A low fire burned in the hearth, giving off a comforting glow. Payne heard soft snoring, and looked off to his left to see Margit in a chair, head back and snoring away. As his eyes grew accustomed to the light, he peered over at the bed, seeing the coverlet bunched up. He thought it was bunched up over Astria’s sleeping body, but it took him a moment to realize there was no body at all.
The bed was empty.
He bolted.
*
She should haverun.
Couldhave run.
But hadn’t.
After slithering out of the window in the rented room, which was made easy because Margit was snoring like an old bull, Astria rushed into the livery yard with glee. It was the first true freedom she’d had since Bloody Maude and her pirate horde had confiscated her vessels, so there was almost a euphoric sense of delight at the fact that she was no longer a captive.
Truly free.
But she made it just past the stable before she came to a halt.
There was an encampment behind the tavern, full of the same pirates who had abducted her, so she couldn’t run in that direction. She could, however, go left or right or to the front of the tavern. She had all the space in the world to run and escape her captors.
But she couldn’t seem to do it.
Why?
In God’s name, why couldn’t she do it? Why wasn’t she running? Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that she was in a country she didn’t know. She was in an area she didn’tknow. She didn’t even know where the nearest village was, and that would mean running through woods and lands that were possibly teeming with outlaws, and she’d be worse off than she was now if they captured her. She didn’t want to jump out of the frying pan into the fire. That was her caution talking.
But there was also something else.
Ye’ll lose the only ally ye have in this entire situation, so dunna be stupid.
Words that Payne had spoken to her. The only person she’d met during the course of her godforsaken captivity who had actually been kind to her. That big, handsome Scotsman had her second-guessing her desire to escape and here she was, trying to rationalizewhyshe wasn’t taking this obvious chance.
Was it really because she didn’t want to disappoint a man she didn’t even know?
Or was it something else?
Astria had no idea.
There was an upended stump next to the livery and she plopped down on it, watching the bonfire in the distance. It began to occur to her that because Payne had shown her such respect, she simply wasn’t willing to throw it all away. She wasn’t willing to shame the only person who had been willing to protect and defend her. He’s started that from the moment they’d met, so it wasn’t a matter of his protecting a princess. He hadn’t even known she was one at first. Or had he? She couldn’t remember. But she did remember one thing.
His kindness.
She’d never met anyone who had shown her such kindness.
Not even her husband. He’d been pleasant, but it was out of duty. And then there was her stepson…
Arnaldo.
She was certain he was looking for her, but even that certainty was damaged by doubt. Arnaldo was her husband’ssole heir, and even when she had been married to his father, the man had tried to seduce. her. He’d been annoying and aggressive. She’d had to slap him on more than one occasion because he’d been too forward with her. There had been no respect there, no kindness. When her husband finally died, Arnaldo was responsible for it. She had proof of it. But before she’d been able to prove it, his attitude toward her changed completely and he’d taken to sea.
They’s become rivals.
Arnaldo, the new Duc de Tarragona, didn’t want the dowager duchess involved in the family business. Oh, that family business that seemed to be so respectable, so legitimate. Her husband and his father before him had made their money with a fleet of merchant ships, but the truth was so much different than that.
El dios del mar.
The Sea God.
