My Lady Jane(96)

“What about the knife?” Jane snapped. “Let’s just give him the stupid knife.”

Grace straightened. “My knife is not stupid. It’s the only thing I have left of Ben. Archer only wants it because he knows that.”

“You’re not giving him the knife.” Edward reassured Gracie. Of course. He liked her. He was showing off. And Archer was competition. But this was not the time to go around proving his dominance.

“The question remains.” Bess kept her eyes on her brother. “Do we do it?”

“You said before—we probably don’t have enough men to take on Mary’s army,” Edward’s jaw tightened. “We need them. Whatever it takes.”

He stepped out of the huddle and faced Archer once more. “Very well. I’ll do it.”

Archer glanced from Gracie to Jane to Bess to Edward, and at last gave a slow, easy nod. “Fine. We have a deal.” He slammed a fist down on the bar. “Time to celebrate!”

While the others passed drinks all around, Jane went outside to move the horses into the stable, and to tell Gifford the news.

They were going to fight a mythic bear.





TWENTY-FOUR


Gifford

As soon as the sun touched the horizon, G flashed into a human, and Jane hurried him inside and started talking. Fast.

“You heard me tell you we’re going to kill the GWBR?” He nodded, and she embraced him quickly, for their time was short. “Good. Now, I’ve saved all my bear knowledge for when you’re human so you’ll remember easier. Firstly, bears are always hungry. So when you encounter the bear, don’t act like food.”

“Huh?”

“I read it in a book last summer, called—”

G held up a hand. “Don’t tell me the name! No time.”

“Right. As I was saying, bears are always hungry. Try not to act like food.”

“How does one act like food?”

“I’m simply telling you what I know.” Anticipating her change, she adjusted her skirt underneath her cloak, and in her haste, she flashed G the briefest of glimpses of the milky white skin of her leg.

G stopped breathing.

“The next thing you should do is try to make yourself appear bigger than you are.”

G didn’t say anything; he still wasn’t breathing. Because, soft skin.

“Maybe hold your cloak above your head. Or puff out your chest. G, are you listening?”

G squeezed his eyes shut and scratched his forehead and tried to focus on bears and not skin. “Yes. Don’t act like food, make myself look bigger. Anything else to add?”

“Yes. Use anything at your disposal to defend yourself. Rocks, sticks, anything. Only don’t bend down to pick it up, because then you’ll appear smaller and more vulnerable.”

G sighed. “So, grab any weapons that happen to be at shoulder level.”

There was a knock at the door and Edward stuck his head in, Gracie and Bess standing just behind him. G waved them in.

Jane kept talking. “And if worse comes to worst, play dead. But if the bear starts licking your wounds, that means he’s planning on eating you, and you should do something else.”

“So, play dead unless he starts eating me.”

She shrugged helplessly. “I’ll do whatever I can, of course. I’ll distract him and then run up a tree to safety.”

G shot a look toward Edward, surprised that the king had let her believe she would be accompanying them. Edward smiled in a she’s-not-my-wife-I-shouldn’t-have-to-tell-her-no kind of way.

Should G inform her that she wasn’t coming? The last time he’d told her that, she’d come anyway, and she’d gotten hurt.

He wasn’t about to let that happen again.

Jane didn’t notice the exchange of glances. “I have the perfect way to distract the bear,” she said. “I read in a book once that bears can’t turn their heads very far in either direction, so I was thinking I could climb up onto his back and pull his fur, and he’ll spin about trying to get me, and that’s when you and Edward can go in for the kill.”

It was almost dark. They had only seconds before Jane would change. G had to tell her. “You won’t be there.”

“How will I not be there?” She narrowed her eyes at him.

“How? Because you’re not coming.”

“Oh, I’m going with you. I won’t have it any other way. Tell him, Edward.”

Edward scratched the back of his neck, but he didn’t answer. When she realized she would be getting no help from her cousin, she turned back to G. “You are my husband, not my master.”

“Yes, my lady,” he said. “You will always get your way. Except for right in this instance. And any others which may endanger your life.”

“Gifford Dudley, you do not get to decide when my life may or may not be in danger.”

G bowed his head. “Of course, Jane. And in the future, I will most definitely keep that in mind. But not tonight.”

Jane pressed her lips together in a thin line. “You can’t stop me.”

His eyes happened upon an empty birdcage in the corner of the room. “And I would never dream of it. Except tonight, when I will do whatever it takes to stop you, even if it means locking you up.”