Page 55

Chapter 49

Theo

The Rydder knights had been on high alert all day.

The Grims were armed now.

Because of Theo. Because Theo had granted them a way into LAO. The guilt of that had etched itself into every muscle and bone in his body. But the papers were lying, he was sure of that. Whatever had happened to Constance Holtzfall, the Grims weren’t behind it. The Grims had still been loading weapons out of LAO when she had died.

And yet, still knowing that, the guilt wouldn’t leave him.

Finally, with dusk drawing in, the Holtzfalls were starting to dissipate, returning to their own corners of the city. That was when Benedict found Theo.

“Lotte,” he said without preamble. “Where is she?”

The question caught Theo off guard. “I wasn’t assigned to guard Ottoline—”

“I’ve seen you.” Benedict cut him off impatiently. “Both of you around each other. I’m not blind, Theodric, and you’re not the first knight to look at a Holtzfall like that, no matter what you might think. Now, do you know where she is?”

Theo had no reply for that. But he wouldn’t do Benedict the disservice of lying to him. “I’ll search the gardens” was all he said, folding himself back into duty, the way he had been taught to his whole life. “Someone should search the house.”

“It will destroy you, you know.” Benedict paused, heading back toward the house. “Being that close to her and knowing that any closer will be the end of you. It will tear you apart in ways you don’t yet understand.”

Theo hadn’t made it far when he caught sight of two figures moving swiftly in the dusk. For just a second, his hand dropped to his sword. Something in the urgency of the way they moved set him on edge. And then they dashed by the windows of the house, the light catching them.

“Edmund.”

Edmund Rydder had never had a knight’s instincts, but at the sound of his name, he moved instantly, shielding the girl with him. A maid with curly hair tucked away under her cap, carrying what looked like a swiftly packed bag, a terrified look in her eyes.

Edmund took a breath, but the obvious lie seemed to deflate before he could speak it. “I’m making a break for it, and you should too, before it all goes down tonight.”

Theo had always known that Edmund wasn’t a natural knight. No matter that he was a Rydder by blood. But he hadn’t thought he was a fool either.

“Edmund,” Theo warned, his hand opening and closing on his sword. “If you run, you’re sealing your death. Both of your deaths.” The girl in maid’s uniform, who Theo thought might be named Abigail, stood defiantly behind him, clutching her belongings. “Just like every knight before you who has run.”

“Yes, but the difference is all of them were oathbound.” Edmund moved forward into the light, his eyes bright with zeal. “And we’re not anymore.” He clasped Theo’s arm frantically. “It’s over. Can’t you feel it?”

Theo felt the same as he always had. But Edmund was too far gone. Theo grabbed Edmund’s shoulder. Steadying him, trying to make him make sense. “What do you mean we’re not oathbound?”

“Ottoline,” Edmund said fervently. “She’s one of us and one of them. Her blood is the key—once it’s spilled, our oath is broken.”

Theo thought of the glass charm Lotte had clutched in her hand. But there would be time to make sense of that later. Now Theo’s fingers tightened around Edmund’s arm. “Edmund, where is she?”

“It doesn’t matter! The Holtzfalls have no more hold on us. You don’t need to save them. Our oath is broken! You don’t have to fight for them, you don’t have to die for them!”

“We have to go.” Abigail’s fingers laced with Edmund’s. “Before it’s too late. Please.” Her eyes were pleading. “Let us go.”

By my oath. The ancient promise that bound them all echoed through Theo. But his oath wasn’t to keep the other knights to their duty. He only had one oath to keep. “Tell me where Lotte is and I won’t stand in your way.”

Abigail pressed her lips together for a moment. “The edge of the woods. By Honor Holtzfall’s burial tree.”

Theo was already running back across the garden, back to where the funeral had been held, and past it. He called out her name, but there was no answer. At the edge of the woods, he found blood staining the grass, still drying, along with a discarded knife and two shovels.

Theo felt his stomach twist, but if she was dead, they would have left her here. No killer would make it out of here carrying a body.

Theo raced back toward the house, ready to sound the alarm. But the moment the barracks came into view, Theo knew something had shifted. Knights were amassing in a circle, tension obvious in them. And as Theo got closer, he saw that Edmund hadn’t made it far. Benedict had Edmund pinned to the side of the barracks as Commander Lis looked on. Two knights were holding Abigail back.

“He tried to come get his sister,” Theo heard another knight saying as he drew closer. “He was a fool to think Hilde would ever leave with him.”

Edmund’s voice was raised. “Run! All of you! Run now before they find another way to enslave us. Before you die fighting the Grims tonight.”

“Edmund,” Commander Lis addressed him, “if you have knowledge of the Grims’ plans, I command you to tell me now.”

Edmund seemed deaf to her. “Run while the oath has no more hold on you!”

“You believe you’re free of Hartwin Rydder’s oath?” Mercy Holtzfall cut across Edmund’s ravings like a knife. The Holtzfall matriarch stood behind them.

The knights parted dutifully for Mercy Holtzfall as she moved forward. She flicked her hand, an order for Benedict to release him. Benedict stepped back.

Instantly, Edmund drew his sword.

Several knights’ grips flew to their own blades, but Mercy Holtzfall held up her hand. There was an eerie stillness to her before she spoke. “As ax bearer of the line of Honor Holtzfall”—Mercy Holtzfall’s words bore the weight of an order—“I order you, Edmund Rydder, descendant of Hartwin Rydder”—Theo waited for her to order him to drop his weapon—“to drive your sword through the chest of your young lover.” Theo saw it on Edmund’s face, the moment the order closed its hand over his heart.

“I won’t!” he called out defiantly. “The oath is broken! I won’t!” But he was moving already, grip on his sword shifting as he turned toward Abigail.

The young maid didn’t flinch. “He won’t hurt me.” She didn’t run, she didn’t try to shield herself. She was defiant in her certainty. Even as Edmund moved toward her, a twisted, pained look on his face.

Theo moved before he could think better of it. He was between Edmund and Abigail in a heartbeat. The sword driving toward her crashing against Theo’s blade as he parried. He drove Edmund back easily. The boy had never been much of a swordsman, but he was still bound by their oath.

“Theodric,” Commander Lis barked. “Stand down.”

Theo moved his sword from one hand to the other, keeping his eyes on Edmund as the oath forced him back up from the ground, sword still in hand.

Mercy Holtzfall was silent, even as Edmund drove forward again, and Theo fought him back again. Unless he was ordered to, Theo couldn’t stand by and watch this. He couldn’t see Edmund punished like this. He couldn’t watch the young maid die.

Treason should cost a knight his life, not anyone else’s.

He caught sight of Abigail staring, face drawn and pale, incomprehension written all over it. He saw there that she’d truly believed they would escape. That whatever she had done to Lotte would break Edmund free of his oath.

And now his oath was forcing him to kill her.

Edmund got to his feet again, and his eyes met Theo’s. “You have to stop me.” His voice was loud enough for all the knights to hear. To understand.

He wanted Theo to kill him. Before he could follow Mercy’s order. Before he broke past him and the blade went through Abigail’s body.

No. There was another way. Theo parried again as Edmund lunged toward him, knocking him back again. He could keep Edmund back, protect Abigail without killing him.

But Theo would tire. And the oath would still be driving Edmund forward.

Edmund had never been willing to die for the Holtzfalls. But he was willing to die for Abigail.

The blade sprouted through Edmund’s chest so suddenly that Theo drew back. A stifled cry that sounded like Hilde came from the crowd even as Abigail’s screech split the air. Edmund’s eyes widened in shock, but there was relief there for just a moment.

Before his face went slack.

When he fell to the ground, Commander Liselotte Rydder stood behind him with a blade in her hand, streaked in Rydder blood.

“There is no time for this.” Her voice carried command through the silent shock of the assembled knights. She wiped her blade clean, as if killing one of their own was nothing to her. “If the Grims are coming, we need to be fighting them, not wasting time on traitors. Now, all of you, arm yourselves and get ready for battle.”