Bleven only smiled thinly, then turned to one of his thugs. “Shut him up.”
The thug pulled his fist back, then all went black.
MADDIE GRABBED ASHLEY’S arm and pulled her behind a large tree. The two girls leaned against it, huffing and panting.
“We ... should ... keep ... going,” Ashley wheezed.
“We . . . can’t,” Maddie responded. She bent over, took a deep breath, and looked at her friend. “We can’t leave them.”
Ashley frowned at her. “Yes, we can. Whatever was going on back there had—” She took a second to catch her breath. “—nothing to do with us. That was the Duke of Bleven.”
Maddie stared at her. “Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
Maddie knew it was true. She’d seen Bleven many times, enough to recognize him even on a dark road. But she hadn’t wanted to admit it had been him just now. She’d heard stories about the Black Duke. Horrible, twisted stories. Stories that she knew couldn’t be true, and yet she suspected they were.
What could the Martingale boys have done to anger Bleven? How could they be such complete fools?
And why was she surprised?
“It doesn’t matter, Ashley, we still have to go back.”
“Why?” Ashley said. She was staring at Maddie like Maddie often stared at her. Like she was completely insane. “You heard Blackthorne. He said we should run.”
“We can’t leave them there,” Maddie protested. “We have to return and help.”
Ashley grabbed her hands. “Listen to me, Maddie, we cannot help. Not this time. I know you want to save everyone, but you’re taking it too far.”
Maddie yanked her hands out of Ashley’s grasp. “You and all your talk of adventure. You act like you’re so brave, but in the end you’re no better than a coward!”
“And you’re a fool! You want to rush back there and get yourself killed. Or worse.”
Ashley was right, and yet she knew she couldn’t do anything else. She was no hero. She was terrified. But she was even more terrified not to go back and help.
Her lips still tingled where Blackthorne had kissed her. He’d kissed her and sent her to safety, while he returned to the gates of Hades. What kind of man did that?
Maddie was afraid she knew. She was afraid she had sorely misjudged Blackthorne. But even if he was nothing more than a selfish scoundrel who probably deserved Bleven’s wrath, she couldn’t leave him to Bleven’s nonexistent mercy.
She couldn’t leave him at all. Not while there was still the chance that he would touch her, hold her, kiss her.
She glanced at Ashley, feeling guilty.
“Maddie, come on. Please,” Ashley urged, tugging at her.
“No.” Maddie stepped away from her. “Keep running. Go save yourself.”
Ashley stared at her. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m going back.”
JACK WOKE UP WHEN THE horse he was tied to farted. It was just loud enough and smelly enough to rouse him from unconsciousness. But he didn’t move, didn’t show any sign of being awake and alert. Instead he stayed slumped over the horse’s mane and listened.
The horse was stationary, which made it easy for Jack to identify the sounds and deduce that he was behind Bleven’s carriage and surrounded by Bleven’s men, who were preparing to depart.
Ahead of him, Mr. Dover whimpered and tsked and generally made feeble pleas to be set free. Jack heard a slap, and then Dover was quiet.
But he heard nothing from his brother. He eased his eyes open and tried to focus. His head was spinning, and he immediately wanted to vomit. Instead, he clenched his fists, which were bound behind his back, and waited for the nausea to pass. The spinning slowed, wobbled, teetered, and finally ceased. His vision cleared and he realized he was staring at the ground.
