Sometime later he became aware of something striking his face at irregular intervals. Raindrops. With a groan he pried his eyes open. His head hurt fiercely, and he appeared to be lying in the gutter. A small river of rainwater flowed around his shoulder and along his back.
Cautiously, Will sat up, inspecting himself for the stab wounds he expected to find on his torso. He didn’t find any, but his head pounded every time he turned it to look this way or that. “I’m alive,” he muttered. “Why am I alive?”
“Because you’re damned lucky,” said a male voice. Will recognized it immediately; it was Blake Word. Glancing back, he saw the manservant leaning against the wall behind him. Blake was breathing heavily, as though he’d been running.
“What happened?”
“I only saw the last of it. It looked as though you took a hell of a beating and then the fellow finished it off by slamming the pommel of his dagger into the side of your head. I chased him off before he could do anything more.”
His fingers discovered a growing lump on the side of his head. “I’m surprised he didn’t use the blade.”
Blake shrugged. “You weren’t the target. Bodies draw attention, unless you get rid of them, and that can be a lot of work.”
Will wobbled as Blake helped him to his feet. “Do you think Laina made it home? She started running as soon as the fight started.”
“She had a good head start then. I chased the fellow for a short distance after I got here. He ran in the wrong direction. I doubt he would have been able to catch up to her after that. Besides, he had to have been spooked after not just one, but two people intervened. My guess is he called it a night. If he tries again it won’t be tonight.”
Blake’s analysis made sense, but Will wanted to be sure. He started to walk in the direction of Mark Nerrow’s city home.
Blake put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him. “That won’t accomplish anything. She’ll be indoors long before you get there so you won’t be able to ask her anything, and somehow I doubt you intend on knocking on Baron Nerrow’s door to inquire after Laina’s health.”
“Someone else might have jumped her on the way home.”
“You were out cold for several minutes. If she was attacked again it will be too late. Besides, you’re in no shape for further adventures.”
Will shrugged off the hand. Ignoring Blake’s advice, he walked the streets until they were in front of Nerrow’s city home. Only then, when he was certain Laina wasn’t wounded in a side alley somewhere, did he relent and allow Blake to lead him home. The rain finally stopped while they were returning and in the quiet that followed, Blake made another observation. “She won’t thank you for your efforts. You know that, don’t you? That girl hates you with a passion.”
“Doesn’t matter,” he replied. She’s my sister. “I don’t think she saw me clearly, which is preferable. I’d rather not have to answer her questions or give her any more suspicions.”
Blake gave him a funny look. “Then why bother?”
“Selene would want me to look after her,” Will answered, giving a misleading truth. Of course, Selene would have wanted him to protect Laina, but that wasn’t his first reason.
“Good answer, and a true one, but be careful,” cautioned the older man. “Her Highness might not like it if you spend too much attention on another woman, even her best friend.”
Will began to laugh, which made his head hurt even worse, but he couldn’t help himself. As sharp as Blake was, it was good to know there were at least a few secrets the man hadn’t picked up on yet. “I don’t think that will be a problem.”
The other man gave him an odd look but said nothing during the rest of their walk home.
Chapter 4
Will was slow to rise the next morning thanks in large part to his injuries. It was a testimony to the painfulness of his bruises that they outweighed the pain of allowing Blake to cook breakfast rather than do it himself, as he normally preferred.
He poked at the rubbery eggs on his plate, dreading the next terrible mouthful, then he leveled an angry glare in Blake’s direction. The older man sat across from him, grinning. “You must be very grateful to finally get the chance to eat properly cooked eggs.”
“Eggs?” muttered Will sourly. “Is that what this used to be?”
“Tut tut! We’ll have none of that this morning!” responded Blake. “These eggs have been cooked to perfection, just as Mama Word taught me years ago, may her soul rest in peace. Play your cards right and I might be willing to give you lessons.”
Will stabbed his spoon in the cheerful manservant’s direction. “Did your mother have something against butter? Or were we out?”
Blake frowned. “Butter is for toast. Why in the world would you defile your eggs with it?”
Will tried not to grind his teeth, silently promising himself that he wouldn’t make the same mistake the next morning—not unless he woke up dead. He suppressed a shudder as he swallowed another mouthful while trying to ignore the acrid scorched flavor. It simply wasn’t possible for him to believe the other man actually enjoyed his eggs that way. No human could enjoy this. He filed that thought away in a mental box labeled, ‘Blake Word, Man or Monster?’
“You saved my life last night, now you’re trying to kill me with crimes against food,” he grumbled. “What were you doing there anyway? I don’t recall bodyguard being one of your duties.”
Blake smirked, but the expression didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Then you’d be mistaken, which suits my purposes perfectly.”
That lined up with Will’s previous suspicions about the man. “How long have you served Selene?”
“Since she was seven.”
“And before that?”
“I served in the army.”
“Under which lord?” asked Will.
Blake hardly blinked. “It was detached duty, special service for His Majesty.”
Will was still learning, but he’d gained a lot of experience while in the army, and from what Blake had said the man had been either an assassin or a spymaster, possibly both. “So, you retired from that and were rewarded with the job of royal babysitter.”
“It has been an honor to serve Her Highness.”
“Did you train her?”
The older man shrugged. “I’m not a sorcerer, so I couldn’t help her with magic, but I taught her how to handle a blade.”
Will had never seen his wife use steel in combat, but he had seen her battling with water blades created by an elemental on several occasions. “Then I may owe you my life yet again. Her skill saved me a time or two.”