Chapter 14 Embarrassing Moment  Victor headed for a nearby tree and changed into Sylvia. She had not decided exactly what she was going to do yet, but time was quickly running out and she needed to drastically reduce their numbers. Then she saw how they had set up the camp again. It was perfect. There was a fire too close to one of the main tents. It only took a few minutes to make sure it spread.Then she headed o

"Get the HELL out of the captain’s tent before I do decide to break you!""You look to be in enough pain that you couldn’t break me if I were unarmed," Emmett said quietly. Victor swept his left leg out from under the light blanket, swept Emmett’s feet from underneath him and held a throwing knife at Emmett’s throat. The movement evoked a small scream of pain, but Victor kept the blade steady, stubbornly refusing to flinch. "I stand...um...lay corrected. You sleep with your weapons?""I trust precious few, Emmett, and you are not on that privileged list." Victor practically spat Emmett’s name, and might have if he had not been talking through clenched teeth."I only came to see how you are," Emmett replied trying not to move his lower jaw for fear that would cause the blade to slice deeper than he thought it already

"No one would ask you for charity, Lady, your price will be assured by the lord’s own son. Should you need to speak to him, you would only need to wait at the tree by the river at noon for him to take his daily ride." She looked at the man who seemed to be aging before his time and worn with worry and fear. She placed the money for her drink that she had finished and the meal that had yet to arrive on the table."I have ordered a plate that I must abandon due to a change in my schedule. See to it that my order is paid for and not wasted and I will talk to the son of your lord," she told him as she rose from the table, "You shall not know me again." He nodded consent as she left. He understood that she had paid for a meal she had no intention of eating herself and that he was to see to it that someone else did eat it. Although he did not understand why she would choose to do something like that he did not dare ask and

Chapter 16 Departure  Ian walked up to Mikail and asked what he had said to Sylvia. Mikail told Ian that Sylvia had bedded Lowell. Ian’s jaw dropped. Mikail’s face did not mask the pain he felt."Mikail, go to her. Apologize for what you said. You know she only did that because you turned her down. Ask her not to do it again." Ian urged him."She made it very clear that I have no right to tell her what to do with

Chapter 17 Mikail’s Meeting  Sylvia was thinking of Mikail, too, as she silently crept through the secret passages of the old castle where The Five resided. They always took the noon meal together in private if they were present, so she did not have much time left to get to the room. The door, the only door anyone knew about, would be locked and barred from the inside so they could plot without being overheard.Whoever had created this passage was clever. They had hid the opening behind a por