A Reluctant Companion (25 page)

She collapsed into a wooden chair at the table, wishing she hadn’t eaten the bread on the ride as it churned in her stomach. The queasiness increased as Leon came back inside, eyeing her coldly. Taking a deep breath for courage, she asked, “What are you really going to do with me?”

He tilted his head. “You’re sharp, aren’t you, highness?”

“Sharper than my idiot brother.”

Leon gave her a wide smile, but it had a predatory edge. “Perhaps he’s just idealistic or naïve.”

She snorted, but didn’t offer a counterargument. “Let’s cut the crap. We both know I’m not going to kill Tiernan, especially based on your flimsy proof. Cam might have believed that was why you kidnapped me, but I don’t for a second, any more than I believe you didn’t set that bomb.”

Leon shrugged as he took a seat across from her, receiving a cup of coffee from the surly woman, who didn’t offer one to Madison. “Believe what you want, but my group didn’t do the bomb. We’re more direct.”

Through narrowed eyes, she watched the controlled movements of his hand as he lifted the mug, barely resisting the urge to slam her hand against the metal cup as it neared his visage. It would provide temporary satisfaction, but would no doubt lead to violence she didn’t want to face. Not that she might have much choice. “Then be direct and tell me what my purpose is here?”

“You’re here to prove a point, highness. We want Tiernan to know we aren’t afraid of him, and we won’t hesitate to make the hard decisions or do the difficult things. In short, your death will send a message.” He sipped his coffee without concern, as though they were discussing something mundane, not her imminent demise. “It’s hard to say how much he cares about you, but you’re the only one he seems to be close to at all. I just wish he had a family. Killing his wife and children would send a much stronger message.”

Madison gasped. “How can you be so ruthless?” Thank goodness she hadn’t accidentally revealed her pregnancy. Had she done so, her death might have already occurred, even with Cam still around.

He lifted a shoulder. “I’m no worse than he is. Do you have any idea the suffering food restrictions are causing? Kids are skin and bones. Mothers losing their babes in the womb for lack of nutrition, and for what? The Federation produces enough food to feed everyone, or trade for what we need. Political games trump the citizens in his eyes. It’s time he learns the citizens won’t stand for it. If he wants games, we’ll play ‘em, but we’re playing to win.”

Madison’s heart seized at his words, but she struggled to hide her fear. “I truly don’t think Tiernan knows what’s going on.”

“Then he’s incompetent. Maybe the next ruler will figure out real quick how to fix the problems after Archer’s assassinated.”

She swallowed thickly. “If you’re going to kill Tiernan, why kill me to send a message?” That sounded so cold and selfish, when she didn’t mean it that way. All she could think to do was find a way out of this, to protect her baby and try to save Tiernan.

“Because we’re going to destroy him completely before we grant him the mercy of death.”

Was he unhinged or just blindingly angry? She couldn’t tell and was afraid to keep pushing. Still, she couldn’t bite back another question. “How are you going to kill me?”

He stroked the brown stubble on his chin. “I’m thinkin’ strangulation, seeing how he’s strangling the life out of the provinces. Then we’ll leave your body somewhere nice and public, so the message gets out to everyone.”

“What will you tell Cam?”

“Nothing. He’ll either accept it or he won’t. I like the boy. He’s earnest and a hard worker, but I can do without him.”

She didn’t think Briggs would do something as simple as “firing” her brother from the rebellion. Her death would likely mean his too. Or maybe not. She didn’t know her brother at all, it seemed. Cam might be unconcerned about her execution if it accomplished the goal of hurting Tiernan, no matter how minutely.

“When?” she asked, balling her hands into fists.

“Soon.” He nodded to the woman as she set a plate of something that might have been oatmeal or ground noodles before him. Again, the old witch didn’t offer Madison anything—not that her tumultuous tummy would have accepted it. “We got a few hours before Cam gets back. I’m going to eat first.”

She stared at him impassively as he ate, though fear left her insides a tangled mess. Each bite he put in his mouth brought her one step closer to impending death. Madison was going to fight him with everything she had, but she was having a difficult time maintaining any optimism about her chances. Even if she somehow escaped Briggs, he must have other soldiers around. That group Cam had taken out must have come from somewhere nearby, and who knew how many others were around? Eyeing the old woman with the huge meat cleaver at her elbow made her doubt the ability to get past her even.

As Briggs finished off the last of his plate, he shot her a look that was disturbing. “We still have a little extra time. Maybe I’ll find out what the commander finds so interesting about you.”

“I’d rather die now than let you touch me,” she spat, rearing back and out of the chair.

He laughed. “That’s still happening too, highness.”

“Leon.” The old woman nudged him in the side, uttering the first coherent words Madison had heard in the hours she’d been around her. “Trouble.”

Madison looked out the window, and her heart leapt in excitement as a line of horses crested the hill, all wearing the uniform of Tiernan’s troops. Aidan rode at the forefront.

Briggs cursed and snatched up the meat cleaver near the other woman. “We’ve got no time for fun and games now, girlie. It’ll have to be quick and messy.”

Madison didn’t wait for him to finish his sentence as she turned and ran. He and the woman were blocking the front door, so she headed the opposite direction, hoping for a back door. To her frustration, she didn’t find one as she ran, conscious of Briggs right behind her.

In desperation, she headed for the huge window in the living room area. With a cry of pain, she hurled herself through it, thankful for the heavy drapes that provided some barrier between her and the shattering glass. Shards still scraped her arms and forehead, along with a few embedding in her legs, but it was a small price to pay to be free of that cabin.

Briggs didn’t plunge out the broken window after her, and she cast a glance over her shoulder as she backed away. He stood frozen, surveying the soldiers with a look of shock. As Aidan and the other troops surrounded the cabin, he dropped the cleaver with a clatter against the wooden floor, holding up his hands.

“Arrest them all,” said Aidan.

Madison pressed her back to the cabin as the troops jumped off their horses and swarmed the cabin, before another contingent split off, probably to search the rest of the property. She remained against the building as two soldiers cuffed Briggs around the wrists and ankles, forcing him to shuffle to a wagon that had been a few minutes behind the soldiers on horseback. The surly woman came out a moment later, bound in a similar manner. Soon, a small group of rebels came walking up the hill from behind the cabin, where they must have been hiding, all circled by Tiernan’s troops.

As Aidan approached her, she sagged with relief. “Oh, thank goodness. You have no idea how happy I am to see you. Another minute…”

His expression remained cold. “Hold out your hands.”

She frowned. “What?”

“Hold out your hands, Miss Cole.”

Madison shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

“You’re under arrest for treason and terrorism. Now, hold out your hands before I have you physically restrained, trussed up like a turkey, and loaded onto the wagon.”

She shook her head again. “Why are you arresting me?”

Aidan sneered. “As if you don’t know.”

“I don’t. I swear.” She cried out when he grabbed one of her wrists, jerking it upright despite her attempts to resist. “Tiernan is going to have your head for this.”

His sneer took on an even nastier edge. “Who do you think issued the warrant for your arrest, Miss Cole?”

She wanted to continue resisting, to deny his assertions, but why would he lie? He had nothing to gain from such a pretext, except Tiernan’s wrath if he detained her without permission. For whatever reason, Tiernan must have authorized her arrest. Did he think she was part of the rebels? His long-ago accusations came back to haunt her as she slowly surrendered her other wrist, allowing Aidan to clamp the heavy steel around her flesh. She shivered at the cold against her skin as she trudged in front of him toward the waiting wagon. Clinging to the hope that this would soon be sorted out didn’t do much to bolster her confidence or help her bite back the helpless tears trying to overwhelm her. Only sheer pride and stubbornness helped keep them in as she took a seat on the wagon with a straight back and the regal demeanor of a queen, determined not to betray her shock and misery to those bearing witness to her humiliation.

Chapter Sixteen

They reentered the Seattle-Archer area after nightfall. The wagon and troops took a route she wasn’t familiar with, and she idly wondered where they were going as she caught sight of the capitol building a couple of blocks over. Their destination was clear just a few minutes later, as the wagon drew up in front of an ugly cinderblock building painted white, with imposing bars on the visible windows and across the two front doors. Two men in military uniforms stood guard on either side of the door.

Exhaustion had her stumbling as she stood to disembark the wagon. Only the steadying hand of the soldier waiting to help her down kept her from falling. She gave him a small smile of gratitude in the faint illumination provided by the dim light strategically stationed near the entrance. The soldier grimaced and looked away.

With a sigh, Madison straightened her spine and fell into line with the other prisoners. The guards herded them into the building, where several more groups waited. She watched with curiosity and anxiety as the soldiers quickly sorted the prisoners into groups segregated by gender—all except for her and Leon Briggs. He was dragged off by two guards in the opposite direction. She stood for a moment, wondering what they would do to her, before two guards approached. With quiet dignity, she walked between them, not going to make this harder than it had to be for them. If—no, when—this was sorted out, she didn’t want the soldiers to be embarrassed for having detained her.

Okay, that was a lie. She was scared not to cooperate, still clinging to the hope Tiernan would come to his senses, or at least tell her why she was here and give her a chance to prove her innocence. After everything they’d shared, she wanted to have faith that he would listen, but listening to her wasn’t always his strong point.

The soldiers took her to a small room with a table, chairs, and a toilet in the corner. Her pregnant bladder was relieved to see that disgusting apparatus, though the thought of using it with those big windows was humiliating. The indignity of having someone watch her was almost enough to make her try to keep holding in the urge, but the resolve lasted only a few more minutes before the need was pressing.

It was difficult to maneuver with cuffed hands and try to stay in a position that shielded her shreds of modesty at all, but she somehow completed the contortionist activities required to use the stained bowl. There was no sink to wash her hands, and she grimaced as she wiped them against her cotton pants.

Madison hissed when her hand rubbed against a wound in her leg. With nothing else to do, she sat down at the table, under the one bare bulb that provided only minimal light, and tried to twist around to see the wounds on her legs. Glass shards remained in several cuts, and she hissed again as she pulled a splinter from one in her calf. Her hands shook as she dropped the glass on the table, and it took several deep breaths to convince herself to probe the next closest wound. After all, medical attention seemed unlikely under the circumstances, and she couldn’t just leave the glass in her legs.

As she picked, poked, and prodded at the shards, tears scalded her eyes more than once, and she cursed aloud several times. As the pain increased, and the time she was left to rot in the room added up, she found herself cursing Tiernan as much as anything else. He had no reason to doubt her loyalty, and it hurt more than the cuts on her legs to know he did, that he could ever believe she would betray him.

*****

Tiernan had chosen to confront the leader of the rebellion first. It was the most logical thing, to interrogate the one with most information first. His choice to see Briggs first had nothing to do with a desire to avoid confronting Madison.