Knight's End (The Knight Trilogy) (11 page)

“I’m sorry…what?” she asked, feeling ignorant.

“I said, Alys is going to take some measurements from you so she can make you a dress. Is that alright?” Aston asked again.

Jade shook her head.
“No more dresses.” At Aston’s puzzled glance, she elaborated. “They get in the way in the woods. If I’m right, I have a feeling I will be spending
a lot of time riding
.
Breeches
and a
tunic
would be nice, though,” she finished. Alys grunted but agreed, grabbing Jade by the arm and dragging her into a back room for privacy.

**

Shortly a
fter the door closed behind Alys and Jade
, Delgrab came inside. He sat at the table across from Aston, folding his arms on the tabletop.

“Who is she?” he asked again.

Aston shook his head.
“I honestly have no idea, Delgrab. I went back to Fridel to talk to Richie and she just
appeared
in the middle of the forest, in the middle of the night, no less. She plopped herself down beside me and went to sleep. She hasn’t left me alone since.”

Delgrab laughed and shook his head. “She sounds like a handful. What are you going to do with her?”

The knight
shrugged, looking back at the room where the two women had disappeared.
“I don’t know, Delgrab. I can’t just
abandon
her. She’d never make it
on her own. Plus, s
he knows too much about me and now she knows this place. If she turns on me and leaves, you and I will both be in trouble.”

Delgrab nodded in agreement. Alys and Jade took that moment to reenter. Aston turned to look at Jade and found himself staring.

He’d never seen a woman in men’s clothing before; seeing Jade, he wondered why more women didn’t wear them. She was slim in the waist and curvy everywhere else; the pants and blouse showed off her slim figured more than any dress ever could. The white shirt was tucked into the pants, tightening the top over her ch
est and stomach. Her brown breeches
fit snug on her hips and flowed loosely around her legs before tightening right above her ankles, showing off the black riding boots she’d been wearing under her dress.

“Will this work okay?” Jade asked. Unable to speak, Aston nodded.

“Are those mine?” Delgrab grumbled
. Alys and Jade glanced
at each other before laughing. Aston joined in; Delgrab
was the only one who found nothing funny about a woman wearing his clothes.

“Oh, sweetheart, you’re just mad because she looks better in them than you do,” Al
ys teased
,
patting her husband on the cheek before heading into the kitchen.
Jade followed, unsure of what else to do.

“Alys?” she asked
once the two women were alone. Alys looked up at her, her approval for Jade to continue. “Has Aston always been so….serious?”

Alys looked somber for a moment before going back to her cooking, answering without looking at Jade. “He used to
be
more fun, more free. King Donn has made him live a rough life
,
and that no good son of his hasn’t helped either.”

“What do you mean?”

“
Some of the women in town used to talk, dear, passing around information they’d heard from their husbands. They’d say King
Donn sent Aston on missions
hoping
he would fail. Talbot never liked A
ston, so Donn always hoped he
would mess up and condemn himself. This last offense was just what he’d been waiting for. I don’t understand politics, dear. Aston is the most kind and helpful person I know, aside from my Del. I don’t know why anyone would ever want to hurt him.”

“I know what you mean,” Jade said, her mind somewhere else. She wondered if her father knew about King Donn’s methods. Why make a man a knight, only to want him to fail?

“Speaking of hurting him, I won’t allow it,” Alys said. Jade looked up at the woman, stunned. “I love that man as much as I love Delgrab, and I won’t stand to see anyone hurting him. I let
King Donn do it because there was nothing I could do to stop it. Keep that in mind.”

Jade
could tell by the look on Alys’
face that she was completely serious. The knife she
had been
chop
ping
vegetables
with
suddenly looked a lot more dangerous. Swallowing thickly, Jade nodded. Alys smiled at her and went back to cooking; Jade wondered just what she’d gotten herself into.

*
*

Alys and Delgrab insisted Jade and Aston spend the night. It surprised Jade when Aston agreed; she’d suspected he would wa
nt to leave as soon as possible, before King Donn’s soldiers came knocking on Delgrab’s door. Aston, however, didn’t seem worried.

After a fulfilling dinner, the four
adjourned to the cabin’s living area
, D
elgrab and Alys on the handcrafted
couch, Aston and Jade in chairs on the opposite side of the room. Delgrab had lit a fire and Alys had given Jade a blanket to ward off the night’s chill.

“Where will you two go
now?” Delgrab asked. Jade turned to Aston for an ans
wer.

“
We have reason to believe that t
he Rogue will be goi
ng after the king of Northsbury
. That’s where we will go.” Delgrab nodded.

Alys frowned. “You’re
going after that dangerous murderer? Are you out of your mind, Aston? Bringing a lady on such a mission…”

“It’s fine, Lady Alys,” Jade said, rushing to make sure the woman wouldn’t hit Aston again. “He told me before what he planned to do
,
and I agreed to help him. I made a promise to,” she said, looking at Aston. He smiled at her, but it didn’t reach his
eyes. He was thinking about his past again, she presumed.
His eyes were dark with worry, and his fists were clenched on the arm of the chair he occupied.

“Hmph. I don’t understand you, Jade. You ar
e beautiful and obviously high class
. What were you doing in the forest in the middle of the night?” At Alys’s
pointed
question, Aston looked curiously at Jade.

She
squirmed
in her chair before answering.
“I took Bella out for a ride, but…we got lost,” she lied. She needed to think of a proper lie to tell Aston, but she hoped this would work for now.

“You got lost? Child, how often do you ride in the woods?”

“Never?” Jade’s answer sounded more like a question, but she tried not to show her disappointment on her face. She knew everyone could see right through her, but she hoped they wouldn’t push.

Aston saved her.
“We should get some rest,” he said, standing. Delgrab did the same, as did Jade.

Alys looked unsatisfied, but stood as well.
“Will you two be sharing a bed, then?” she asked.

Jade could feel her cheeks heating up at the woman’s words. She sneaked a look at Aston, almost happy to see that the idea surprised him as much as it had her. His jaw had dropped, and his eyes were wider than normal. The blush that marred her cheeks wasn’t evident on Aston, but he was making a weird flapping motion with his mouth, almost like a fish. He was sputtering, trying to answer, but words evaded him.

Delgrab laughed
.
“That’ll be a no, Alys,” he answered, saving Aston the trouble of forming a coherent thought.

“I’ll take the couch,” Aston said,
finally finding his voice. Though it was higher pitched than usual.
Delgrab and Alys stepped away from the piece of furniture and allowed the knight room to lay down. He threw a hand across his slightly reddened face as soon as his back hit the hand-sewn cushions.

“I’ll show you to your room, dear,” Alys said, taking Jade by her elbow and leading her out of the room.

Delgrab walked to Aston’s side and slapped his friend on the shoulder, successfully removing Aston’s arm from his face. “Sorry about her…you know how she is.”

Aston
sent a glare to his friend before sighing, smiling up at his friend. He knew Alys too well to hold a grudge. The woman just wanted him to be happy. The knight smiled as he watched
Delgrab leave the room. He’d thought to never see
his two friends again
, yet here he was, six days later. His life hadn’t changed as much as he thought it had. He still had what mattered most in the world.

Friends.

Ernst strode through Northsbury, fingering the dagger at his waist. He had one more night before his next kill called. One more night that the King of Northsbury could lie in his bed and know he was safe. He glanced around the street, taking in the cracked cobblestones, the houses that were falling apart, the starving citizens. King Roland deserved what was coming to him. No king should let his people go to waste like this. No king was above his charges.

“Ernst!”

At the sound of his name, Ernst turned and found himself gazing up into Prince Talbot’s face.
“Talbot, old friend,” he said, walking forward to grasp Talbot’s ha
nd as he jumped down from Red
,
and the two fell into step beside each other.

”Ernst! It’s been a while! What are you doing in Summerslade, so far away from home?” Talbot asked, holding Red’s reins and walking with Ernst. Ernst shrugged.

“Business.
Pleasure. Isn’
t it all the same?” he answered, his mouth turning up into a crooked smile.

Talbot grinned.
“It has been,” he replied.

“What about you,
Talbot? What brings you here so late in the year? You and Donn don’t normally appear around these parts until the holiday ball.”

“Oh, well, I’m here on official business. Father sent me,” Talbot replied, puffing his chest out.

“Oh? What’s so important that Donn would send his son?” Ernst asked, his brow furrowing.

Talbot leaned in close before answering
. “The Rogue Royal
and a runaway knight.”

Ernst raised an eyebrow. “Elaborate?”

Talbot grinned and leaned back again. “The Rogue Royal murdered Duke Aeron in Adion. Aston Smith of Fridel let the man g
et away by turning his attention to
a woman instead of the murderer. Aston was found guilty of treason and sentenced to be hanged, but he ran. I’ve been sent to retrieve him.”

“And you think he will be here, in
Northsbury
?” Ernst aske
d, his voice incredulous. He remembered the knight chasing after him. He hadn’t seemed the traitorous type.

Talbot nodded. “We have reason to believe he will chase down the Rogue and try to capture him to clear his name.”

Ernst flinched. “That doesn’t sound like Aston. He’s always been the careful knight. Why throw everything away for a woman?”

Talbot laughed aloud. “Aston didn’t do anything wrong.
I’m
the one who let the murderer get away.”

“But you said--
”

“I  know what I said, Ernst. I
lied
. I couldn’t tell my father I’m the reason his closest friend is now dead. Or that I did it all to save a princess. So I lied. Aston was the only person there who
could take the blame, so he did.” Talbot
said, standing tall as if proud of himself
for his cleverness
.

“Wow, Talbot. Sounds like you really thought that out,” Ernst said, trying to keep his voice even.
He’d been a close “friend” of Talbot’s for years, and he had always known the prince was lazy and irresponsible. He hadn’t, however, known Talbot was capable of condemning a man to save himself. Thinking about it now, Ernst realized it was completely in Talbot’s character to do so.

“I did. I spent the ride home from Adion trying to think of something to tell my father. I realize he wouldn’t have killed me, but I still didn’t want to deal with
him over something so…trivial.
”

“Duke Ae
ron’s death was trivial to you?” Ernst asked, his voice incredulous.
While he had been the one to kill the duke, it was everyone else’s duty to mourn.
He looked down at the black ribbon tied around his upper arm and sighed. He hated having to publicly mourn the people he killed, but it couldn’t be helped. He couldn’t have anyone asking questions.

“It was Duke Aeron, Ernst. He was stuck up and perverted. Everyone knew that. Lady Viola knew that, but she still stayed with him. Isn’t that why he was targeted? Does
t
he Rogue kill people who don’t deserve to die?”