Free Knight's End (The Knight Trilogy) by Jami Montgomery Page B

caused the knight to fall onto his kill.
    “Calm down, Richie, and don’t scream so loud. You’ll get me killed,” Aston laughed, rubbing the boy’s head.
    “Guess what, guess what!? I know where t he Rogue is going next!” Richie exclaimed, jumping up and down. Jade and Aston both perked up at his words.
    “Where?” Aston asked.
    Richie grinned. “ Nothsbury ! Duke Roland sent word! The Rogue plans on killing the king! Oh, and Talbot is bringing an army to try and find you, so be careful!” Richie said.
    Aston looked sideways at Jade , like ly gauging her reaction to the news, but she pretended to be occupied with the hem of her dress . “Thank you, Richie. You’ve done great. Don’t come back here until I send you a message, okay? I don’t want anyone getting suspicious and following you here.”
    “Okay, Aston. Oh! I almost forgot! I took this letter from King Donn too. He hasn’t opened it yet and he will probably know it’s gone. It just arrived today, but I thought it might be important,” Richie said, reaching into his pants pocket and withdrawing the creased envelope. Aston nodded, looking at the scrawled writing across the back of the cream colored parchment. Stretching her neck, Jade saw it was a letter from her father.
    “Who’s she?” Richie asked, leaning close and whispering in Aston’s ear. Jade barely heard him.
    “Her name is Jade. Tha t’s all I know about her,” Aston answered, standing and going to Sterling. He watched out of the corner of his eye as the boy sauntered over to Jade.
    Jade looked down at the boy approaching her. His face was red and freckled, his red hair filthy and matted. He was the most adorable child she had ever seen, strutting over to her with his chest puffed out. He held out a dirty hand to her, which she took in her own, laughing as he leaned down to press sticky lips to the back of her hand. She cringed internally, but quickly shook off the reaction. If she was going to travel with Aston, she would have to get used to dirt.
    “Hello, Lady Jade. I am Sir Richard,” he said, forcing his voice to sound older, deeper.
    Jade laughed on the inside, but tried to remain stoic on the outside. “Well, hello, Sir Richard. It is an honor to meet you,” she said, standing to curtsy to the boy, who bowed low in return.
    With the formalities gone, Richie’s face grew into a wide grin, revealing three gaps where teeth were missing. “You are very pretty, Lady Jade,” he said.
    “Well, thank you. You are quite handsome,” she replied, grabbing the boy around the middle and pulling him into her lap.
    “Are you going to help Aston be free again?” Richie asked.
    Jade looked up at the knight, noticing the way he quickly turned his head from them; he’d been eavesdropping. “I hope so, Richard. What happened?” she asked, trusting the child to tell her. She saw Aston flinch but ignored it; she had this powerful urge to help the man, a force within her telling her it was what she was meant to do.
    “A bad man got away from him. Prince Talbot blamed everything on Aston, even though it was all Talbot’s fault. He’s a dirty prince,” Richie explained.
    “I see. Well, thank you for telling me, Richard.”
    “Are you a princess?” Richie whispered, and Jade stilled.
    “Why do you say that ?” Jade asked the boy. Was she really so obvious? Aston had seemed to believe she wasn’t. Children always were more perceptive than adults though. They saw the world so differently.
    “You’re really pretty, your dress is better made than the ones Madam Louise makes, and your eyes are lined with kohl. Madam Louise says only really wealthy women can afford to be all made up,” Richie explained. He leaned in closer to Jade to whisper in her ear. “Plus, I’ve had dreams lately, dreams where Aston meets a beautiful princess and they go on adventures together.”
    When Richie pulled away, his eyes wide in expectancy of her answer, Jade thought for a moment. She knew about