“Noah,” she said at last voice catching.
Now might be the moment when his face creased in confusion.“Who’s Noah?”he’d ask, revealing that perhaps he wasn’t Noah at all, but somebody who looked almost identical.
That would be more palatable than the reality. Or perhaps he was the real Noah, with a nasty blow to the head that had robbed him of his memories, robbing him ofher. She’d heard of that happening before.
He only stared down at her, face blank.
“We should return to the Keep at once, Senga,” he said flatly, after a full minute of silence had passed.
Senga sucked in a breath, taking a step back.
“So it is ye,” she whispered.
Noah abruptly turned aside. “Ye have a horse, I see. I have mine, too. Let’s go.”
Is that it? After all these years, all he can say to me is “let’s go”? He must be mad.
“Have ye nothing to say to me?” Senga cried, her voice echoing in the still night. “Did ye not think I was dead?”
Noah paused, back turned. For a long moment, he made no move, either to turn around or to walk away. Then at long last, he spoke. His voice seemed harsher than Senga remembered. And the scar on his cheek—where had that come from?
“Nay,” he said at last. “I knew ye were alive. Now, we must leave. There’s no time for words.”
He knew I was alive? He knew I was alive and never tried to find me?
“Have ye no explanation? No reason why?—”
“Lady Grahame learned that ye had gone out alone tonight,” Noah interrupted, glancing over his shoulder. “She sent me to fetch ye as soon as I came back from patrol. It’s dangerous out here, which I think ye have already discovered. We must go back to the Keep straight away. There’s no time to lose on chatter.”
He didn’t wait for a response. Instead, he strode off into the shadows, where Senga noticed the bulky shape of a horse. She stood where she was, jaw slack, eyes wide, as the man she had once loved walked away from her, not even bothering to explain why he’d abandoned her.
None of it made sense. None of it.
Don’t think of him now. He’s clearly not the boy ye knew. He’s a stranger. Answers will come later, surely. The boy ye knew would never have abandoned ye.
He did. Remember that.
It was fear of being left alone in the woods that made Senga turn and hurry back to her own horse, climbing onto Bluebell’sback and spurring her forward. A single thought remained in her mind, turning round and round and round.
Perhaps he never loved me at all.
There wasno hammering on the Keep gates required to get them admitted back inside. The gates were thrown open as they approached and slammed shut behind them.
Senga had been struggling to keep up with Noah all the way home, and he didn’t wait for her once they clattered into the courtyard. He had already dismounted and begun to limp awkwardly away by the time she reined in Bluebell.
“Wait!” Senga cried, tangling her legs up in her skirts as she tried to dismount. “Noah, wait! Ye are hurt.”
He paused, visibly trying to straighten up his torso. Senga scurried after him, heart pounding. She wasn’t entirely sure what she hoped to gain from this, only that her instincts as a healer had prompted her to speak.
“I would guess at cracked ribs and bruising,” Senga said aloud, when he didn’t turn to face her. “And I can see a long gash along the outside of yer upper arm. I guess ye were out for days unattended. Let me see to it.”
He shook his head tightly, face turned away. “Nay.”
“Ye cannot say nay. I am one of the St. Deborah healers, and?—”
“Others need yer help more than me,” Noah interrupted, his voice hard and sour. “Leave me be. Go to find Lady Grahame, she has been asking for ye.”
Without waiting for a response, he walked away, his long-legged stride carrying him away from her. Senga stood there,motionless, watching the familiar hunch of his shoulders disappear into the gloom.
