“All right, Skylar,” I said softly, taking a step toward him, “we’re going to move on. You’ve got the alphabet down pat so now we’ll work on putting it together to make some –”
I stopped speaking when the door opened suddenly.
Skylar’s eyes shot to it and so did mine.
And when they did, I saw Kell barging in.
He looked to Skylar at Frey’s desk then me then he announced in his gruff voice, “We got a problem.”
My heart skipped.
He didn’t look happy, as in, way more than his usual unhappy when he was looking at me so I was thinking this problem was a problem.
“Out, boy,” Kell barked at Skylar, Skylar jumped up and took off.
He closed the door behind him and Kell’s gaze came to me.
My eyes had not left him and my fingertips were on the desk, pressing in, seeking support hopefully without looking like I was.
“Frey?” I asked quietly and Kell’s bushy white brows shot together.
“What?” he barked.
“Frey,” I repeated, turning more fully to him and stiffening my spine. “Have you heard some word? Are Frey and the men all right?”
“Gods, woman, a’ course they are. Stealin’ a branch from a poof? Bloody hell,” he replied and I decided that I would not share my thoughts on him calling homosexuals “poofs” but I even if I wished to do so, I didn’t get the chance because Kell kept speaking. “We got riders at the shore. They hold Baldur banners.”
Oh shit.
Kell went on. “They’re flashin’ a sun message. Bloody Baldur knows you’re here, he’s camped close and he wants you and Frey to attend him.”
Oh shit!
“A sun message?” I asked.
“Sun,” he grunted. “Mirror. Message.”
That was all he said but I put two and two together and figured that the riders were flashing a mirror at the sun in some way that the men on the ship could read.
And that message was, my uncle… who was not my uncle… wanted me and my husband… who was not here but instead on a clandestine mission to steal property from Middleland soil some weeks after, of course, he and his men had helped the king’s captive sorceress (and forced mistress) to escape… to come and see him.
This was not good.
“I’m guessin’ from that look on yer face you’re readin’ this situation as not good,” Kell accurately deduced then without a breath continued. “We’re exposed. Until nightfall, without them seein’, we can’t get a man to shore to get a message to Frey. And, we got a command from a king on our hands, one we cannot defy without good reason and we got ourselves a couple a’ those, but none of ‘em are ones we can share. And Baldur is not the kind ‘a king who’s big on bein’ defied. Not to mention, we send you in, you got no idea who this blighter is.”
By the way, Kell, like all of Frey’s closest men, knew who I was and where I’d come from.
“Thanks for summing that up, Kell,” I said softly and his eyes narrowed.
Then he stated, “I ain’t here to sum it up, princess, I’m here ‘cause I’m plum outta ideas and wondered if you got some. The king’s men cannot board this ship.”
“Why?” I asked and he gave me a look I couldn’t quite decipher because I didn’t know Kell all that well but I had a feeling there was something on the ship the king’s men couldn’t see.
Shit!
Thinking fast, I suggested, “Can you send a message that I’m indisposed, um… not well and ask the king to wait until tomorrow when I’ll hopefully feel better? That way we’ll have time to make up a story and form a plan.”
He crossed his arms on his chest and his irritated impatient look got more irritated and impatient.
“Tried that. They told us to send a boat ashore anyway as the king’s concerned about his niece and wants to send his men across to board in order to ascertain she’s all right.”
I blinked then asked, “How long have they been out there?”
“Over an hour.”
I blinked again and asked, “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
He uncrossed his arms and planted his fists on his hips and asked back, “And why would I do that?”
I put my hands to my hips too and shot back, “Oh, I don’t know, Kell. Probably so I’d have more time to consider this dilemma and maybe come up with an answer rather than receiving the news there was a dilemma at the last possible moment so my only choice is to freak out and make a rushed decision about what the heck we’re going to do. Jeez, two heads are better than one,” I ended on an annoyed snap.