Page 22 of Heart of the Hunter (Band of Bastards #3)
H awk had specifically instructed Hunter not to kill Baron Edmund Payne. He was to get in Castle Whyte, find something incriminating against the man, and get out.
Leave nothing unturned.
Leave nothing behind.
Leave no trace.
It was what he did best. And why he was the best. Nothing and no one could deter him from the objective.
Many men had tried to bring Hunter low, and none had succeeded.
Until the past night, and then everything had gone to hell faster than the devil could hunt down a damned soul.
And all it took was Anora in breeches with her hair tucked into a cap to abandon his mission and leave a trail of bodies on his way out.
Killing the baron would mean defying Hawk and risking severe punishment by the crown if he could not prove a justification.
Hawk, of all people, would understand defying a direct command for the sake of a woman, but the king was not so forgiving—Hawk had the scars on his back as proof.
But even if he couldn’t have Anora, he would never let the baron have her.
The red veil of anger slowly cleared from Hunter’s eyes as he lifted his gaze to look at the others around the table. Sumayl, Frode, and Anora stared at him in varying degrees of disbelief.
“I meant no disrespect.” Hunter combed his hand through his hair, disgusted with his lack of control.
Sumayl stooped to right the toppled bench and Anora pushed to her feet to return to the sideboard and continue chopping.
Frode studied Hunter warily for a long moment, as though assessing how danger of a man he really was and whether he wanted him anywhere near his daughter.
Then he dropped his forehead onto his fingertips and rubbed at his temples as he asked, “How could the brooch have been stolen, Anora? I was here when Callow came for it. He said the design was exactly as hoped and he was certain his daughter would be pleased with it.”
“The brooch I presented was the second I made,” Anora admitted as she absently chopped a turnip into chunks.
“When the first was stolen, it seemed a direct attempt to undermine me, to make me feel vulnerable. If I failed to deliver the piece after it had been paid for, it would damage my reputation and likely end my chances to be a goldsmith in my own right. I couldn’t let that happen. ”
“I would have helped you. I wouldn’t have let you fail,” Frode insisted. Hunter could see the defeat on the older man’s face from his daughter’s lack of faith in him, whether perceived or real.
“I know, Papa,” she said in a sympathetic tone as she stopped the stew preparations to look at her father, “but if I went to you to remedy the situation, then I was giving the thief what he wanted, which was for me to fail. And if Edmund had aught to do with it, going to you only reinforced his assertion that I need a man to protect me.”
Anora was an expressive speaker, but it made Hunter nervous to see her emphasizing her words with her hands when she was waving a large knife in one of them. He went to her and carefully reached for the knife handle. “Sit and talk to your father. I’ll ready the stew.”
She still wore her brother’s clothing, but she’d removed the cap he’d given to her and a rope of pale-yellow hair was draped over her shoulder.
He smelled the dampness of the forest on her, but also the scent of something brighter that was uniquely her and he involuntarily drew closer to her as he gently tugged the knife handle from her grip.
He suspected she was just as affected as he by the light touch of their hands because the expression on her face changed from resistant to mildly confused.
The length of his body brushed against hers as he stepped around her to the sideboard in a motion that felt oddly intimate and familiar.
“This is still my shop, Anora,” Frode said gruffly. “And my home. You were not right to keep this from me. Sumayl should have crafted new locks immediately after it happened.”
“I thought about the locks,” Anora said.
She settled onto the short bench he had just vacated so that her back was not to him at the sideboard.
“But the thief obviously has a quality set of pass keys to so easily open both locks. Changing them would not be a deterrent. Since the day of the thefts, we’ve not all been gone from the shop at the same time, and the doors are barred from the inside when we are here. ”
Frode turned toward Sumayl. “I have the pass keys you made for Baldwin still in the chest upstairs. Have you made any others?”
“Of course not,” Sumayl said firmly. Hunter knew the blacksmith was one of the most talented in the region and his work making locks was some of the finest he’d seen. “And I made those only to better understand how to create the most secure locks.”
“Baron Payne would have access to smiths willing to make him the keys,” Hunter said. Smiths skilled in the art of locks were hard to come by, but besides Sumayl, there were several others in the realm. The penalty for making illicit keys was steep, but for a good price, it was possible to get them.
“ If it was the baron,” Frode said, shaking his head as though he could not fathom him capable of such a deed. “He was here only six or seven days ago to inquire after our well-being.”
“He is not a good man, Papa,” Anora said earnestly. Hunter agreed with her assessment, but he would keep that bit of information to himself for the time being. “Nothing was taken other than the brooch I had made for Callow’s daughter. The other gems and metals were not touched.”
“Where did you have brooch?” Hunter asked. He didn’t like the idea that nothing else stolen. The brooch would be the most recognizable and hardest to sell. If the thief was after money, they would have taken the metal and gems, which could easily be sold.
“I had locked it in the chest per usual while we were at the festival.” She pointed to the heavy chest attached to the wall, secured with metal straps and heavy lock.
“The only people who knew about the brooch were you, Sumayl, Callow, and Edmund. Callow had nothing to gain from having the piece he commissioned for his daughter stolen. But Edmund would benefit if I were frightened into agreeing to his proposition. And after Madam Ruby told me it was the baron who paid her with the pendants, I had no doubt he was the thief, or someone he hired.”
Hunter’s stomach clenched like he’d just been punched.
If he hadn’t stayed away because of his inability to keep a clear head when near Anora, he may have known about the theft and the baron’s threats.
“When did Baron Payne start to press you into becoming his…mistress?” He nearly choked on the word.
“The first time was after I again refused his proposal to be his wife more than a twelvemonth past.”
Hunter pushed the knife through a fat onion.
“You didn’t mention him as one of your suitors last night.
” It was not unheard of for lesser barons to marry the daughters of wealthy merchants, and Hunter knew well why Edmund, or any man, would want a prize like Anora for wife and bedmate.
She was stunningly beautiful with her elegant stature and striking features.
Hunter was not immune to her beauty, but it had been radiance of her smile when she laughed that had first caught his attention and made his heart pound like a drum in his chest.
“You’re right, I did not. I didn’t think it necessary,” Anora said, obviously peeved again.
“Not necessary?” He slammed the blade through the onion again as he blinked back the water pooling in his eyes from the pungent aroma.
“Not necessary when I found you sneaking around the castle of a man who has requested your hand in marriage? And has pressed you to become his mistress? This is information I need to know if I am going to help you.”
“I didn’t ask for your help,” Anora snapped.
“You’re getting it anyway.” He’d sleep on the floor of the shop with his back to the door for the rest of his days if that’s what it took to keep her safe from Edmund Payne.
Even before Hawk had sent him on his mission to find out who the baron was aligning with and what he was planning, Hunter knew Baron Payne was a despicable man with sadistic tastes.
They suspected Edmund was meeting with Marcher lords conspiring against the crown.
And like many men, he had a penchant for frequenting brothels on his journeys, but he had little care for what shape he left the women in when he departed.
The thought of him putting his hands on Anora in any capacity made Hunter want to return to his old ways of killing men in the dead of night just because they were brutes deserving of nothing better.
“I didn’t ask for it last night, either, and look how that turned out.
” Anora threw her hands up in the air in frustration and glared at him.
He had picked up the onions to bring to the pot hanging over the low flame in the hearth but stopped midstride to meet her angry glare.
Before he could respond, Frode interjected.
“Stop, both of you.”
Hunter dropped the onions in the pot then returned to the sideboard feeling duly chastised.
“Anora,” Frode commanded. “Tell me what happened yesterday and last night.”
“I went to Castle Whyte, knowing the baron was not there, to see if I could find the brooch or any more of stolen pendants.”
“He could have come by the pendants without having stolen them himself,” Frode said. “And how did you know he was not at the castle?”
“Before he let me fetch you from above stairs, he told me he had business to attend to in the south of Wales but would return by Michaelmas at the end of the month. He said I had until then to consider his proposition and after that he would not be responsible for anything that happened to me or the shop.”
A red veil of anger clouded Hunter’s vision again, but before he could protest, both Frode and Sumayl voiced their outrage.