Defender of Hearts by Tanya Bird

Chapter 36

Lyndal paced back and forth past the window of her bedchamber, praying she had done the right thing.

‘Tell the merchants it’s their fight now,’she had told Eda. ‘The king’s army is on the wall, all eyes looking outwards.’

She had called up an army of merchants, knowing they were hungry for this fight. Now she listened as the gate was ripped apart, as weapons clashed, as pent-up rage flooded into the royal borough. She was done playing these games. This was their fight, and she was handing them the best chance to win.

Lyndal knew when they had reached the castle gate because the shouting grew louder. Stepping up to the window, she saw a handful of archers atop the castle wall, but only a handful. She had been right. The majority of the king’s army had been sent to the outer-wall, and the king would be hiding somewhere in the castle.

Smoke drifted in through the open window, tasting of animal fat and ash. There was only one reason the merchants had arrived with torches in broad daylight. She pressed her head against the bars of the window, trying to get a glimpse of the tower, but it was the wrong angle for it. She took comfort in the fact that the tower was filled with merchants, which made it the safest place in the royal borough at that moment. They would not attack their own.

A horn sounded, long and deep. In the distance, she saw defenders racing along the south wall.

The door rattled, and Lyndal whipped her head around. She stilled, listening, watching the handle move. A moment later, the door swung open.

Eda stood in the doorway, pressing pins back into her hair. A little trick Harlan showed me.

Lyndal stared at her. ‘What are you doing here? You were supposed to return home after delivering the message.’

And leave you locked in here?

‘How did you even get inside the castle?’

Eda tapped her nose. That one was a little trick Roul showed me. She threw a dress at Lyndal. Put this on. If there was ever a time you wanted to blend in with the merchants, that time is now. They’re tearing down the gate.

Lyndal stepped out of her dress and into the faded cotton one, stilling when she heard banging below. The merchants had arrived.

God help anyone who stands between the merchants and the king they hunt.

‘I need to get to the tower,’ Lyndal said, rushing out into the corridor and heading for the stairs. She removed the pearl comb securing her hair and dropped it on the ground as she walked. Her hair fell down her shoulders. She glanced sideways at her sister, whose skirts were muddied all the way up to the knee. Her dark hair was pulled back in a single practical plait. No chance of anyone mistaking her for nobility.

The girls broke into a run when they reached the fountain court. The doors at the far end had a drawbar across them but did not require a key. They were almost there when a voice stopped them.

‘If you are planning a visit to the tower, I am afraid you are too late,’ Borin said.

Lyndal almost tripped at the sound of the king’s voice. She looked back at the fountain just as he emerged from behind it, surrounded by bodyguards. The defenders already had their weapons drawn, eyes moving between the women and the doors behind them. Eda stepped up beside her sister, one hand tucked behind her back. Lyndal did not have to look to know she was holding a knife. What she planned to do with one knife against a small army of defenders Lyndal had no idea.

‘I just came from there,’ Borin said, ‘and I am sorry to inform you that there was a small incident.’

A loud bang on the door behind them made Lyndal jump and Eda glance over her shoulder.

‘A bit of a tragedy really,’ Borin continued, as though hundreds of merchants were not standing on the other side of the doors waiting for their chance to get him.

‘What did you do?’ Lyndal asked, her stomach falling.

He tutted. ‘You merchants love to blame me for everything.’

Bang.

Lyndal flinched at the noise. ‘For years, Fletcher has protected you with his life.’

A nod. ‘Yes. Then you came along, and now suddenly everyone wishes me dead.’

‘I’m afraid I can’t take credit for that. People wished you dead long before I was lured here to help clean up your mess.’

‘Well, I tried to rectify that—twice.’ Borin’s eyes flashed. ‘Fletcher was determined to protect you with equal enthusiasm.’

Lyndal’s lungs expelled all the air they were holding. ‘Oh. It was you.’

Eda looked up at her, confused.

‘The fire, then the poison.’ She pressed a hand to her stomach as the new information settled. ‘All that effort when all you had to do was tell your mother no.’

Bang.

Borin’s eyes went past her to the door. ‘My mother’s logic was sound. I cannot fault her there. The merchants were in love with the idea of us. I had no choice but to play along.’

Bang.

She shook her head. ‘Then why try to burn me alive?’

He took a step in her direction, and she took a step back.

‘Better to win their sympathy than break their hearts.’

Bang.

‘You are vile,’ she said, taking another step towards the door.

Borin pointed a finger at her. ‘And you are lucky to still be talking, because I am fed up with your mouth. The only reason my guards have not sliced you open already is because I made a promise to my mother, and I am a man of my word.’ His eyes went to Eda. ‘Of course, I made no such promise about you.’

Eda revealed the knife and did the most remarkable thing she had done in years: she spoke.

‘Good luck with that.’

Lyndal sucked in a breath when she heard her sister’s voice. It was the sweetest form of music. No heart had been hit harder after their father’s death than Eda’s. The tiny shadow had lost its person the day he died. Her voice was no longer that of a child but of a confident young woman. It was remarkable and frightening all at once.

‘She speaks,’ Borin said, amused. ‘Is that knife for me?’ When she did not reply, he said, ‘Do you know what happens to people who kill kings?’

Eda raised her chin. ‘Your father’s killer went on to live a long and happy life.’

The darkness that descended Borin’s face was chilling. ‘Kill her,’ he instructed. ‘And take Lyndal to my quarters.’

There was not a chance in hell either of those things were happening.

One of the guards came for her, but before he had taken his second step, Eda threw her knife, striking his sword arm. The defender grunted and dropped his weapon. The king’s eyes widened slightly. Clearly he had not been expecting that level of skill from her.

Door, Eda signed as she shook another knife from the sleeve of her dress.

Lyndal leapt in the direction of the exit, praying her sister had the situation under control behind her.

‘If you open it, you will kill us all,’ Borin shouted

Lyndal looked back as she took hold of the drawbar, watching as the second knife flew between two of the guards, striking the king in the leg.

He roared.

The door banged once more, the noise vibrating through Lyndal. The drawbar was too heavy.

‘Eda!’

Her sister was at her side a moment later, throwing her shoulder into it and pushing as hard as she could while two defenders came at them.

‘Don’t fret, Your Grace,’ Lyndal called when the drawbar finally budged. ‘The merchants will show you the same compassion you’ve shown them.’

The women tossed the wooden plank at the defenders as the doors burst open and merchants poured in like floodwater. The guards were swept back with the force of the deluge. Lyndal and Eda pressed themselves against the wall, then squeezed around its edges.

‘I need to get to the tower,’ Lyndal shouted, but her words were drowned out by King Borin’s screams.