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Leah tuned out of the conversation and stared at the castle in question behind her. It jutted into the sky, nestled like a natural extension of the rough cliffs that surrounded it. A rounded tower was closest to her view, with walls spreading outward and covering the top of the cliff. Several long slits broke up the smoothness of the tower and she imagined those functioned as windows. All in all, it was a forbidding, dangerous structure, just like the man that had worked so hard to capture it.
    She wondered how he had managed to take down such an enormous, well-defended castle. Treachery from the inside? Siege? Since she couldn’t ask, she supposed she’d never know.
    Something flicked in one of the slits high on the rounded turret, drawing her attention.
    She glanced up. Something long, thin, and pointed extended from one window-slit as she watched, and then it shifted ever so slightly.
    Uneasy, she turned to the baron, who was still deep in conversation with his man-at-arms.
    She tugged at the cloak again, but it did no good. He ignored her, his arm squeezing tighter around her shoulders to keep her in place. Anxious, she glanced up at the window again, and saw the thin thread move ever-so-slightly again.
    It was an arrow, aiming carefully for its target.
    Aimed at Royce – her one shot at a second chance.
    She gave Royce a violent, sudden shove, desperate to move him out of the way of the arrow. She caught him by surprise, for he stumbled over a few feet. Guy bellowed with outrage, and she heard the sound of him drawing his sword. A loud thwack sang through the air.
    The world bloomed into pain.
    She stared down at the arrow that protruded from her cloak and felt the waves of pain rising off of her arm. She’d been shot, not him.
    Uncomprehending, Leah stared up into Royce’s dark, surprised eyes.

Chapter Five
    The world settled into a chaotic blur after that. The courtyard erupted, men drawing their swords and screaming, knights running into the castle to seek out the shooter. She remembered Royce touching her chin briefly and giving her arm a cursory look, ripping his cloak from her.
    When he determined that it was lodged in her arm only, he touched her chin again and then headed for the castle, Guy close on his heels, sword drawn and his mouth drawn into a grim line.
    After that, Leah lost track of what was happening. She stared down numbly at the arrow protruding from her skin, noting the smooth tip that stuck out the far side of her arm, and the hot blood that dripped down her skin. She wanted to scream with the pain of it, but her mouth wouldn’t work. No sound would come out.
    Kind hands wrapped her listing cloak close around her body, taking care not to touch the arrow. “Come with me,” Christophe coaxed, urging Leah forward. “I’ll take you to the leech.” Leah jerked at that and shook her head violently. She didn’t want to see any sort of leech.
    It sounded frightening.
    He ignored her protests and pulled her along, and Leah found that she could not disobey.
    She was too disoriented and the pain in her arm was an incessant throbbing.
    Time swerved in and out as she was half-walked, half-dragged into the chaotic courtyard.
    Royce’s soldiers shouted orders around her, babies cried, and people were running everywhere.
    One man bumped into her, and the resounding shock of pain that reverberated through her arm caused her to nearly black out.
    Next to her, Christophe yelled at the soldier, and steered Leah out of the way, dragging her across the cobblestones and through the courtyard to a building in the distance.
    Warm hands grabbed her bad arm, brushing against the arrow, and Leah’s body racked in a shudder at the touch. Her mouth opened in another silent scream.
    “She’s wounded,” Christophe bellowed beside her, and the hands slid away.
    She faded in and out for the next several minutes, and the next thing she recalled was a gentle woman’s voice speaking. “Poor thing. She’s trying to