She choked back a laugh. “I was so worried you wouldn’t come in time.”
“I’ve been with you since noon,” he said. “But I couldn’t come until nightfall. Now let’s get you out of here.” He let go of her for a moment, his hands reappearing with a knife. He cut through the ropes that bound her hands to the wagon, and she turned where she sat and buried her face in his shoulder, her tears instantly creating a wet spot on his shirt.
“Are you hurt?” he asked, his arms coming around her again and oh, it felt so wonderful and so right.
“Only my wrists,” she said, sniffling against him. “Let’s go, please.”
“Of course,” he said, pressing a kiss to her hair. But then he muttered a curse. “Guard.”
He let go of her and dove underneath the plank she sat on as the guard currently standing watch made his way toward them, Sophia did her best to arrange her skirts to hide Caspian. She moved her hands to the same position they’d been in, grabbing the rope and wrapping it around her wrists, holding the cut end tightly in her fist.
If the guard looked closely, he would notice something was wrong.
Caspian’s hand came to rest on her ankle, a reminder that he was with her, and she took a deep breath. She wasn’t alone anymore. She could do this.
They just had to get away without all the guards noticing, because there were too many of them for Caspian alone.
The guard made a face at her as he approached.
Sophia’s heart beat faster. Was he going to see the rope? Or notice the bulk under her skirts that hadn’t been there before?
The guard inspected her face, a mean glint in his eyes, but didn’t say or do anything before turning and walking back to the fire.
It was meant purely to intimidate her, and it would have, if she hadn’t had Caspian holding on to her like he would never let her go again, his breath warm against her ankle. She didn’t notice that she was shaking until Caspian began rubbing the length of her foot, up to her ankle, and back down again. She could feel her foot, in the thin slippers she’d borrowed from Lady Rendon, trembling in his grip.
They certainly weren’t the sturdy shoes she usually wore in the barn. She could feel the warmth of his hand through them, which only made her realize how cold her feet were and how desperately she wanted to be warm.
She could be warm when they got home, though.
When the guard had made his way back to the fire and was settled again, Sophia reached down and tapped Caspian’s shoulder through her skirts. He unfolded himself from underneath her and crouched below the edge of the wagon, looking up at her.
“Did he hurt you?” His voice was so quiet and yet so harsh, she was afraid he might try to kill the man simply for intimidating her.
“No, he didn’t.” She shook her head. “He was just trying to intimidate me.”
Caspian’s voice was hard as stone. “I should kill them all for daring to hurt you.”
Sophia reached down and cupped his cheek with her hand, his beard soft against her palm. “Thank you, but I just want to go,” she whispered.
Caspian’s jaw hardened as he nodded and slithered over the edge of the wagon. He reached up and put his hands around her waist, helping her down over the side.
They began to creep away from the wagon in the dark, and Sophia thought that they might make it to the woods unnoticed, when a cry went up from the camp behind them.
“Let’s go,” Caspian said, pulling her into a run, no longer concerned with being stealthy.
She could hear loud voices and her heart kicked into overdrive, her stomach threatening to boil over as she picked up her skirts and ran. The thin slippers offered no traction and she slipped more than once, holding onto Caspian’s hand and allowing him to keep her from falling as they raced into the tree line.
If they were caught, Lady Manning might kill them both.
“We can’t let them catch us,” she said, the words coming out in heaving gasps.
Sophia wasn’t surprised to find Caspian’s horse tied to a tree. Her hands were clammy as Caspian put his hands around her waist and lifted her onto the horse, but he handed her the reins anyway. “Hurry,” she said as she gripped the reins, her knuckles turning white.
She heard the crashing noise of men beating their way through the brush, the same noises they’d just been making themselves.
“Caspian,” she cried, looking down at him.
He looked up at her, his throat bobbing as he swallowed hard.
