Through The Leaded Glass (31 page)

“
Then we’ll get her back.” Gregorio
nodded toward the forest. “In there?”

Alex cleared his throat. “The
caves.”

Gregorio nodded. They’d played in this forest
as children. Had found the caves together. But there were so many.
This bastard could have her anywhere.

Alex led the men into the forest, the trail
more difficult but not hidden. “Thomas,” he said when the trees at
last gave way to the clearing by some of the caves. “You and your
men take the cave over there by the ridge. Tris, take Charles’s
contingent with you and find the one down the west side of the
hill. Nick, you and the Marston men take the one on the side of
that rise. Gregorio, you and your brothers will come with me to the
one by the stream. I think that’s the best choice, as it’s near a
water supply. If he’s planning to remain hidden for a while, he’ll
need it.” He nodded at the men. “This is where we’ll meet,
everyone. Be careful. I wouldn’t put it past the bastard to plan an
ambush.”

Chapter
Twenty-Eight

Her kidnapper left her alone in the cavern.
Kate wasn’t complaining, but she’d like to know if he was leaving
for good or merely to get more wood. If not the former, she hoped
it was the latter because this fire wasn’t going to last much
longer and for Alex to find her, he’d need some clues. The light,
the scent, and even the sound of wood popping weren’t the best, but
since she couldn’t scream, they were the best she had.

But she couldn’t count on Alex—well, yes, she
could; she just couldn’t count on him knowing where she was or
being able to find her. She had to act as if she were on her
own.

Taking a deep breath, she replayed her
survival course. Figure out what weapons were at her disposal and
what her best option was for getting free.

The cavern was six or seven feet high and
about that wide. The walls were jagged with crevices. She
shuddered, praying she wasn’t sharing the space with a bunch of
rodents. The two-legged rat in this cave was bad enough.

The ceiling was dome-shaped and centuries of
dripping water had pop-corned it with miniature stalactites. Only
two tiny holes allowed even a glimmer of sunlight in. Nothing was
getting out that way.

She searched the earthen floor for something
she could use to cut the ropes. Unfortunately, it was
surprisingly—and frustratingly—free of debris except for a small
pile of twigs and a tipped-over bucket beside it that held a tiny
puddle of water, and clothing had been draped over a nearby
rock—

Her nightgown.

Kate looked down. Oh, God. He’d changed her
clothes. She was in her costume from the Renaissance
Faire.

Her skin crawled and she yanked on the ropes,
but they didn’t budge.

Damn him. This was
not
how she was
going to end her life. She had plans, dammit. Emma, her job, her
friends… Alex.

She jerked the ropes again, but the it only
made her fingers go numb. Same thing with her legs. She was stuck,
and her only hope was to outwit this guy or hope Alex showed up
soon.

Neither were odds she liked, but they were the
only ones she had.

***

Alex found the bastard’s lair between a break
in the trees: the horse that’d been missing from the stables was
tied to a bush with the red-tailed hawk from the mews tethered near
it. He’d recognize that hood anywhere—Frederick had spent an
inordinate amount of time designing one “worthy of the Shelton
name.” Who was this man?

He and the gypsies dismounted in the trees
above the cave. “I’ll go in first. You follow on my
signal.”

“
We ought to take him together,
Alex.”

“
Let me scout it, Silverio. I don’t
want to give him any warning. Just watch my back.”

He untied the window from Herald. This wasn’t
how he’d wanted to give it to Kate, but if it came to her life or
his goodbye, there was no choice. He couldn’t live with himself if
she died in his time, but he
could
live knowing she was safe
in hers.

He ducked behind a bush, then felt Gregorio
come up behind him. “I guess it’d be useless to tell you to stay
with your brothers.”

“
Good guess.”

They crept toward the cave, navigating the
loose stones and branches littering the forest floor. “I’m going in
over that ledge,” Alex whispered.

Gregorio nodded and held out his hand. “Give
me the parcel. I’ll hand it to you when you’re down. I assume this
is important enough to take with you?”

“
You have no idea.” He handed it
over, then crawled down to the ledge overhanging the cave’s
entrance.

Just in time. Pebbles bounced out of the
cave.

Alex flattened himself onto the overhang and
Gregorio slipped behind a large evergreen, taking the window with
him.

And then
he
emerged.

Alex’s gut tightened and he reached for his
knife as the man peered out from the cave.
Step out, you
bastard
.

The man did, but it was to head in the
opposite direction. He took the hawk from its perch, then returned
to the cave.

Alex wanted to kill him. Had never wanted to
kill anyone as badly as he did then.

“
I’m going in,” he whispered to
Gregorio. “Send one of your brothers back to gather Nick and the
others, then come after me. Bear left when you go in. And bring
that parcel.”

Gregorio nodded and slipped back the way
they’d come. Alex climbed carefully over the edge. God above only
knew what that whoreson had done to Kate. He had to get to her. He
had his sword and the element of surprise on his side and a
well-honed knife in his boot.

And Kate would have the window.

Taking care not to slip on the damp moss
clinging to the rock around the opening, Alex climbed down, then
drew his sword, and entered the cave.

***

“
So, dear Kate, did you miss me?”
The prick showed up with a hawk on his arm.

The
hawk. From the field that day.
She’d seen him. “You stole that from Alex!”

“
You forget. I don’t need to steal
anything. It’s all mine. Alex stole it from me.”

“
What are you talking about? Alex
is the earl. Everything belongs to him. What’s he done to you to
make you hate him so much?”

“
What has he done?” The asshole set
the bird on a perch in a small niche. Poor thing was as much a
prisoner as she was. “What hasn’t he done? It’s Alex. It’s always
been Alex. Alex the perfect son, Alex the great knight, Alex the
landholder.” He spat. “Alex has always led a charmed life. He’s had
his face and good cheer to commend him. Then he had his land first,
a wife first, an heir first, when it should have been mine!” He
slammed a fist against the wall. “Mine!”

Kate stared at him. It wasn’t
possible...

He looked at her and that horror-movie smile
spread across his face again. “You know, don’t you? You know who I
am.”

“
But... but...” She swallowed.
“You... you’re… Frederick is dead!”

“
No, my dear, I am very much
alive.”

“
But they buried you.”

“
Again, you’re wrong. They buried
some poor, disfigured peasant in my coat. ‘Twas a better burial
than the man could have ever hoped to see. So, you see, we both
fared well from his death.”

Kate tried to wrap her mind around this turn
of events. “But you were killed in battle.”

He shook his head. “No, I was merely wounded.”
He indicated his eye and deformed arm. “Frederick Traverse, Earl of
Shelton, however, did die in that battle.”

“
I don’t understand. Why have
everyone believe you’re dead? If you’d survived, you could’ve
claimed your home again and all of this wouldn’t be necessary.” She
struggled against the ropes again, but it was no use.

He walked toward her. “I could have,
if
Richard of Gloucester—the rightful king—had killed that foreigner
who now sits on the throne. Then this deception wouldn’t have been
necessary.”

The guy was insane. Brilliantly insane. “You
sided with Richard the third?”

“
Of course. Henry was an upstart,
unfit to rule, as was proven when he ordered me to relinquish
Shelton to Alex. A
second
son.” He spat. “No, Richard was a
brilliant leader and I was his hidden man all those months,
pretending to support Henry, learning his plans.” He shook his
head. “Now, instead of being an honored man of the king, I must
deny my very existence and become someone else to reclaim what is
rightfully mine.”

“
But, surely, Alex
would—”

“
Oh, for Christ’s sake, Kate, Alex
would
not
. Nor would his precious king allow it. Frederick
of Shelton is now an enemy of that king. However, Reynard Lannion,
former stable hand at the Shelton estate, is a loyal subject.” He
leaned toward her. “Who will become a wealthy
landowner.”

“
You can’t honestly believe the
king will turn over these lands to someone he’s never heard of.
What makes you think he would?”

“
You have a quick mind.” Frederick
studied her, his look more admiring than she liked. “I see what
attracts Alex to you.” He leered at her. “Perhaps you’ll have
other
uses.”

Get his mind back on his plan
. “But how
would you, as Reynard, get these lands?”

“
By turning the current earl in as
a traitor to the crown.”

His smile made her skin crawl. And when he put
his cheek to hers, holding her head in place, she wanted to be
sick.

Kate closed her eyes as the words washed over
her.
Traitor
. He
couldn’t
—

He patted her cheek, pulled back and placed a
grimy finger beneath her chin. “If you hadn’t discovered the
Shelton ring, it would be done. The ring was to be found in the
possession of Yorkist supporters, the pledge of Shelton. And I,
Reynard Lannion, defender of Henry’s crown, would reap the
reward.”

Oh, yes. He could.

Chapter
Twenty-Nine

He knew this cave
. Just as he knew
where that piece of filth had taken Kate.

Alex bore left at the fork toward a series of
chambers, looking for the fourth one. It was large enough to set up
camp. And perfect for holding a prisoner.

He proceeded slowly in the dark, feeling along
the damp surface of the walls. Sounds echoed off the walls, murmurs
at first, becoming more pronounced the further he proceeded.
Voices. Still too distant to be discernible, but he’d reach them
soon enough.

Ever more cautious lest a kicked stone warn
the bastard, Alex readied his sword.

The flickering glow of firelight came around
the bend and he heard Kate’s voice. Thank God she wasn’t begging
for mercy or crying out in agony. Now he could focus his attention
on killing that bastard.

“
But you said the king wouldn’t
grant you those lands even if Alex did hand them over to you,” Kate
said.

“
That’s true,” that hideous
creature answered. “But that will change when I turn Alex in as a
traitor.”

Henry would never believe it, but that didn’t
stop Alex from wanting to rush in and thrust his sword through the
man’s gullet. By God, he’d take pleasure in pounding the life out
of him.

“
This king honors those loyal to
him. He needs support for his crown in these new years of his reign
and he needs Shelton in loyal hands. And since Alex passed over
Isobel’s lands for a landless, widowed nun, Henry will believe it
all the more.”

Damn. Though Henry would find it difficult to
believe, the king wanted no doubts about his lords. This bastard
would sow the seeds of distrust, but exactly how did he plan to
prove them?

***

Kate would so love to tell this jerk exactly
who he was dealing with. He thought he could manipulate one of the
Tudors? The guy was delusional.

Well, yeah, that was a given. “So since I have
the ring you’d planned to plant, how do you think you’re going to
prove Alex is a traitor now?”

“
Ah, Kate, you are magnificent in
your ardor.” The son-of-a-bitch was actually laughing at her. “Who
better to denounce Lord Shelton but the man’s betrothed—the woman
who wouldn’t permit herself to marry a man in the act of deposing
his monarch? Why, when you brought me, your faithful servant, such
news, ‘twas all we could do not to run to the king.”

“
You’re insane. I’ll never do that.
Alex is the most honorable, fair, loyal man I’ve ever met. His word
is his bond and anyone who knows him knows that. Including the
king.”

Frederick raised his hand. Kate flinched, but
she wasn’t about to back down. It was true, all of it.

He stared at her for a few moments.

Kate raised her chin.
Go ahead bastard, I
dare you
.