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The hoardens untended, but the property held on to an artless charm Fresh paint, clean brickwork, and cleared pathways showed the care of a loving hand, despite what appeared to be a lack of servants A book left on a marble bench hinted at leisure ti scene ed to live such a carefree life such as the setting before her prohts were fil ed with drearipped her shoulder and shoved her down roughly

Startled, but experienced enough to keep her silence, Maria dropped to her knees and shot hilance He jerked his chin to the side and her gaze fol oatching with a frown as four horses were led out of the stable and hitched to a waiting traveling coach

"Our aze riveted to the industriously working stable boys Tom rose and hurried back the way they had co her palhwaymen a very real hazard, no sane traveler set out at this hour Soures appeared, both so slight of fraht in her throat She will ed the small er of the two to look her way

Look at aze wandering to where they hid In the faint light from the lanterns, Maria could not make a fir hotly down her cheeks

"A across the field in tones muted by distance "Step lively"

For a s seized, and blood roared in her ears Amelia So close Closer than she had been in years Maria would not lose her again

She leapt to her feet, her muscles tensed to run "John!"

"Aye, I heard" His shistled its freedom as he withdrew it from its scabbard "We can take her"

"Look at e ’ave ’ere"

The singsong voice at their backs startled theroup of sevenin from the forest behind the ’en and a lil ’en" The htly in the ht as his eyes "‘ave at ’em, mates"

Maria barely had time to withdraw her foil before a melee ensued Outnumbered, she and John nevertheless leapt into the fray with confidence In the quiet of the country night, the clashing of steel was a bold cacophony Their opponents shouted and laughed, seehting for coin and sport Maria was fighting for soainst two ht hindered by the darkness

All the while she was achingly aware of the carriage behind the off the ti would be audible and the nearby danger would urge thereater haste If she could not break free quickly, she would lose Aain

Suddenly, ainst her, but at her side She had no notion who they were, she was si small sword, Maria parried, then spun on her heel and ran for her life toward the coach yard

"A her footing "Amelia, wait!"

The s back her cowl to reveal a dark-haired young woreen eyes Not at all the child Maria reling against the tal er figure, her sister tried to step down but was shoved inside

"Amelia!"

The opposite door opened and A a soth she hadn’t knoas in her She was ale of the coach yard only a few feet ahen a powerful force struck into her back and took her to the ground

Crushed beneath the weight of a man, her foil knocked away, she couldn’t breathe, the air forcibly expel ed froround, her nails breaking in the dirt, her gaze riveted to Aled as she did

"Maria!"

Desperate, Maria kicked at the led with hers, and then pain unlike she’d ever known tore through her shoulder She felt the flesh rip beneath the plunging blade Not once but twice

Then, asped her sister’s naround by the weapon that bore through her The pain of her wrenching ony And then nothing

Chapter 7

"We are bringing a ship into Deal toht"