CHAPTER 795: CHARADE’S END

In the back corridors of the Summer Villa, used almost exclusively by servants, Samira crept slowly along the wall of a hallway that led to the kitchens.

Her legs burned with fatigue from all of the walking she’d done, and her back ached from the strain of supporting the weight of her belly. Just the number of times she’d climbed up and down stairs had already pushed her limits, but trying to remain quiet and undetected made every step more exhausting.

When she’d reached the store rooms near the kitchens, she was startled to find a pair of burly men already looting the place. Clearly, she wasn’t the only one who was looking to run away in the confusion of the demon attack, but she hadn’t imagined that there would be people stealing food when the battle had only just begun.

Owain had always said that real battles could last for hours and that he fought for half a day at a time. Fortresses like the Summer Villa were supposed to be even harder to attack with prolonged battles that could last for days, weeks, or even months. She knew that the Summer Villa wasn’t a proper fortress, but there should still be a good deal of time before the walls fell and anyone was in enough danger to think of fleeing, shouldn’t there?

She didn’t know. All she knew was that if she went to the storerooms, she’d be discovered, and so she made her way to the kitchens instead. More than anything, she was afraid that the attack really would drag on for days. If it did, reinforcements from Lothian City could arrive before she had a chance to make her escape with Noomi, and if the Church came with those reinforcements, even if she managed to survive, Noomi and Saku were certain to die.

Her friend had nothing to do with this attack, but the Church wouldn’t care. There was a captive demon in the dungeon, and there had been an unprecedented demon attack on the Summer Villa at the start of winter.

Those two facts would combine into a death sentence for her friend, and Owain would do nothing to save them. After all, while he might want to raise Saku as some kind of captive demon pet, he would never risk the ire of the Church over the lives of demon infant and his mother.

Now that she had almost reached the kitchens, however, she heard the sounds of many voices speaking at once, so many that it sounded like all of the servants had gathered in the kitchens at once!

"...only what fits in a single bag, treasured things that can’t be replaced..."

"...see the giants over the walls? They’re larger than a house and..."

"...will kill us before we get more than a league..."

"...Sir Cathal is still fighting against the demons and..."

"Everyone, quiet please," a clear, authoritative voice said, cutting through the noise and chatter to instantly silence the people in the kitchen. "We have a guest in the hall, and I think she should show herself in."

For a moment, Samira froze, standing perfectly still and holding her breath to avoid making even the slightest noise. But then, her mind caught up with her and she realized that it was pointless to hide or try ot sneak away now that she’d been caught. Besides, even if she ran, what could she accomplish?

Since she couldn’t run, she did her best to remember all of the lessons she’d received from Lady Jocelynn and Confessor Eleanor to impersonate a real noblewoman. She held her chin up ever so slightly and brushed off the dust that had collected on her dress and hair when the horrifying roar shook the castle before taking slow, deliberate steps into the kitchen.

"You see, Sir Ollie," Mina said, pointing to the doorway as soon as the elegantly dressed figure of a heavily pregnant woman appeared. "I told you she wasn’t in her chambers when I checked. Lady Ashlynn used to wander around a lot when she just arrived. She was probably just taking a morning stroll when the demons attacked, weren’t you, your ladyship?"

"That, that’s right," Samira said awkwardly as she felt the weight of dozens of eyes falling on her, including the gaze of a handsome red-haired knight she’d never seen before. "I, I’m glad that you’re all safe and gathered here," she said in her best impression of a concerned noblewoman.

"But this isn’t the best place to hide for safety from the demons," she added, thinking quickly about how she could use her identity as ’Lady Ashlynn’ to gain control of the situation. "The cellars below..."

"Enough, Samira," Ollie said, forcefully interrupting her. "The time for pretending is over. I’ve already spoken to ’Lynnda,’" he added when he saw the look of shock on her face as he used her real name. "You don’t need to worry, I’m not here to hurt you for what you’ve done. I know that Owain forced your hand," he said with a scowl as he thought about all of the suffering Owain had wrought while appearing to the world as a perfect lord and knight.

"Everyone, we need to move quickly," Ollie said, turning away from the stunned-looking imposter to address the crowd. "Finish your food if you still have the appetite to do so, it’s cold out there. You can return to your chambers to collect any personal treasures that cannot be replaced but do not burden yourselves. The people in my village were refugees themselves not that long ago, they’ll know how to help you settle in once we arrive," he promised.

"Samira," Ollie said as he strode through the crowd to the wide-eyed woman who was still standing in the doorway. "Lynnda told me that you were wearing soft pads to make it look like you were with child. You don’t need to pretend now, but I do need you to take me to the chambers you’ve been staying in. There are some things there that I need to retrieve."

"No, no, I can’t," Samira said, shaking her head and backing away from the strange knight. "I’m not pretending. I’m with child. Please, you have to believe me," she said, wrapping her hands around her belly to protect her unborn child.

"Sir Ollie, it’s true," Mina said quickly, stepping up to the young knight she’d been shocked to learn was the very same kitchen boy who had run away with the mysterious Lynnda half a year ago. "I’ve been helping Lady Ashlynn with her dressing in the morning and her bathing in the evening. She really is with child. I, I don’t know where you heard she was someone pretending, but..."

"Samira," Ollie said, stopping where he stood and staring at the frightened woman who was backing away from him as if she were afraid he would beat her. It was the first time Ollie had ever seen someone look at him with wide-eyed fea,r and as soon as he saw the look in her eyes, words tried to burst past his lips, protesting that he wouldn’t hurt her and that he wasn’t like Owain...

But he couldn’t say it. He knew they’d just be words, and when he thought about how the knights around Owain treated women... How Sir Kaefin had treated Ashlynn and all the rumors he’d heard about Sir Broll and Sir Rain, he couldn’t blame her for being afraid of him.

Once again, he cursed Owain and his men for defiling what it meant to be a knight, twisting it into something that left common women afraid of what a strong knight might do to them when they should have seen knights as the greatest source of safety they could find.

"Samira," Ollie repeated softly. "Are you really with child? And," he said, swallowing heavily. "Is the child Owain’s?"

"I, I really am with child," she said, hanging her head low and avoiding meeting Mina’s gaze. "He, he isn’t lying," she continued after taking a deep, shuddering breath. "My name is Samira. Lord Bors chose me to pretend to be Lady Ashlynn when she died on the night of her wedding," she admitted, giving the servants in the room a complicated look. "But, after that... Lord Owain he... he and I... we..."

No matter how much she tried, she couldn’t make herself say it. She couldn’t bring herself to admit how much she’d craved his touch in the beginning, or how much she’d come to fear him in the months since he left, when she came to understand the sort of man he really was. It was just too much to put into words.

"This," Ollie said hesitantly as he stared at the heavily pregnant woman. "This changes things..."