Ada and Esther laughed, and Freya and Hella barked. “’Tis a gift,” Ada said, as she often had before. Maximilian was blessed with an oddly powerful ability to relate to animals of almost any sort. They seemed to know what he was asking and did what he said.
Ada mounted one horse, and Esther and Maximilian mounted the other. Freya and Hella stood between them. Ada bit her lip, worry for her dogs rising. “What if they kinnae find their way there?”
“Maximilian,” Esther urged, “tell the wee beasties to follow the water west.”
He dismounted and kneeled before Freya and Hella, putting a hand on each hound’s back. “Go west, lasses,” Maximilian ordered.
If Ada had not known better, she would have sworn her hounds had nodded in the moonlight. Once Maximilian had remounted beside Esther, they turned the horses toward the west, galloped down the path, past the cave, and started up the hill toward freedom. Ada hesitated, waving Maximilian and Esther toward the woods, and then she glanced over her shoulder at the home she feared she would never see again. She took a deep breath for courage, and as she turned around on her horse once more, Freya and Hella began to bark ferociously and charged ahead of her horse, who took a fright, reared up unexpectedly, and threw Ada off.
She fell to the ground with a hard thud and had to roll to her right to keep from being crushed as the horse pranced backward, neighing. Specks of bright light danced before her eyes, and she lay there for a moment, trying to take a proper breath. But when Esther’s scream cut through the silence, Ada scrambled to her feet and started to race up the hill toward Esther. Before she even got halfway up, however, Brothwell and Marjorie appeared with four guards, two mounted beside Brothwell and two now on foot. Each of the dismounted guards held Esther and Maximilian in front of them, swords pointed at her friends. Freya and Hella came racing toward Ada.
“Ye disappoint me, sister dear,” Brothwell called.
He could not have come looking for her. She would have seen him. Which meant he had to have been out of the keep for some reason… She wanted to burst into angry tears as she absorbed the scene before her and what it meant, but she did not have the luxury of allowing herself to show such emotion. Brothwell would deem it weak, and now that they’d been foiled by fate, her future would be set by her stepbrother. She felt ill, but Maximilian and Esther needed her, so she swallowed the lump of fear lodged in her throat, trying to think of a lie that could possibly spare Esther and Maximilian. “I—”
“I suggest ye think before ye speak, Ada,” Marjorie said, her tone cutting as Ada would expect, but there was also an odd tension in her voice. “The boy already confessed ye were fleeing.”
“I’m sorry, my lady, I had to protect Esther. Brothwell threatened to kill her,” Maximilian burst out and was hit over the head for his efforts. He cried out, Esther bellowed, and Ada bit her tongue to stop herself from making things worse by speaking the harsh words she wanted to fling at Brothwell.
Ada’s heart squeezed at Maximilian’s bravery. “I ordered them to come with me,” Ada said calmly. “Please, ye kinnae hold them accountable.”
“But I do,” Brothwell replied coldly. He dismounted and started toward her, and as he did, Freya and Hella began to growl low, then louder as he advanced on her. “Order the hounds to stand down,” he bit out.
Ada opened her mouth to do so, but suddenly the dogs charged from her side and launched at him, Freya latching onto his arm and Hella to his leg. Brothwell howled in pain, and his mounted guards thundered toward them. Panicking, Ada closed the distance between Brothwell and her hounds, and flung herself in front of the dogs, who would surely be killed by the guards.
“Hella, Freya, release!” she cried, followed by, “Away!” They did as she commanded, just as the guards reached Ada and the first one dismounted, bow and arrow already lifting to shoot the hounds. Ada threw up her hands. “Brothwell, please. Please dunnae allow them to hurt my hounds. I swear,” she said, turning toward him and falling to her knees in front of where he stood, cradling his arm. “I swear they just thought to protect me. I’ll do as ye say. I’ll—”
“Shoot them,” Brothwell commanded.
“Nay!” Ada shouted.
“Those hounds were sent as gifts from the fae to Lady Ada,” Esther called out to Ada’s shock. The lie was bold. Ada had found the hounds in the woods years ago, before Brothwell, Marjorie, and their mother had come to live with them. Ada had nearly tripped over Hella and Freya one day when she’d been walking. They had been no more than two small white balls of fur at the time. Ada held her breath, praying Brothwell would believe Esther’s lie.
“From the fae?” Brothwell repeated, wariness in his voice now.
“Aye. Sent to watch over Lady Ada. If ye hurt the hounds, my lord, it could have an effect on her gift.”
“A verra good point,” Brothwell said, his tone congenial—too congenial for Brothwell. He motioned to Esther and Maximilian. “Take them to my special place and guard them.” Maximilian and Esther both glared at the guards as they started dragging Ada’s friends toward the waiting mounts.
“What are ye going to do with them?” Ada asked, her heart pounding with fear.
“That depends on ye, Ada,” Brothwell said, his voice cold. “If ye attempt to escape again, I’ll kill them.” She didn’t doubt his words, which contained no hint of compassion. “If ye dunnae do as I say, I’ll kill them. If ye displease me inanyway, I’ll have them beaten. Do ye ken me?”
She nodded, unable to choke out words through her constricted throat. With Esther and Maximilian captured, her own fate was sealed. She would sacrifice herself and her dreams to keep them safe.
