“Let me fetch the missing music for you,” her voice rang out, strong and clear as a bell. “Give me one more chance. If I succeed, you’ll have every last one of your beloved Mage’s songs. Then, if I displease you again, your next minstrel can sing them for you.”
“Tell me where the music is,” said the king, hunger in his gaze.
“In the borderlands,” she lied. “Let me go, and I’ll bring it back to you.”
The king narrowed his eyes. “Tell me where they are, and my tithe collector will fetch them.”
She shook her head. “Only I can find the sheets.”
“You think me a fool? That I trust you to return of your own free will?”
“Then compel her to return,” said Hawthorne. She glanced up at him, surprised. “Let me stand surety for her.”
Surety?
The king fell silent, considering the two of them. Some of the moths that had flown off earlier returned to tentatively resettle on his shoulders and head, opening and closing their wings once more.
“So be it.” The king’s voice had taken on a deadly edge. To Emeline, he said, “I will allow you to fetch the sheet music from the borderlands. And if you do not return”—he glared viciously at Hawthorne—“your surety will pay the price for your defiance.”
Pay the price?“What does that mean?”
“Just agree, Emeline,” said Hawthorne from beside her.
Annoyance rippled through her. No. She needed to know exactly what she was getting into, in case there was some trick.
“What price will Hawthorne pay if I don’t return?”
The king smiled. “If you don’t return, Hawthorne will be killed in your place.”
Her stomach bottomed out.Killed in my place?
She shook her head. “No. No way.” She didn’t even know where the sheet music was! There would be no bringing it back in time to save him.
“What other choice do you have?” said Hawthorne. “Either we all die here tonight, or you take this offer.” She glanced over her shoulder to where Sable and Rooke were also surrounded.They’d valiantly come to her defense tonight. She couldn’t let them die here.
But she refused to let Hawthorne die in her stead, and if she didn’t know where the sheet music was, that meant she’d have to return and take the punishment herself.
She swallowed, then glanced to the crowd of courtiers again, searching for her grandfather. There was still one more person she needed to save.
“Fine. I agree.” Her gaze found Pa, staring at her from behind the line of hedgemen. “But only if my grandfather comes with me.” She turned back to the king. “And once he’s free of the woods, I want your promise that you’ll never touch him again.”
The Wood King’s eyes sparked like black fire. But whatever anger she provoked, he kept it coiled. “Very well. It will be done. You have two days, Emeline Lark. If you are not back through my gate by sunset on the second day, your sentence will be carried out with Hawthorne standing in for you.”
He motioned to two guards, who started towards Hawthorne. Seeing them, Hawthorne sheathed his sword, unbuckled it, and handed it over. The two men forced him to turn, then bound his hands behind his back.
“Emeline …”
She nodded. “Sunset in two days. I know. I’ll be back before then.”
“No.” The word was firm, compelling her to look up at him. “If you have any sense, you’ll be far, far away by then.”
Emeline frowned. Was he telling her to run and let him perish?
“I’m not leaving you here to die.”
He looked down to the grass between them. “I’m too valuable to the king. He won’t let me come to harm.”
But the king was cursed and unstable—Hawthorne had saidso himself. And if the king’s behavior tonight wasn’t proof, there was the wall of skulls in the crypt, bearing witness. Emeline had no doubt the king would come through on his threat.
