Free Exile for Dreamers by Kathleen Baldwin Page B

they wouldn’t attempt to kidnap Georgie again?”
    I took another drink of water before explaining. “Because, as you say, they aren’t foolhardy. Georgie is here. Safe inside Stranje House. And they’ve already lost one of their number to Miss Stranje’s prowess with a gun. I don’t think they would be so daring, not with servants and all of us to protect her. But Lord Ravencross is a different matter. They need only put a bullet in him to get paid, and he has one lone servant to protect him, MacDougal.”
    Jane countered feebly, “You’re forgetting Mrs. Evans.”
    â€œ Phfft. ” I popped a grape into my mouth. They all stayed quiet for a moment, mulling over my reasoning.
    Jane bristled. “Well, I don’t like it. What do you intend to do, roam the perimeter of Ravencross Manor all night watching for murderers?”
    â€œNo. There are too many ways someone could sneak past.” I took the ham out of the bread and ate that.
    Georgie rubbed her arm, thinking. “What if each of us took a section of the grounds to guard?”
    Jane whirled on her. “ You’re not going anywhere out of the house. Not after what happened this morning. You heard Tess. You’re safest inside.”
    Sera shifted uneasily. “Besides, if we all went out, Miss Stranje would be bound to notice. Sometimes I feel as if she has invisible bells tied around our necks. She always seems to know.”
    â€œOr she has clever ways of discovering it.” Maya didn’t credit our headmistress with being as all-knowing as the rest of us did. “We have the additional problem that in the darkness, if only four of us are walking the grounds, a skilled assassin could easily slip through our net.”
    I wiped the crumbs from my mouth and took another sip. “There’s an easier way.”
    â€œOh!” Georgie blurted too loudly. “I know what you’re planning to do. You’ll—”
    We heard footsteps outside the door. Madame Cho. Everyone scattered to their beds. I quickly stuffed the remaining food beneath the covers and scooted down, head on my pillow.
    The door cracked open and Madame Cho shuffled partway in. We had practiced pretending to sleep often enough that we knew to keep our breathing slow, loud, and rhythmic. She came to my bedside and gently brushed hair away from my face.
    Checking.
    I imagined her squinting at me, worried, silently scrutinizing her patient. The others don’t like Cho as much as I do. She is a mystery, strong as sword steel and yet she has the touch of a grandmother. A grandmother I never had. I am her favorite, or so I tell myself.
    Grandmother or no. Tonight I had to deceive her.
    I stirred as if in restless slumber, shifted and turned away, sinking deeper into the pillow. Satisfied, Madame Cho tucked the covers around my shoulder and glided quietly out of the room, shutting the door behind her. But she is tricky, crafty as an old cat, and so we waited, counting our breaths, knowing she continued listening at the door. At last we heard her soft footsteps drift down the hall.
    Georgie was the first to come padding back. “You’ll climb into the manor, won’t you?” She guessed this because of that night in London when I’d thought we needed to enter Lord Castlereagh’s town house by stealth and I’d told her that I would climb the wall, enter through a window, and then pull her up. Someday I would tell her about the first time I had to climb a wall. But not tonight.
    â€œWhat?” Jane’s whisper blew hot in my ear, and carried all the urgency of a scream. “Climb through his window? Are you mad? You can’t do that. You could get shot. Or worse, caught. Then you’d be ruined.”
    â€œIt doesn’t matter. I have to protect him. You know what Daneska is like. She won’t let her assassins’ failure today deter her. If anything, she’ll hire better, more