She sat on the bed, hugging herself. “I am fourteen.”
“How? How did you end up here? Who is forcing you to do this?” He wanted to personally, physically throw them in the margrave’s dungeon.
A look of confusion creased her face. A tear slid down her cheek. “I had nowhere else to go. The woman you saw . . . Agnes . . . She helped me. She took care of my two little brothers and found them a home after my mother died. She said I could pay her back by coming here and working for her.” Two more tears fell, but she made no move to wipe them away.
Who could do such a thing to a maiden so young? And how could he leave her to her fate?
“I don’t care what Agnes said. You do not have to stay here. You do not owe her that.” How many men would mistreat her if he did not do something? “I will get you out of here. Will you leave here with me?”
She stared at him. “What?”
“If you come with me, I will take you somewhere safe.” His mother would take care of her. “A place where you will be fed and no one will bother you.”
She frowned. “What place is that? Why would you do this?”
“I want to help you. Is that so difficult to believe?” But of course it was. He suddenly wanted to punish every man who had ever come to this place.
She continued to stare at him as though she was afraid he would attack her if she looked away. “I cannot leave without someone seeing me. The door is guarded.”
“There must be a way.” He walked to the one window that overlooked a dirty alleyway. The light outside was fading, and there was only one candle in the room. “I have less than an hour to think of something,” he mumbled to himself.
“Why would you want to help me? What do you want?”
“I am a God-fearing man, and any God-fearing man would want to help a young maiden get out of a place like this. Besides that, I work for the margrave.” He studied the window, then tried to open it. It swung open, but it was a long way down. He closed it again. “Do you know who owns this house?”
“Agnes . . . I suppose.”
“Do you know anything about her selling meat at the back of the house?”
Kathryn shook her head.
“Have you seen anyone coming in who didn’t belong? Someone talking with Agnes who seemed out of place here?” He kept his voice as quiet as possible.
She shook her head again. “I’ve only been here for”—her chin trembled—“two days.”
“I am going to get you out of here.”
“What will you do with me?”
He detected a tiny note of hope in her voice. And she was no longer crying.
“I will take you to my mother. She lives in the old gamekeeper’s cottage in Thornbeck Forest, and she will take care of you. You do not have to stay in a place like this.”
“But Agnes . . . She will beat me when she finds me.”
“She won’t find you. I will not let her. Do you need to take anything with you, Kathryn?”
She stood and reached under the bed, then clutched a cloth bundle to her chest.
Jorgen took off his cloak. He could put it around her. But how would he get her past the guard? “Is there a back staircase?”
“Ja, the one that leads to the kitchen.”
“Perfect. We can escape out the back.”
“There are always people in the kitchen. They will see me.” Her lip started to tremble again.
“Put this on.” He handed her the cloak. “Pull the hood over your head. I will create a distraction downstairs, and you can rush out in the chaos.”
She did as he instructed.
I am not leaving this girl in this place. But I need a miracle. He tried to think of the saint who was in charge of helping people escape from buildings. He couldn’t think of one. Jesus, help me get her out.
He went to the door and opened it a crack. No one was there, so he opened it wide enough to stick out his head. No one in the corridor. He motioned with his hand and she came toward him.
“When you get out the back door, run through the alley to the Rathous—do you know where it is?”
She nodded.
“Wait just inside the door of the town hall and I will come for you.”
They slipped into the corridor, and he closed the door silently behind them.
13
JORGEN HASTENED TO the other end of the corridor and found the servants’ stairs, which were wooden spiral steps leading down into darkness with no windows to provide any light.
He started down first. “Hold on to me,” he whispered, and Kathryn’s small hand clutched his right shoulder.