Chapter 237

I can’t see what is happening, but I can hear it. Bethany’s terrified shriek. Her thump against the ground. The slide of a sword leaving a sheath.

“Drop that weapon,” Caleb commands.

“Everyone here knew I had no intention of leaving these two alive,” Gladys says, ignoring Caleb’s demand. “These are your friends, yes, Caleb? Your closest allies? Do you feel your rage rising? Your sanity slipping away?”

“What purpose could you possibly have for triggering my rage here and now?” Caleb insists. “Don’t you understand that I would kill you first? Surely you don’t have a death wish?”

“My rebellion will be realized, whether I live to see it or not,” Gladys replies. “While I cannot kill your consort from this distance, I can certainly kill her friend.” She laughs cruelly, in a way that slices through my heart.

My fear for Bethany is palpable. I wish I could reach through the bars and save her.

“The two of you will watch everyone you care for die before you meet your own end,” Gladys says. “Then you will join them in death. None of you are getting out of here alive.”

“Bethany!” I call.

Caleb, growling, wastes no more time. In a flash of fur and fangs, he sprints through the bars. They bend around the shape of his body, not even slowing him as he pounces through.

I wish I could see in the dark.

There’s a clank of metal and then a grunt.

Tristan steps forward and so do I, trying to see. My eyes are slowly adjusting. I can see shadowy figures now, enough that I can squeeze through the opening of the bars and approach who I hope is Bethany standing in the cage opposite Tristan’s.

“Bethany?”

“Harper?”

She turns as I approach, and suddenly, our arms are around each other in a tight hug. My dear friend, safe.

Thank the gods!

Tristan more carefully steps out into the hallway between the cells. Reaching down, he grabs some flint, and then lights the two torches that had been doused between the cells. As they spark, fire igniting, light fills the space and I can finally, blessedly see.

Caleb has disarmed Gladys. He holds her sword now, as she cowers on the ground. Towering over her, he could so easily kill her if he wanted to. He looks for all the world like he wants to.

“Do it,” Gladys snaps, her upper lip curled with disgust as she gazes up at her step-son and king. “Kill me and be done with it. But know that when my army finds my body and learns that you have done it, nothing will stop their wrath. Go on. Do it quickly. They will arrive at any moment.”

Caleb stands very still. “You tried to kill Harper,” he growls. “For that alone, you should die.”

“If you let me live, I will try again,” Gladys taunts.

Gently I ease away from Bethany and step into the other cell. Without hesitation, I walk right up to Caleb and wrap my arms around him from behind, stopping him from acting.

I’m not sure he would actually kill this woman, especially as we are unharmed. Dangerous as she is, she is still an old woman and still his step-mother, even if that part was a more recent revelation.

But she clearly wants him to kill her, which means her death is somehow part of her plan. A plan I cannot let Caleb fall victim to.

I think fast, searching my mind for answers. It isn’t difficult to surmise what she might be thinking, giving all the facts that have led to this moment.

“She wants to be a martyr,” I say. “She wants you to kill her, so that her rebels will finally unite under one banner and push for war. The rebels won’t care what she’s done to us. They will only see that you have killed an old woman.”

Gladys is troublesome at best, a traitor and a warmonger at worst. By rights, the King should end her life. But, as she is an old woman with a physical handicap, and so beloved by her people here, to kill her would ignite a whole new set of trouble for Caleb.

Right now, the rebellion is infighting, but killing Gladys would unite both sides against Caleb.

That can’t come to pass.

“Don’t listen to her,” Gladys snaps. “Kill me. You know you want to.”

“Someone’s coming,” Tristan says.

“My soldiers have infiltrated the stronghold. The army at the gates is just a distraction. The rest entered through the secret passage,” Gladys says. “If you don’t kill me now, you will lose your chance.”

“Don’t do it,” I tell him.

Caleb’s tense body gives nothing away. To kill or not to kill. He does not share his thinking, and without seeing his face, I can’t begin to guess even which way he is leaning.

“They are coming down the stairs,” Tristan says, his voice tight.

He beckons Bethany to him, and she rushes closer. They are closest to the hole in the wall, but neither makes a move further, watching us. They aren’t willing to leave without us.

“If we are going,” Tristan says. “We have to go now.”

“No,” Caleb says. He tosses the sword to the side. It lands harmlessly on the ground. “No more running.”

Caleb turns in my arms, putting his back to Gladys. He takes my hands and leads me out into the hallway. There we meet Tristan and Bethany. Caleb urges me to stand with them, then he turns toward where I presume the thunder of footsteps is coming from.

“Stay behind me,” Caleb says. “This ends here.”

Tristan gently positions Bethany and me so that, while we three are behind Caleb, he is still in front of us, ready to protect us from any would-be attacker who breaks through Caleb’s line of defense.

As we all brace ourselves for a fight, Gladys slowly sits up.

Soon, her soldiers come barreling into the corridor, rushing toward us with hate in their eyes and torches and guns in their hands.

Gladys, grabbing at the bars, somehow manages to pull herself to her feet. Before the fighting can begin, she places herself in the way of her soldiers.

“Wait,” she says. The soldiers, seeing Gladys, immediately stop. They look with curiosity and concern from her to Caleb and back again.

Gladys ignores them, turning back once more to Caleb.

“I have a proposition for you,” Gladys says.

This is a far cry from her early taunting to have Caleb kill her. Perhaps she has reasoned that this plan has failed. As cunning and crafty as she is, it makes sense that she would have contingency plans. She probably too had contingency plans for her contingency plans.

Caleb doesn’t say a word, but he doesn’t start throwing punches either. That’s probably a good sign.

He knows better than to trust her. He might have almost fallen into rage before, but I don’t think he would make the same mistake a second time.

“We could kill each other,” Gladys says.

“You will all fail,” Caleb says, full of confidence.

Gladys shows no reaction. She simply continues. “Or, we end this once and for all. Here and now.”

Caleb pauses, considering.

Bethany and I share a look of confusion.

“How?” Caleb asks.

“I propose a challenge for the kingdom, and for your consort,” Gladys says. “A fight to the death between you and Samuel, winner takes all.”