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The guard moved forward, but Jacob held up his hands. “Now wait a minute, my lady. I saw you come up here so I came to escort you to the great hall. That is all.”
“He doesn’t seem to have a weapon on him, my lady,” said the guard, trying to peruse him. “Perhaps he tells the truth.”
“He’s got a dagger hidden under his cloak,” she informed the man.
“Nay, I don’t,” Jacob answered, hands still in the air. “Go ahead and check if you’d like.”
The guard stepped forward to search him. Jacob took advantage of the situation by knocking the man out with a punch to the face. Maira watched with wide eyes. If the guard had tried to attack him, Jacob might have had to use his blade and it could have been deadly. But seeing Maira’s face, he realized he couldn’t kill a man in front of her. It just wouldn’t seem right. Instead, he punched the man again, just to make sure he stayed down.
Maira’s eyes met with his and, for a moment, the world stood still. Neither of them moved. Her gaze lowered to his mouth telling him she was thinking about the kiss they had shared. He was thinking about it, too. But then the moment was broken when she went for her sword fastened to her back that hadn’t been there during their tour of the castle. Jacob snapped out of the momentary trance he’d been in and managed to move faster than her. With one kick, he knocked the sword from her hand and it slid across the floor with a loud clang. Then he grabbed her wrists and some rope from the wall and tied her hands together.
“You should have gone to the great hall, my lady, instead of retrieving your sword and coming here. It pains me to do this, but I can’t let you ruin my mission.”
Will stuck his head in the door just then. “The weapons are loaded and we’re ready to go,” he said, looking first at the guard on the floor and then at Maira. “What’s going on here?”
“Lady Maira is going to be tied up for a while or I’d ask her to join us,” Jacob answered
“Guards!” Maira shouted, but Jacob clamped his hand over her mouth. “Will, give me something to use as a gag. I won’t have her calling out again and alerting everyone we’re here.”
“Use this,” said Will, tossing a tunic to him from a hook on the wall. Jacob pushed Maira down in a chair and then ripped the tunic, shoving it into her mouth.
“Nay, don’t –”
He cut her off short, reaching around her to tie her to the chair.
“Go to the wagon quickly,” Jacob told Will over his shoulder. “Get over the drawbridge fast because someone might have heard her and think to close the gate.”
“What about you, my lord?” asked Will.
Jacob noticed Maira look up, hearing Will use his title. He clenched his jaw and shook his head, wanting to wring the boy’s neck for calling him that in front of her. “Leave the extra horse. I’ll follow in a minute. Now go!”
“Aye,” said Will, running out the door.
Jacob felt Maira press up closer to him as he tied her tighter. The blasted feel of her hands against him made him randy. All he could think about was kissing her again, but this should be the last thing on his mind at a time like this.
“Until we meet again, my lady,” said Jacob, fondly running his fingers over her cheek, and then turning and heading out the door.
Maira pulledthe man’s jewel-hilted dagger out from the folds of her gown, holding the blade between her tied hands. The fool didn’t even know she took it. For being a thief, he was not very good at his profession or he would have felt an amateur pilfering his weapon. She used it first to cut the gag from around her mouth. “Sebastian, get up,” she called out to the guard. “Wake up! I need your help.”
The guard stirred and moaned as Maira tried to cut the ropes on her hands but at the angle of the blade, it was impossible. Since the thief didn’t tie her feet, she was able to stand. With the chair still tied to her, she walked over and kicked the guard.
“Get up! We’ve been robbed,” she shouted.
Sebastian’s eyes fluttered open and he jumped to his feet.
“Lady Maira, did he hurt you?” He pulled his dagger from his belt and cut her free from her bindings.
“Nay, and you are lucky he didn’t kill you.”
“Aye. I wonder why he didn’t.”
“We can speculate about that later. Right now, we need to tell Lady Ernestine that we’ve been robbed. She’ll have to send out a search party right away.”
“She won’t do that,” said Sebastian with a shake of his head.
“But she has to. They stole weapons, I’m sure of it.”
“Lady Maira, you don’t understand. There aren’t enough soldiers left at Castle Rothbury right now to pursue this. If the earl and the rest of the men were here, it would be a different story. But with the little forces we have on hand right now, we need to stay and protect Lady Ernestine and defend the castle.”
