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Togs shook his head and drew back a rough curtain in the corner, revealing a slight figure lying on a thin mattress on the floor

Olivia rushed over and fell to her knees Lucy was already there, nosing hermadly

She picked up Rupert’s hand It was odd to realize only now that his fingers were long and delicate They weren’t like Quin’s powerful grip, but they were beautiful in their oay

She leaned close and said, "Rupert!" He didn’t stir

Lucy pressed close to Olivia, tre, and then she suddenly took a little hop and landed on Rupert’s chest Olivia reached out to re his cheek, his nose, his eyelids Instead Olivia said, low and urgent, "Rupert, I’ve brought Lucy to you It’s Lucy"

His eyelids trelanced over her shoulder at Quin "He’s waking!" she ue bathing his cheek, his ear He opened his mouth and rasped one word "Lucy"

Olivia bent even closer "Rupert, it’s Olivia Lucy and I have co Then his eyes slowly focused on Lucy’s brown pointed nose and shining eyes A smile trembled on his bloodless lips

His eyes moved to Olivia "Knew you’d come"

The words were slurred Olivia saith a lurch of her sto fro in her throat He didn’the didn’t look as if he had long to live

Quin’s hand came on her shoulder and squeezed He squatted down beside the pallet "Lord Monts--"

She shook her head

Quin started over, his voice calm and deep "Rupert, we’ve come to take you home"

Rupert’s eyes wandered from Lucy "Who?"

"My nao"

"Yes," Quin agreed

He saw the truth of it in Rupert’s face, before the man even spoke "Too many miles"

Olivia’s hand closed around Quin’s wrist "We must take him now to the boat Now Otherwisehe will die here, in this hovel"

Rupert didn’t look like someone with the indomitable will that had driven a company of one hundred men over the walls of a fortress There was a kind of acceptance about his face that spoke for itself Quin thought he would almost certainly die very soon

"We cannot remain here for more than a few hours at the ," Togs put in "We heard thethey was set to enter the hut, but one of the dogs startled a duck and they went after their supper instead We didn’t have a boat because we sent Grooper over in it"

Quin frowned, looking at the silent Paisley

"He don’t speak," Togs said "Not even a word He’s the best sailor of us He got the boat all the way here, but he couldn’t come across to fetch you because he don’t speak Theas Paisley could hold a gun the right way up"