The door opened and Tamylan returned before Adrina could respond to the charge. Her slave did not seem to notice the tension in the room. She curtsied hurriedly then turned to Damin. “My Lord, Princess Marla requires your presence urgently. She has news of Lady Lionsclaw.”
Damin nodded then turned to Adrina. “We'll finish this discussion later.”
He strode from the room, angry and annoyed, before she had a chance to answer.
Tamylan closed the door behind Damin and leaned against it, staring at Adrina suspiciously. “Did you tell him?”
“No.”
“Adrina...”
“I keep planning to, Tam, but the timing never seems right.”
“You can't keep it a secret much longer.”
“I know,” she sighed.
Tamylan crossed the room and took her arm gently, leading her to the chaise.
“Well, I suppose there's no point in worrying about it now. Why don't you lie down? You need your rest and he said he'd be back. You can tell him then.”
Adrina nodded, aware that she was almost swaying on her feet with fatigue.
“He's mad at me again.”
“He'll get over it.”
“I told him about the gunpowder.”
“Was that wise?”
“I thought... oh, hell! I don't know what I thought. He makes me so angry!”
“No angrier than you make him,” Tamylan pointed out with a shrug. “Now stop fretting and come and lie down.”
Adrina sighed wearily. “What would I do without you Tam?”
“I'm sure I don't know, Your Highness.”
Adrina smiled and lay back on the couch. She would tell Damin when he returned - about the gunpowder and the child.
“Tam, did Marla say what the news was? About Lady Lionsclaw?”
“No, but she seemed excited rather than upset, so I suppose the news is good.”
Adrina closed her eyes for a moment then opened them again, looking at Tamylan with concern. “If I go to sleep, you'll wake me when he comes, won't you?”
“Of course.”
“You seem to like him now. You used to think he was a barbarian.”
“I still do,” the slave told her. “But I've decided the demon child is right about one thing. I think he really cares about you, Adrina. That rather improves my opinion of him.”
Adrina closed her eyes again. The humidity and the strain of the past few weeks caught up with her in a wave of fatigue. “Do you think he'll be happy when he learns I'm with child?”
“He'd better be,” Tam replied sternly.
“You're going to make a wonderful nurse, Tam.”
“Rest, Your Highness.”
Adrina didn't answer. By the time Tamylan had gently closed the door behind her, she had let the torpor overtake her and drifted off to sleep.
CHAPTER 23
When Adrina woke, it was dark. She experienced a sharp pang of bitter disappointment when she realised Damin had not come back.
Curiously, she climbed to her feet and crossed to the door, placing her ear against the warm wood. The noise grew louder, the unmistakable sound of shouting and the clang of metal on metal. She stepped away from the door in puzzlement. It sounded like a fight. Was the palace under attack?
The door burst open suddenly and the light from the passage outside momentarily blinded her. She screamed as the room filled with armed men. Arms grabbed at her and a mailed hand was clamped over her mouth, stifling her cries. She struggled against the man who held her then suddenly relaxed as she remembered the child she carried. If she struggled too hard she might cause it harm.
“Are you sure that's her?” one of them asked.
“Aye.”
“Then let's get out of here. Make certain they're all dead out there,” he added, jerking his head towards the corridor.
A Raider slipped through the door, his sword drawn. Adrina cringed as a high-pitched and unmistakably female scream followed a few seconds later. She twisted her head around and caught sight of a blue skirt puddled on the tiles near the door, the familiar slippers stained with the blood that pooled around them
“Get her to the balcony,” the man in charge ordered. “The boat is waiting.”
Adrina struggled as they dragged her across the room, her heart beating so hard she thought it might burst through her chest. She turned her head, trying to keep Tam in her line of sight, willing the feet to move, to give some indication that she was still alive. The man sent out to finish off the guards slipped back into the room and closed the door behind him, cutting off her view. Adrina sobbed into the mailed hand still covering her mouth.
They dragged her through the open door and out onto the balcony. A Raider was lowering a rope over the edge, down to the dark waters of the harbour below. His leather breastplate was embossed with a soaring eagle. The Raider who seemed to be giving the orders checked the rope was secure then turned to Adrina.
“Sorry about this, Your Highness.”
The man holding her suddenly released his hand from her mouth, but before she could scream a mailed fist hit her in the jaw. The pain blinded her for a moment and she struggled to stay upright.
The second blow was more effective. By the time she realised she had been struck again she was unconscious.
The next thing Adrina knew, she was tied hand and foot, lying in a puddle of icy water in the bottom of a small boat. The sea churned beneath them, and the motion of the boat made her ill, but she was determined not to vomit. She held down the contents of her heaving stomach by sheer force of will. Spitting out a mouthful of sour blood and stale salty water, she lifted her head to see where she was. In the darkness she could make out little but the bare feet of the sailors who pulled on the oars, and the booted feet of the Raiders who had kidnapped her.
One of them looked down and noticed she was conscious. He bent over and pulled her into a sitting position, squinting at her in the moonlight.
“Awake, then, are you?”
“You have a gift for stating the blindingly obvious, my man.”
“I ain't your man, missy,” the Raider replied. “I'm one of Lord Eaglespike's men.”
“Again, you state the obvious,” she remarked, glancing at his breastplate, proudly embossed with the
