Page 56 of The King’s Man (Guardians of the Crown #2)

K it woke to the sound of the key turning in the lock. He sat up too fast, his right hand striking the wall behind him and his barely healed ribs pulling painfully. He subsided with a curse against the wall as a lantern shone in his eyes.

‘Is this him?’ he heard the turnkey ask.

‘This is him. Leave us.’

‘Thurloe!’ Kit recognised the voice. ‘Pleased with your work?’

Thurloe set the lantern down on the table.

‘For what it’s worth, Lovell, this was not my doing.

One of your comrades suggested you may be found at The Ship Inn, and an enterprising young officer decided to see if, by any chance, you were foolish enough still to be in residence.

The first I knew of it was when your wife arrived at my door. ’

‘A few hours, Thurloe, and I would have been gone. Fate is a fickle mistress,’ Kit said bitterly.

‘It is,’ Thurloe agreed.

‘Have you come to get me out of here?’ Kit asked, without hope.

‘There is nothing I can do,’ Thurloe replied. ‘Justice must now take its course.’

‘Justice?’ Kit spat the word. ‘You and I both know there’s no justice here!’

‘There will be a trial. We are constituting a special court to deal with the traitors.’

‘Not so much a case of justice being done, but of being seen to be done?’ Kit snarled. ‘Just as it was for King Charles?’

‘It’s not as if any of you are innocent of the charges. I’ve seen the evidence. To a man, you are all quite guilty.’

Kit coughed and groaned, pressing his injured hand to his chest.

‘Do you need a doctor? I will send my personal physician to see to you.’ Thurloe’s concern appeared genuine.

‘Don’t bother,’ Kit snorted contemptuously. ‘If I am seen to have your personal attention it will arouse greater suspicion, will it not?’

‘Probably,’ Thurloe conceded, ‘but I want you to know that I wish there could have been some other way.’

‘You have a conscience, Thurloe? How touching. So I am to be tried?’

‘Yes. There is too much evidence against you. Your friends dig a deeper hole for you by the day.’

Kit looked away.

‘You have, of course, yet to be interrogated,’ Thurloe said.

‘I can hardly wait.’

‘It will go better for you if you admit your involvement.’

Kit looked up at Thurloe and gave a grim smile. ‘Will it, Thurloe? How will it go better for me?’

‘It may mean the difference between the noose, or … ’

‘Transportation to some godforsaken place as a slave, like my brother? A lifetime of a thousand deaths? How is that better? All I want is my freedom, Thurloe. God help me, I earned it.’

Thurloe’s cold eyes rested on his face. ‘You’re a card player, Lovell. There are no certainties in life except death.’ Thurloe replaced his hat on his head and turned to go.

Kit looked at his back.

‘Thurloe, if nothing else, will you see that my brother is released?’

‘That is already in train. He will be returned to England as soon as my orders reach Barbados. On that, you have my word.’

‘Thank you.’

Thurloe stopped in the doorway and, without looking around, said quietly. ‘Admit your involvement, Lovell.’

‘And?’

‘I will not make any promises, but deny the charges and you will certainly hang.’