Chapter 19: Bryson Runs

We ran down the servants' stair, and Hester ran faster than I did, with her skirts in one fist.

"He will go for the east gate," she said. "The guards there change at dusk, and he has had two days to learn the hour."

"He has a broken arm."

"He has a ledger worth a kingdom. A man will go a long way for that."

We burst out into the cold courtyard.

The lamps along the drive were lit, and the east gate stood a hundred yards away, a tall black arch with a small wicket door cut in it.

A man in a dark coat was fumbling with the bolt, one-handed, with a thick leather book pinned under his bad arm.

"Bryson!" I shouted.

He spun around, and his face went white.

He had a scratch across his cheek and a fresh bruise on his jaw, and the cast on his arm was gray with dirt.

"Stay back," he said. "Imogen, stay back, I'll scream."

"Scream," said Hester, coming up on his left. "The guards are all on the other side of the keep, looking for you."

He tried the bolt again and it would not slide.

"Bryson," I said, and stepped closer. "Every guard in this keep is hunting you, and none of them will be gentle."

"I didn't do anything. I only carried messages."

"Then you won't mind if Hester reads them."

His mouth worked.

"I know what I did," he said.

Hester moved the last few steps and put one small hand flat against the ledger.

Keep reading free with an account. Start My Vampire King Husband Died on Our Wedding Night? from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.