Chapter 33

A/N: Thanks so much for all your comments etc. For the first time I wrote some of this chapter on my phone - so please forgive me if there are any autocorrect problems! Enjoy!


They didn't even discuss whether or not Kate was staying with Richard. She got out of the carriage at his house and they went inside. Richard called Alexis and his mother; the tone of his voice made them appear instantly.

"What's the matter, Daddy?" Alexis asked, searching her father's worried expression.

"I'm hoping it's nothing to worry about..." he began, but he found it difficult to continue. Kate took his hand and squeezed it encouragingly.

"It shouldn't be - but we can't ignore the possibility. We were shot at today. We're fine," she added hurriedly as Alexis' jaw dropped in horror. "But we thought you should know - and it would probably be best if you, both of you, stayed in the house as much as possible. It won't be for long, but-"

"Understood," Martha said, nodding slowly as her shrewd mind picked up a lot more than what was being said. "And I suppose you two will be off saving us all?"

"Something like that," Kate replied with a dry smile. "Alexis, I know we said we would involve you but I think it might be best if-"

"I stay at home. Don't worry, Kate," the girl said quietly. "I don't want you to go, but I know you'll look after each other, and I don't want to be a liability. Things sound difficult enough as it is."

Richard let go Kate's hand and shout his arm around his daughter.

"Thanks, sweetie," he said, kissing the top of her head.

"Just... Don't get hurt, okay?"

"We'll do our best," Richard promised.

"I know," Alexis said, but she couldn't hide all the fear from her voice. She was strong, she liked to be, and though she knew her father would always be there to comfort her, she wanted not to need him to. She couldn't stop him from going off on adventures, just as he couldn't really stop her any more. They brought each other up, and she knew he needed distance too. She didn't want to tie him down... And she didn't resent Kate. Not at all. She loved Kate... almost like the mother she'd never had. She knew just from the way that Kate looked at her father that the woman would do anything to protect him, to bring him back to her, safe.

She hoped Kate would stay in their lives forever. She tried to tell herself that this was possible... but there was something inherently wild about Kate which Alexis wasn't sure would ever be truly gone. Richard was exciting, but was he enough for her?

Kate had been running scared for her whole life. The only solution to their problems now was to destroy the reason for that fear. But would Kate really know what to do then?

Alexis held on tight to Richard as she thought, peeking out at Kate and wondering what would happen. She had complete faith in Kate and Richard's skills in terms of fighting. She was far more afraid that Kate would leave them after the fight was over.

Kate was totally oblivious to this fear. She might not have been normally, but she had reason to be preoccupied. Not least because she might well be... But that was a thought for afterwards.

Alexis and Martha disappeared into another living room after not very much conversation. Martha had no wish to hear about their escapades of the day, and didn't want Alexis hearing about them either. She said she would continue teaching Alexis how to embroider cushions. Alexis looked as if she would rather poke the needles into her own eyeballs, but she reluctantly followed her grandmother into a small sitting room.

"Are you hungry?" Richard asked Kate when the redheads were gone.

Kate smiled at him. "Yes... We haven't really eaten today."

"No... Our picnic got rather forgotten. Come on, we'll go down to the kitchen and scavenge something."

Kate took his hand and they went downstairs. To her surprise, he began collecting an assortment of complicated ingredients, including interesting spices, some which she didn't even recognise.

"You can cook?" she asked, trying not to sound overly incredulous.

"I am a man of many unusual talents," Richard told her with a wink, measuring flour into a bowl and breaking a couple of eggs in on top of it. "We're lucky they left the stove on."

"Very," Kate said, admiring the beautiful cooker with its coal box and numerous ovens.

"You know how to heat up a griddle?"

Kate smiled and unhooked the correct pan from the hooks on the wall. "I put it on here," she said, placing the pan on the hot plate.

"Very good. Do you cook too?"

"Not really. I never seem to have time. Lanie is an excellent cook."

"I'd like to get to know this Lanie better."

"I'd like for you to. She's fantastic."

"Ask her here for dinner. When all this is over."

Kate looked in drawers for a spatula. "All this," she said dreamily. "What a friendly way to put it."

"I'm a friendly person. And-"

He was interrupted by a tap on the back door.

"Were you expecting someone?" Kate whispered. Richard shook his head. Armed with the spatula, she motioned for Richard to open the door while she waited to pounce on the visitor.

He yanked it open-

"M'lady?!"

Kate sighed with relief. "Charlie! What are you doing here?"

Richard closed the door, took the spatula, and went back to cooking, chuckling at their overreaction.

"Sorry to bovver ya, but Sally wants to talk."

"Sally... she's doing better?"

"Much. Doc gave 'er somefin, don't know wot but perked 'er up right nice. An' now she wants to see ya."

"Now?"

"Soon as possible. She were flustered, like."

Kate thought about it. And about the rumbling in her stomach.

"Right. You run back there now, tell her we'll be there as soon as we can."

"Don't bring 'im, m'lady. Don't mean to offend, Sir, just ya don't want to draw attention, an' I don't fink Sally minds if it's just the lady."

Richard nodded in understanding, and caught Kate's eye, telling her with a look that he didn't mind, and agreed that she should go alone.

"You should go now," he told her, throwing her an apple. "I'll keep some of this warm for when you come back."

Charlie looked at him expectantly until an apple was in his hands as well. Kate sighed as she bit into the fruit. This was not the evening she'd had in mind. And her back was hurting. She cracked it on the way through the door; Richard noticed and felt a little guilty. But he had an idea for how he could make it up to her.

Kate ran with Charlie through the streets. He was a good running partner – less chatty than Richard. Fast, too. She smiled to herself. He would have to be, the amount of stealing he did. Only from bad people, of course.

They reached the inn within an hour and hurried in through the back entrance. Charlie kept watch, making sure no one saw Kate go into Sally's room. The child who had been covering for him accepted the large coin he handed over and disappeared, knowing it was very much in her interest to keep completely silent.

"You wanted to see me?" Kate asked, never one to beat about the bush.

Sally was sitting up in bed, looking weak, but vastly better than when Kate had last seen her. She was completely alert, her eyes were bright and intelligent.

"You need me," she said, her voice rasping a little in her throat. Kate went to stand closer to her so she didn't strain herself.

"In what way?" Kate asked, wanting to see how much Sally had worked out on her own.

"You need me to help you take down the dragon. You want him too. But not as badly as I do."

Kate raised her eyebrows but didn't comment. Sally pointed to her stomach. Kate was rapidly realising that this girl was a real beauty – her state of health had hidden it but her hair, now clean, was think and shiny, and her eyes had a bright twinkle which men would find very attractive.

"This baby belongs to a very rich man, a close friend of the dragon. His name is Sir William Bracken. If you want a way to the top, Bracken is it. And I have the bargaining chip."

"He wants the baby?"

"He said when he let me go that if I wasn't at the place where he told me when I gave birth, he would find me, kill me, and take his son."

"Why... doesn't he have a wife?"

"She can't bear children. But he wants to pretend – he needs an heir. So the dragon provided me. They couldn't keep me because of the secret."

"So you've met the dragon?"

"No. Only his men..."

"You're not..." Kate tried to find a polite way to phrase it, but Sally smiled.

"I'm from a middle class family. They took me... My parents have been told I am dead. I believe there has even been a funeral."

"You don't sound too upset."

"I left voluntarily," Sally said, now sounding a little ashamed. "I was tricked, but I shouldn't have fallen for it. There was a young man, and a promise of an interesting life... I left and was trapped immediately."

"That's why you were starving," Kate said, more to herself than to Sally. Sally smiled.

"Thank you. For saving me."

Kate was almost angry when she replied. "Don't thank me. I'm going to use you."

"I think I'm going to be using you. While the child is in me, they won't kill me. You have no such protection."

"You seem to have an idea already."

"Bracken told me if I needed anything, if it was a matter of life and death, of the child, that is, I should come to his house, at night. I think you, and whatever men you have, should come too. Do you have many?"

Kate sighed. "I have one. Two if you count Charlie. And Roy, I suppose... So there would be four of us."

"When I was there... All I could think of was how to kill him. Even as he was... He has at least twenty trained guards, plus a personal guard he keeps with him all the time."

"So we need a diversion."

"We'll do it," Charlie piped up from his spot looking out through the keyhole. Kate turned to him.

"I won't have you, or any of the children, risking yourselves like that."

"You won't be havin' nothin. I fink I fancy a trip down to this Bracken's 'ouse. 'E sounds like a rich bastard. We'll clean 'im out."

Kate had to laugh at Charlie's determination, but she told him no, again. He simply told her she couldn't stop him.

"I'm a free man, m'lady," he said with a grin. Sally chuckled.

"You must be something, Lady Beckett."

"Kate. You can call me Kate."

"He doesn't."

"He doesn't do anything I tell him."

"You inspire great loyalty. If anyone can help me, it's you."

"That's kind of you to say, Sally, but you should know – when I kill this dragon, I will kill him for me. For you too... but for me, first."

"I would expect nothing less. One request?"

"What?"

"Let me have Bracken?"

Kate gritted her teeth, thinking of how this rich, powerful man, who she had actually met, had raped this girl, this child.

"With pleasure," she said firmly. Sally smiled dryly.

"I wonder what he did to you."

"Perhaps I'll tell you, one day."

"Tomorrow night," Sally said.

"Tomorrow?"

"No point wasting time. The sicker I look, the better."

Kate was eager to get it done herself. She nodded and made to leave.

"I'll be here at dusk."

"I'll be ready."

Kate left, running home, after a small conference with Charlie. She wasn't sure she trusted Sally. She had been caught out once too many by the dragon... Sally could be his. She would proceed with caution. But she was determined that she would proceed. One way or another, it would be in motion by this time tomorrow. And she didn't think Bracken would hold out long against her before giving up his boss.


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