.” He growled. “I want you to go now.”

His forceful tone made her hands start to shake. “My lord, I am sorry. I cannot leave without you.” But the lock did not want to open. She tried over and over, catching the mechanism with her hook, but each time it slipped off.

She shoved the hook in a bit to the left this time, jerking it downward, and the mechanism clicked and slid open.

“Thank You, God,” Avelina breathed, opening the door.

Just then, the voices and footsteps were coming back down the stairs.

Lord Thornbeck grabbed her shoulders and pulled her inside and closed the door, making a clanging sound.

“What was that?” one of the voices said.

Avelina scrambled to stuff the things she brought with her under the wooden bench, the only thing in the room. Lord Thornbeck pulled her up.

“Go stand in the corner,” he whispered. “And don’t move or make a sound.”

She hurried to the back corner of the cell and flattened herself against the wall, as there was no more room under the bench and nowhere else to hide.

The footsteps stomped closer. Lord Thornbeck leaned against the bars of the door, probably trying to block the guards’ view of her.

“Who’s making that noise? Is it you, Thornbeck?”

He shook the bars with his powerful arms, making a loud metallic sound that reverberated off the stone walls.

Avelina tried not to move as the guards stood in front of Lord Thornbeck. Her heart thumped and she tried to slow her breathing, which was making her chest rise and fall. Could they hear her breathing? They would surely see her if they looked her way. God, make me invisible.

“Who is there?” one of the guards said sharply. “Is someone in your cell with you?”

“There is someone,” the other guard said.

“Of course there is,” Lord Thornbeck said. “Geitbart said he would capture Avelina and throw her in here with me, as you heard yourselves. They brought her in while you were gone, getting the bread.” He nodded at the loaves in their hands.

“No one told us,” one guard grumbled.

“Since you’re so in love with each other, you can share.” The second, slightly larger guard shoved the small loaf through the bars. He turned to leave.

The first guard lingered, staring at Avelina, who stared back at him, her heart still pounding in her ears. Finally, he grunted and turned to follow his fellow guard.

“That was quick thinking.” She moved toward him.

“You should not be here. If Geitbart finds you, he will do harm to you.”

“Did they hurt you? Someone told me you broke the duke’s nose.”

He shook his head but winced and stopped, as if the motion hurt.

“They did. Let me see.”

“It is nothing, only a blow to the head.”

“Is it bleeding? Show me.”

“It’s stopped.”

She reached up and touched the back of his head, feeling the stickiness of blood.

He flinched and drew in a breath through his teeth.

Her stomach clenched at his pain. “You should sit down. Are you sure the bleeding has stopped?”

“Yes. I am well. But how is your ankle? Is it bleeding again?”

“No.” She lifted her foot and showed the bandage.

“Good.” His brows drew together, as he seemed to be thinking. “As long as they don’t realize you broke in, we can simply wait until they go for bread again, then you will have to escape.”

“You mean, we will have to escape.”

“No. I cannot go anywhere or Geitbart will execute my men.”

“But did you not hear what I said? Odette says the king is on his way here. You need to escape before Geitbart discovers—”

“No.”

“I won’t leave here without you.”

“Lower your voice.”

“No. You must listen to me. I—”

He reached out and touched her cheek with the back of his fingers. “I cannot bear it if something happens to you, especially if it’s because of me.” His voice was so deep and tender.

Her breath came faster at his touch and the look on his face, just visible in the light of the torches in the corridor. She leaned forward to kiss his cheek, but he turned his head at the last moment and captured her lips in an intense but brief kiss.

Oh, his kisses were so wonderful, but she had no right, no right at all to enjoy them. She buried her face in his chest so she would not be tempted to let him kiss her again. She had to think. She had to be clearheaded.

An idea suddenly came to her.

“What if all your men were able to escape? Sir Klas and Jorgen and all the others? Then would you leave?”

“Yes, but—”

“As soon as the guards leave, I can unlock your cell and then you can go get the guards’ keys—hopefully they will leave them here—and we can both unlock all the cells and escape before they return.”