Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

"We’ve missed them."

Nathaniel’s pronouncement struck Zeke to his core. The rain still poured overhead, and the four men huddled under a stable awning. A storm brewed in the distance, lightning cracking across the sky and illuminating the world for a brief flash. It ought to have brought some kind of clarity, Zeke thought, but it only left the aftermath feeling darker and more dangerous.

“They must have stopped along the way, someplace we didn’t expect,” Nathaniel rubbed the back of his neck. “Perhaps they broke an axle or something and had to stray off course.”

Zeke scowled. It made no sense. If they were breaking for the border, they should be doing so with all haste. A broken axle might slow them down but it would hardly stop them as the Earl could just hire another coach.

“You don’t think something happened, do you?” Zeke asked. “To Eva I mean.”

Nathaniel shook his head. “I can’t imagine what.”

But Zeke could. He could imagine a thousand things, a thousand ways that her light might be extinguished, that he would never hold her in his arms again, never show her love as she ought to have seen it, never teach her the truth of the goddess she was, never worship happily at her feet.

“We’ll have to backtrack over the road then?” Zeke asked, forcing his mind to stay on track.

It seemed a dangerous waste of time, especially if they were wrong. But if the villain had veered off course, taken Evangelina a different route, they had to find it.

“Now might be the time to head onto Gretna,” the Lieutenant said to his cousin.

Lord Cartwright nodded to the man. “I think so. Cutler and I will head onward come first light, and make sure we’re there long before the Earl and his crew. If you get her back before then, just send word on to us and we’ll try to catch up along the road.”

“Should we have a rendezvous point?” asked the Lieutenant.

“Perhaps if we get separated,” agreed Zeke. “But I will tell you that if I get my wife back, I’m getting the hell away from anything even smelling a whiff of danger and not looking back.”

The men nodded their agreement and set about making their plan for the next day. They bedded down in the stable, the inn having no available rooms. Zeke huddled into a corner, pulling his coat tighter around him as he rested his head back against the wall of the stable. He tried to imagine Evangelina, to feel her, wherever she was at, but he could not, and that frightened him. Zeke was not precisely superstitious, but he believed that the was energy and things we did not fully understand, so having a sense of his wife even if she was not by his side was something he counted on.

He never should have distanced himself from her, that he knew now clear and true. She had wanted him, and he never should have done anything but follow her lead, her desires. Zeke had thought giving her his name was enough, and he’d never imagined how protecting her would take so much more. To his shock, he realized that he was glad to be there, on that road, huddled in a stable that smelled like horse and hay. Not that he was glad Evangelina had been taken – that was the single worst that had ever happened in his life, bar nothing – but that he was there. He was the one going after her, albeit with help, and he would have been nowhere else.

Andrew had been right to think he and Zeke wouldn’t do well on such a journey. Zeke liked feather beds, good wine, and beautiful bodies to paint or embrace. Yet there was a deep satisfaction under the gnawing fear in Zeke’s belly, a belief that he was where he was supposed to be and nowhere else. It unnerved him, but he knew he was being given a chance to stand up where previously, he had cowered.

The memory scraped at him, at a tender wound he hadn’t realized he still bore. The circumstances so similar, the rain and the stable, the fear and the sense of loss. If he closed his eyes, he could remember it so clearly even though it was a memory he’d fought long and hard to try and forget.

He had been out with his brothers and a few of the boys from the village that day, all younger than Rowan, who’d been sixteen at the time. Zeke had stuck close to Julius, the stablemaster’s son, who was fifteen and blond and glowed like the sun on a cloudless day. They’d been fishing and playing at the pond a few miles from Courtnay Park, but a summer storm had come on fast. They all rushed back to find shelter, but Zeke had offered to stay back with Julius to help him put away the tack and brush down the horses.

Zeke had liked Julius a great deal, and he got a bright, warm feeling inside him when their bare shoulders brushed while they’d sat that day by the pond. He’d wanted more of that feeling, so when they’d gotten the horses away, Zeke grabbed Julius and tugged him into an empty stall. Zeke touched Julius slowly, his hands on the other boy’s chest, his shoulders, before Julius reached out for him, too. Then lips collided and hands were everywhere, and they’d collapsed together into the straw. It was clumsy and ruthless, almost like wrestling, in the way young friends could be with each other, the comfort and the roughness of familiarity blending with the desperation in the bodies of young men, lit up and needy.

Zeke had thought it was thunder for a moment, the sound of the door banging open, until Julius had been yanked away. Zeke’s father had stood, his hand on Julius’s collar, his eyes full of fire. Anselm Marston hadn’t been a violent man, not even when he was at his angriest, but Zeke had feared the violence he saw in his father’s eyes that night. The man had been too furious to speak as he hauled Zeke back to the house and locked his son in his room. Zeke had been too terrified to sleep, too confused to put words to any of his feelings. In the morning, he expected to be hauled before his father and have to face his punishment.

His father had summoned him, but he did not lay out the penance his second son would have to do. Instead, with a cold voice, not even looking up from his papers, he had told Zeke:

“We are in search of a new stablemaster. Tell your mother to have someone make some inquiries.”

“Yes, Father,” Zeke responded.

They had never spoken of it again. Zeke’s stomach twisted at the memory, of how he had given up, how he’d not fought at all to try and help. He had no idea what happened to Julius and his father – he’d never wanted to know. He had been just a boy then, confused and afraid, but he’d wished he’d been a man. Zeke wished to the depths of himself that he could have been there to protect Julius, to protect himself. But there was no changing the past. All he had was a chance to do better, to be better, for the person who was now his. For Evangelina, he would not fail. He could not.

Burrowing deeper into himself, Zeke willed his body to sleep. He would need his strength if he was going to find her, save her, and bring her home.

Evangelina had a few vague memories of the night. Being bathed. Put to bed. The first by Mrs. Jenkins, and the latter, she thought, by Magnus. The next day, she discovered that they had stopped at the home of some local gentry eager to serve an Earl after she was jerked awake in the morning in a state of groggy confusion. Evangelina was then promptly shoved back into the carriage, and proceeded to fall back asleep. It was as if the strains of the previous days had finally caught up with her, cutting her strings as though she were a marionette, and Evangelina was little more than a lump tucked into the corner for the rest of the day. The constant vigilance, the devastation of her failed escape, exhausted her to the core of her being, her body revolting at the continued strain. She regained a few of her senses by late morning in order to realize she was hungry and scarf down all that was given to her, plus an apple Magnus supplied her after seeing that she was positively ravenous. Evangleina made no attempts at escape and barely even an attempt to talk.

Evangelina tried very hard to tell herself that her spirit was not broken, but it was beginning to look that way. This was the third day she was stuck in this carriage with the man – the people, for she was growing increasingly angry with Magnus for not letting her go, though he was likely right she would have contracted pneumonia and been far worse off – who had abducted her. And there had been no sign of Zeke or Rowan or Conway, or anyone. It was most disheartening.

She didn’t even make a fuss when, that night, Mrs. Jenkins stripped her of all her clothes, stripped the bed of any linens, and bound Evangelina’s hands and feet. They weren’t as well done as the first that had been on her when she was taken, but they were much better than the ones she’d loosened off herself in the carriage. Not that it mattered; there was no way out. She was bound, naked, fifteen feet off the ground, and alone as Mrs. Jenkins left her to her misery. Evangelina curled up on the sheetless bed, stared at the wall, and tried not to cry, knowing that if she did, likely she’d never stop.

Thinking of how Samira would tell her stories for comfort, Evangelina tried to bring one to mind. She thought of the tale of Ekalavya who was a young prince from a hunter tribe who dreamed of being the greatest of archers. He wished to study under Dronacharya, but Dronacharya turned him away as Ekalavya was from a lower caste. This devastated Ekalavya, but he would not give up on his dream, so he took the dirt from where Dronacharya had stood and fashioned the mud into an idol. Ekalavya treated that idol as a teacher, and he worked diligently on his archery day after day for years. He became better and better until his skill was so renowned that Dronacharya had to take notice, and he came to see the young archer. Ekalavya showed the man his idol that had been his guide, telling Dronacharya, “You are my Guru.” Dronacharya was worried that Ekalavya would become a better archer than Dronacharya’s favorite student, so Dronacharya demanded Ekalavya’s thumb as his Guru Dakshina, his teacher’s fee. Ever dutiful, Ekalavya cut off his thumb and gave it to Dronacharya, preventing him from ever being a greater archer than Dronacharya’s favorite.

Evangelina scowled. She hated that story. She didn’t know why it had come to mind. Perhaps because, as a little girl, she hadn’t hated it so much. She had never felt a kinship with Ekalavya, but with Arjuna, Dronacharya’s favorite. She had thought it so good of Dronacharya to protect Arjuna like that, but now she saw the deep injustice for Ekalavya, and that it was his caste in the first place that kept him from being taught as he deserved. The whole thing worsened her mood, and she did not want to think of injustice, pain, and clay idols.

She turned toward the window and saw the stars above her, making her eyes well with tears. Sighing, Evangelina rolled out of bed and padded over to the glass pane, walking like a hobbled horse and wrapping her arms around herself as best she could to try and keep out the chill, to little effect. Evangelina stared up at the stars, trying to spot constellations she had found previously with Zeke, but her vision blurred, and she closed her eyes hard rather than see the perfection of the heavens distorted with her misery.

The day had been arduous. Zeke was nearly falling out of his saddle when they finally reached the last inn they would stop at for the night. It was a muddled, confusing mess. If they had gotten past Evangelina and the Earl, how could there be no evidence of them at any of the previous inns? It was a complete failure, and Zeke was on the edge of despondency as they rode to the inn yard. If he didn’t get her back…

“We were wondering when you gents were going to show up,” the Lieutenant materialized out of the shadows.

“Christ, man, are you trying to give me a heart attack?” demanded Nathaniel. “What the hell are you doing here?”

The young man flashed a brilliant grin. “We’ve found them.”

Zeke’s stomach dropped. “Excuse me?”

The Lieutenant jerked his head back toward the inn. “The Earl, his big chap, the lady with them, and your wife, Mr. Marston. All inside.”

Zeke was off his horse and sprinting toward the inn in two seconds flat. Suddenly, something clamped hold of his arm and yanked him nearly off his feet. Lord Sidney Cartwright had grabbed him and was holding him like he was worried Zeke might bolt like an overeager filly.

“Let go of me!” snapped Zeke.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Nathaniel, now off his horse and joining them, grabbing Zeke by the collar, demanded.

“I’m getting my wife back,” Zeke practically snarled, wrenching himself free of the other man’s grasp.

“Right now? You’re going to storm into that inn with no plan, with the Earl and whatever muscle he has with him, while they have Evangelina, who could get caught in the crossfire?” demanded Nathaniel.

Zeke clenched his jaw. His every instinct told him to rush in, to grab her and run off like nothing else mattered, to throw caution to the wind. He was so close, how could he ne now wait? But he knew better, he did. He raised his hands in surrender.

“No,” said Zeke softly. “No, I won’t do that.”

For his sake alone, it mattered not, but for Evangelina’s safety, he would slow, he would stop, and he would think. He would even listen to the counsel of those around him.

“Good. Now, let’s form a plan,” Nathaniel said, turning to the cousins. “We’re going to look around outside, but the two of you go in and get a pint. Don’t draw any attention to yourselves, and for God’s sake don’t cause a scene. See what you can find out, then come back out and tell us if there are any opportunities.”

“Right,” the Lieutenant gave a jaunty salute and started off with his cousin.

“Now,” Nathaniel turned to Zeke. “You take a loop around the place and I’ll have a look in the stables.”

Zeke nodded, taking off at a brisk and measured pace around the inn so as not to draw attention to himself. Surprise was their best ally in all this. The Earl would be on high alert, knowing that the Marstons would not let one of their own go without a fight. The inn itself wasn’t a large place, couldn’t boast more than five or six rooms, so if Evangelina was not in the main room, which he did not expect her to be, it hopefully would not be too difficult to find her. But of course, he could hardly go marching into every one of them to locate her. He would, though, if it came to that. He would do far more if necessary. Zeke touched the pistol at his side; he would do anything, whatever it came to, to bring her home safely.

He rounded back to his starting place with nothing to report, finding Nathaniel emerging from the stables.

“Anything?” asked Zeke.

“I sliced the harnesses so if they want to make a getaway they’ll have to do it on horseback or find another carriage,” said Nathaniel. “Which won’t be immensely difficult but it should at least slow them a bit if they try to flee with her.”

“And what about pursuit?” asked Zeke.

Nathaniel clenched his jaw. “It would certainly be better if we were not pursued. Can Mrs. Marston ride?”

Zeke hesitated. He didn’t know, actually, which sent a wave of self-loathing over him. He was her husband; he should bloody well know if she could ride.

“She was raised in town,” he said carefully. “I do not think her skills are noteworthy, or at least, cannot be fully counted upon.”

Nathaniel nodded. “Then she’ll likely have to sit with one of us. That will slow a horse down a bit, even if she is a small woman. It was always a good idea that they not know she’s gone for as long as possible, but now I think it imperative.”

“Of course,” Zeke agreed. “What do we do now?”

“We wait for Culter or Sidney to tell us what’s going on inside,” said Nathaniel plainly, referring to the cousins.

They didn’t have to wait long, which was quite good as Zeke was going out of his mind. Was she bound? Gagged? Being held at gunpoint? Was she hurt, even unconscious? It was unthinkable, and yet it could be true. The two men reemerged, making their way into the shadows where Zeke and Nathaniel waited.

“Well?” Zeke asked before they had even come to a halt.

“They’re there,” said Lord Cartwright. “The Earl, the tall, red haired man, and the woman, but no sign of your wife.”

“She must be upstairs then,” said Zeke. “Can we find out what room she’s in?”

“I’ll go charm a barmaid or bribe the innkeeper,” said Nathaniel.

“No need,” the young seaman puffed his chest a little. “I had a nice talk with a rather lovely little serving girl named Fanny. Said they were all booked up because the aforementioned patrons had taken the last two rooms in the hall, furthest from the stairway.”

Zeke craned his neck to the building, ascertaining that meant the furthest from where they stood in that moment. His pulse leapt. He knew where she was.

“I’ll climb up and get her,” said Zeke. “If the three of you could make sure no one comes up that way.”

“They should be sitting down to eat just now,” said the Lieutenant. “So it’s perfect timing.”

Zeke cringed at the word perfect. Nothing about this had yet seemed perfect.

“I’ll watch your back from the ground,” said Nathaniel, unholstering a pistol from under his jacket. “And we’ll have a horse ready for you and your lady wife. The two of you get the hell out of here, and if the Earl and his cronies decide to pursue, we’ll do our best to stop them and lead them astray.”

Zeke nodded. “Good.”

“We’ll go back inside,” said Lord Cartwright. “Try and make sure they don’t head upstairs.”

“And stall them if they do,” his cousin finished.

“Gentlemen,” Zeke nodded.

He was keenly aware what they were risking; a run in with a dastardly Earl who had God-knew-what riding on this was no small thing. He plainly had muscle with him, and these men were in danger. They were willingly putting themselves in danger for a woman they didn’t even know.

“Thank you,” Zeke added.

“Don’t thank us yet,” said Nathaniel, a little darkly. “Let’s go.”

The cousins moved toward the inn once more and Nathaniel and Zeke saddled the horses, bringing Zeke’s with them when they stole through the dark night toward the windows they suspected were the right ones. Zeke peered up at the last two rooms, judging he would try the one on the end first. If they wanted her hidden away, it would stand to reason that they would move her as far as possible. Thankfully, the stone that built the inn was far from uniform and made for a series of hand- and footholds as Zeke began to climb.

“Careful there,” Nathaniel melted back into the shadows. “If you fall and break something, we’re in a world of hurt.”

“I’ve got it,” Zeke reassured.

He had not been the world’s most athletic boy, but he had always appreciated a good climb. Rooftops, treetops, hilltops, they all did very well to get a better vantage for a sketch, and it made him rather adept in this area. Though he was not about it nearly as much anymore, Zeke made quick work to the window and hauled himself up to peer through the pane.

The face on the other side nearly made him lose his footing. He was staring directly up at Evangelina, whose visage morphed into the picture of surprise. Eyes wide, mouth open, a shocked figure in the extremely faint moonlight. He tapped the glass lightly, seeming to pull her from her trance, and she thumbed open the latch. Throwing the window open with both hands close together, Evangelina gasped.

“Your knight is here to save you, my lady,” said Zeke a bit wryly, and very quietly.

“It really is you,” Evangelina breathed as he moved up to stand on the ledge, leaning against the sill. “I thought I was imagining things.”

“Yes, well–” started Zeke.

He stopped as he peered in at her, blinking hard as if the pale light was deceiving him.

“Are you…naked?” he hissed, seeing the shapes of her in the dark.

Evangelina nodded, suddenly moving to cover herself with her hands he realized were bound, her eyes brimming with tears. His gut clenched. He wanted to vomit; he wanted to spill blood. Zeke moved quickly, fluidly, through the window and into the room.

“Did they hurt you?” Zeke snarled as he reached for her hands, pulling them away from her body. “Who was it?”

Evangelina shook her head. “Not like you’re thinking. I’m fine.”

“Then why aren’t you wearing clothes?” Zeke asked as he worked the ropes, trying very hard to keep his voice level.

Evangelina had been through a hell of an ordeal, and it wouldn’t do anyone any good for him to get upset near her, even if he wasn’t upset at her. She needed comfort, not fury, and more than anything, she needed out of there.

“They didn’t want me to run,” Evangelina said quietly. “Even if I got out of my binds.”

So they tied her up in a freezing room, naked, with not even a sheet to cover her or that disgusting mattress? Zeke would happily commit murder.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered, managing to free one wrist.

Zeke would have thought it a cold day in hell when he could stand with a naked woman in his arms and have the part of her most interesting to him be her wrists. But as he got them loose, he saw they were raw and sore, the poor thing. He lifted one and kissed it tenderly.

“Are your feet bound as well?” he asked, slinging his coat off and wrapping it around her.

The coat dwarfed her, and a powerful surge of something fierce and protective raced through Zeke’s being. She was so small and so vulnerable, and it was his coat that shielded her from the world. He had every right to this, to bundle her up and take her away, to keep her safe as he hadn’t before, because she was his.

“Yes,” Evangelina said.

“Here,” he flicked free a knife from his boot and handed it to her.

Evangelina tightened the coat around her waist and bent to saw through the ropes at her feet while Zeke looked around the room for something he might use as a way to help Evangelina down. He was with her, but it was not as though they could waltz out the front door. Everything hung in the balance until they were safely away. As soon as Evangelina finished her task, she turned to hand him back the knife. Something stopped him, though.

“Keep it,” Zeke said. “Tuck it in your pocket or something.”

Evangelina closed the blade and dropped it into one of the coat pockets.

“Come on,” he urged, drawing her back close to the window again. “We’ll get out of here and safe. Then get you something to wear. And eat.”

“And drink?” she said hopefully as she peered over the edge of the window.

He smiled, reaching up to cup her cheek. Her skin was warm and soft, dewy fresh even after being hauled across the country like a trussed up animal.

Zeke meant every syllable when he answered: “Whatever your heart desires.”

“Then I have it already,” said Evangelina, putting her hand on his chest.

Zeke tried to swallow the lump that formed in his throat at her words. Instead, he turned slightly away from her and started to maneuver himself out of the window.

“I’ll go down first, then you hang from the window, and when you drop, I’ll catch you,” he said as he got his feet on the ledge again.

“Very well,” agreed Evangelina, concern obvious in her voice.

Zeke didn’t like it either, of course, but the Earl had done his villainous job well. There was nothing in the room Evangelina could use to climb out, which had plainly been the design. She would simply have to get down as far as she could, then he would catch her, hopefully neither of them injuring themselves in the process.

Zeke made it about three quarters of the way down when he heard a ruckus from the ground floor. He hopped down the rest of the way and looked up at Evangelina, who was perched on the sill, ready to follow his instruction. The look in her wide eyes was trepidatious, but so utterly trusting it threatened to split his heart in two.

“Come on darling,” he said, gently but firmly. “Let’s hurry now.”

Her eyes went wide, and she maneuvered to hold the sill while letting her body lower down slightly, inch by inch. Zeke watched her whole body extend as she clung to the thin wood.

“Now, Eva,” he said. “I’ll catch you.”

With absolute blind faith, Evangelina let go of her hold and tumbled down, straight into Zeke’s chest. He caught her with an exclaimed “oof” as he absorbed the impact of her small, sweet frame against his own, her bare feet lightly hitting the ground.

“We did it!” Evangelina turned to him, still in his arms, her eyes wide and smiling.

A shriek escaped from inside the inn and Zeke froze. Another shriek followed, this time closer to the window.

“She’s gone! They’ve kidnapped her!” the shouts of a woman floated through the window.

“Time to go!” Nathaniel’s voice cut through the cool night like a blade.

Zeke clasped Evangelina’s hand and drug her forward, practically tossing her up onto the horse and not waiting an instant for her to get settled before he leapt on behind her.

“There!” the sound came loud and clear through the night. “There they go with my charge!”

Zeke spared a glance back as the woman who had been part of the plot to take Evangelina pointed out the window, still shrieking. Zeke bit out a curse.

“Go!” hissed Nathaniel. “Get her out of here! We’ll distract them, get them to run after us. Get as far away as you can.”

“Godspeed,” said Zeke as he kicked the horse in the flanks and the creature lurched forward.