He wanted to get me away from Granny as quickly as possible.
Dark thoughts rolled through my mind as I clutched the note. At the entrance to the ship, the pain from climbing up the ladder made it hard to think. Once on the ship, I was shown to the top deck and led to my quarters. I could barely muster the strength to will my legs to move.
What was I doing? Was I really leaving?
Life with Granny hadn’t been great, but she was a known entity. If she could change, if the operation could change, would it really be so bad? At least it would be familiar, unlike a distant land with rage-monger creatures who didn’t sound safe. Was leaving really the safest thing I could be doing? Going to face a punishment that, until lately, I’d been assured would be death?
Tears dripped down my face as a deckhand showed me around my quarters. None of it really registered. The large bed, the table in the back with settings for two... It was evident Weston would be in with me, monitoring me even here. He hadto get me back to his royalty, after all. He had to do his duty, my happiness or peace of mind be damned.
My heart hurt and I couldn’t tell if it was from thinking of Weston like that or from leaving Granny.
The letter had reminded me I’d told Granny all about my mom back in the day. She’d always listened patiently as she sat by the fire. She’d added comments and words of support. And now I was walking away from her after she’d tried to come for me.
She’d tried to come for me.
My stomach dropped out as I saw my clothes hanging in the closet, all brown and drab but for one: the red cloak with the fashionable hood—the last gift Granny had ever given me. I hadn’t seen it since I’d been captured. They’d hung on to it.
My heart squeezed and then I was pushing out of the room, quickly making my way to the ship deck.
“Wait,” I said, out of breath. “Wait . . .”
But the long, slow crank indicated the anchor was being lifted. The sails had been raised, and we’d started to drift away.
“Wait . . .” I whispered, searching the people on the docks for a familiar face. Her familiar face.
Maybe it was just Alexander toying with me after all. Maybe this was just one more trick he knew would get to me.
As the distance from the dock grew, a flash of red caught my eye. A woman was fastening a cloak of crimson around her neck, the shade nearly the same as mine. She lifted the hood over gray, curled hair and I could just make out the kind, familiar face.
A gasp got caught in my throat.
“It’s true,” I breathed as boots sounded on the deck. A familiar, delicious scent caught my attention as Weston stopped next to me, looking over the railing. “She lives.”
“Yes,” Weston responded, no remorse.
“It wasn’t her in that cottage.”
“No. The body had a different scent than the house around it. It was a decoy, freshly killed and with a wig thrown on for good measure.”
My world bled of all color. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the woman in the red cloak on the docks, a person I’d known longer than my own mom. A woman who had taken care of me for all of my adult life.
“You knew the whole time,” I accused.
“Yes.” His tone was so hard, so unfeeling. He never once glanced my way, his face in profile as he stared at the docks.
I felt a little faint. “You kept this from me.”
“Yes. Purposely.”
“Why?” Tears ran freely down my face as I watched her wave goodbye. As we drifted farther and farther away, with no way to stop and go back. No way to jump and swim, not with these ribs. I’d never make it.
“Many reasons.” His tone could cut granite. “You will go to the dragon kingdom, as planned. You will stand in judgment, as agreed. Your dealings with that woman are finished.”
Tears dripped down my face, watching Granny wave, listening to Weston speak to me this way. Talking to me as if my pain didn’t register. He’d got what he wanted, maneuvered me in the same way he’d accused her of doing.
“You betrayed me,” I whispered.
“Yes.”
