A single staircase led to the higher levels. The steps spiraled clockwise around a thick stone newel post. Caim sprang up the stairs two at a time. As he came around the first landing, the twang of a crossbow string reached his ear a split second before a quarrel zipped past. Caim threw himself against the wall. From somewhere above echoed the staccato clack of a hand crank.

Caim pushed off from the wall and darted up the steps as fast as his legs would propel him. If there was a second archer lying in wait for him, he would be dead before he knew it. He rounded another turn. A lone crossbowman stood on the landing above, furiously turning the iron crank to reload his weapon. The soldier dropped the crossbow and grabbed for his sword, but Caim cut him down before he freed the weapon.

Caim crept up the last flight of stairs to the keep's highest level. The upper landing was empty. Candles dripping wax from brass sconces on the wall illuminated a juncture of two hallways. He put his back to the cool stone and peered around the corner into the corridor that led to the master suite. So far, the duke had shown an exceptional affinity for sacrificing his men to preserve his own hide. Two bodyguards were down. Two more to go. Decent odds. Caim sidled down the hallway. The door to Reinard's suite was reinforced with thick iron bands. It would be barred from the inside. Nothing short of an axe would get through the door, but he had another idea.

Caim was moving toward a shuttered window on the side of the hallway when Kit's head and one shapely shoulder poked through the door.

"You better hurry," she said. "He's packing up to run."

A cool breeze ruffled Calm's hood as he swung open the shutters. A sixty-foot drop yawned on the other side.

"He doesn't have anywhere to go."

"Not quite. There's a hidden passage that leads outside the grounds."

"Damn it! Why didn't you mention that earlier?"

"How was I supposed to know it was there? It's pretty well hidden, behind a wardrobe case."

Caim swung a leg over the sill. Time was running out. If the duke got outside the compound, he would be near impossible to catch.

"Keep watch on that secret tunnel, Kit. Follow Reinard if he makes it outside. I'll catch up."

"Will do."

She vanished back inside the chamber. Caim leaned out the window. He still didn't know what had gone wrong in the great hall. The shot had been set up perfectly. Nothing he could do about it now except to correct his mistake and get out fast.

As he climbed out onto the sill, he spotted the outline of another window on the same level thirty paces away. Pale light flickered from within. Exit scenarios played through Calm's mind as he ran his fingers over the outer wall. Once the job was finished, he could drop down to the keep's courtyard to make his escape, or he could use the duke's secret tunnel. Either plan held its own set of risks. He'd hoped to be gone by now. Every passing minute reduced his chances for success.

The broad ashlar blocks of the keep's outer shell provided strong protection against siege weapons, but their wide seams made good purchase for climbing. He found a crevice in the wall and grabbed hold without stopping to consider the prudence of his actions. He hated rushing a job, but he was running out of options at this point. He focused on his holds.

A prickling itched down his spine as he reached a point halfway between the windows. He froze, clinging to the sheer stone face. Something drew his gaze toward the heavens. A thick blanket of clouds veiled the night sky. The light of torches from the courtyard below flickered upon the keep's crenellations. He saw nothing at first. Then, something moved among the battlements. Caim held his breath as a silhouette passed above him, a sinuous shape gliding through the dark. For one terrible moment he thought it had seen him, but then it was gone.

Caim waited several heartbeats before he dared to breathe again. What was going on? He didn't have time to waste. Trying to put the specter out of his mind, he lunged for his next hold.

Seconds later, he was at the window. The clear glass casement opened with a slight rattle, but no one inside noticed. The window led into the master bedchamber. Beyond it Caim could see entrances to other rooms and the stout door leading to the hallway he had vacated minutes before. Both bodyguards stood at the barred door, swords out, watching the portal as if expecting Caim to burst through at any moment.

The duke hunched over a heavy trunk. "Ulfan, leave off that damned door and help me!"

One of the bodyguards turned around as Caim crawled through the window. He opened his mouth to shout a warning, but never got the chance. Caim hurled a knife with a whip of his hand. The bodyguard jerked back, a runnel of blood streaming down his collar as he fell to his knees with the suete's smooth handle protruding from his throat.

Reinard dropped a heavy sack that clinked as it hit the floor. "What-?"

Caim drew his other knife and crossed the room just as the second bodyguard turned. As the man raised his sword arm to strike, Caim lunged in close and drove his weapon full length into the joint under the man's armpit. The bodyguard gasped and slid off the knife.

"Caim!" Kit shouted from behind him.

He turned, knees bent with his knife at the ready. From this vantage he could see the wardrobe Kit had mentioned. It was pulled aside, and a black tunnel mouth yawned in the wall beyond. A young man in the duke's livery with fair hair and a short goatee emerged with a bared arming sword in his hand. Caim pivoted out of the path of the falling sword and thrust his knife into his opponent's side. The point struck a rib. Caim twisted the blade and punched it through the connective tissue between the bones.

The young man's last breath wheezed from the wound as he crumpled to the floor.

The duke cringed beside a massive, four-post bed. "Please." His jowls trembled as he held out his hands before him. An angry welt marred one of his palms. "I'll give you anything you want."

"Yes." Caim crossed the floor. "You will."

The duke died with considerably less effort than his bodyguards. Caim left the body stretched out on the bed with a bloody hole carved into the chest. He hadn't been able to take out Reinard in front of his dinner guests. His clients would have to be satisfied with butchery. The message was sent.

Caim retrieved his other knife and scanned the chamber. If he hurried he could be over the walls and outside the keep before the duke's men organized any meaningful pursuit. He didn't expect them to trail him for long. With their liege dead, they would be more concerned with finding and protecting Reinard's heir. By all accounts young Lord Robert was a decent boy, a far cry from his monstrous father. The duchy would be a better place.

Calm's gaze fell on the young man sprawled at the tunnel entrance. He had never set eyes on Lord Robert, but he had a reliable description. Twenty-two years old, light brown hair with a wisp of a beard and blue eyes. The youth on the floor matched the description too closely to be a coincidence. Caim cursed under his breath. So much for leaving these lands in the care of a kinder, more tolerant liege.

Kit walked through the door to the hallway. "You're going to get some company very soon."

Caim considered the open window. "How many?"

"More than you can handle. Believe me."

"I do. What about outside?"

"All those pretty ladies and gentlemen have stirred up quite a commotion in the yard. Every exit is sealed and extra men have been put on the walls. Search parties are scouring the grounds."

"And the tunnel?"

Kit gave him a sassy grin. "Lots of stairs and the rest of the duke's bodyguards wait at the other end. They might not be happy to see you come out before their boss."