Page 93 of Bosse
Rez closed her eyes, and her face crumpled. “I had no idea. I’m sorry you’re here.”
Even one more word from either one of them would make this worse.
Alifair couldn’t draw in a breath.
Nodding to no one in particular, Krol said, “Come along, Magdelina.”
Shaking herself free from panic, Alifair turned to help Magdelina to the door, intending to continue downstairs with her. Maybe Krol would take her to help both women.
But at the door, Krol put a hand up to stop Alifair. “Back away. I have guards to care for her needs.”
Alifair stepped back, silently apologizing to Rez and Magdelina that she couldn’t be with them.
Once the Gallize woman waddled out the door, Rez offered her arm to the pregnant woman, which she accepted. Good. Maybe they could be of comfort to each other.
As Krol reached for the door handle, Alifair took a step forward again, thinking she would still be expected to fulfill her servant duties.
He shook his head at her. “Stay here.”
“What about helping Hessie?” Maybe the reminder that Hessie oversaw her duties would be enough for him to send her immediately to the kitchen.
Krol’s eyes narrowed to slits. “I spoke with Beast.”
Words piled up in Alifair’s throat. She had to maintain her pretense even as her protective walls began to crumble. She frowned and hoped she sounded surprised, which she was. “Beast talks?”
“Not exactly, but I have had him here for a long time and know how to question Beast.” The smug castle king preened with his superiority.
She ceased trying to be casual and waited for Krol to confirm her greatest fear.
It didn’t take him long. “I now know who helped Bosse escape, and I will deal with your punishment myself when I return.” He snapped the door shut.
Chapter 21
Krol led the entourageof his pair of guards and two female captives out of the castle, tapping his fingers on his thigh as the guards loaded them into the wagon.
Rez, the strange woman who had called the servant Alifair, still wore the titanium cuff on one arm that the kidnappers he’d paid had put in place. The metal impeded magic and interfered with shifting into another form. When he received word of a scout finding a woman in Romania rumored to be gifted, he’d paid well for her. At that time, he’d needed something of value to trade with the mage in case the mage had asked for something Krol did not possess in exchange.
