“Careful on the ice.”
Chapter 6
H olding the edge of the hood over her face to ward off the wind, Kate followed Rohan back to the castle in wary reluctance.
He forged on ahead like a force of nature himself, the shoulder capes and long skirts of his dark wool greatcoat billowing in the wind, and wrapping around his towering stature.
When he reached the castle, he hauled open a massive door and shepherded her inside, where they both stood for a moment, stamping the melting slush off their boots.
Then he jerked an autocratic nod in her direction: a wordless order to follow. She raised an eyebrow as he marched ahead of her once more.
She was beginning to think the man only knew how to communicate in the imperative; the fact that he was so certain of being obeyed roused the rebel in her blood. But given her situation at the moment, she curbed her stubborn streak and obliged—though she nearly had to jog to keep up with his long, swift strides.
He stopped at the end of the dim stone corridor and opened a very old-looking wooden door. A dank draft wafted out of the darkness beyond, reminding her of the smugglers’ cellar. Peering past him into the void beyond the door, she grimaced slightly. “What’s down there?”
“The dungeon.”
“Oh,” she murmured with an involuntary shudder.
He turned and scanned her face. “Are you sure you’re up to this?”
Glancing at him, she had to decide anew if she really ought to trust him. If not, his leading her down there could prove to be the cruelest trick yet. What if he was luring her to the dungeon only to lock her up again?
Shoving the fear away, she nodded bravely. She was going to have to trust somebody sometime.
He regarded her in approval. “Good. Then let’s go get some answers.”
Laying hold of her courage, Kate followed as the Beast descended the cobwebbed stairs into the eerie netherworld beneath Kilburn Castle. She stayed close to him, trailing right behind him like his shadow.
At the bottom of the stairs, the three black-clad guards on duty were warming themselves by a small blaze in the fire pit. They stood at attention when they saw the duke. “Your Grace, sir!”
“At ease.” Reaching the bottom of the stairs, he greeted his men with a nod, then he turned to hand her down the rest of the way. His chivalrous gesture surprised her.
“We need to have a look at your prisoners,” he informed the guards.
“Aye, sir.” Asking no questions, they picked up their weapons, lifted torches from old iron sconces on the walls, and hastened to accommodate their lord’s request.
Around here, it was obvious his word was law. Kate sent him a suspicious glance as the guards escorted the two of them down a rough-hewn corridor that surely led to some back door of Hell.
“Why do you keep so many guards around here?” she murmured.
He raised an eyebrow, looking askance at her. “I don’t know … I just like having people to order around.”
She couldn’t help but smile at his wry nonanswer.
“Come on,” he ordered with a low timbre almost of affection in his deep voice.
As they moved deeper into the cavelike labyrinth of the dungeon, the echo of the soldiers’ bootheels striking rock rebounded all around them. Various aisles of rusty bars branched off this way and that.
Kate did not envy the soldiers their dark and clammy post, but it did not seem to bother them.
Torchlight flickered over the huge stone blocks that made up the castle’s foundations. A faint, foul-smelling draft moved up the inky corridor and blew gently on the shredded gray veils of hanging cobwebs, causing them to float upon the air. She glanced repeatedly over her shoulder. This place raised the hackles on her nape.
As they approached the dank cells housing the prisoners, Rohan leaned closer and murmured in her ear, “They’re in the cells ahead. Now, you tell me if any of these men took part in your abduction, all right?”
She nodded, warding off a startling frisson
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