“I can’t believe you came for me,” she said softly.
“Of course I did,” he said, just as quietly. “I love you.”
Sophia looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “I love you, too,” she whispered.
With his brother lying next to him and Dietrich taking the first watch, Caspian kissed her forehead instead of kissing her properly as he would have liked to after such a declaration.
But there would be time for that.
They had all the time in the world.
Because after this, he would never let her get away again.
Chapter nineteen
Sophia
Sophiasnuggledunderneathherblanket next to the embers of the fire and pretended she was still asleep. This morning was so different from the one only yesterday when she was tied to a wagon, without a blanket, freezing cold.
She could barely believe that Caspian had come for her, but he had, and she was safe.
She could hear his voice in the distance, conversing with his brother, but she curled up into a tighter ball and refused to open her eyes.
If she didn’t open her eyes, she didn’t have to acknowledge it was morning and face her new reality.
Was she actually the daughter of Lord Manning?
Was that why Lady Manning had hated her for so long?
Was she the heir to the estate?
Would Caspian still love her if she wasn’t just Sophia?
If it was true, everything about her life would change. Would she have to move to Riyel to take care of the estate there? What would becoming a lady entail? She hadn’t been raised to be a lady.
She would have to leave her goats.
And she would have to leave Caspian.
Unless he came to Riyel with her.
He’d said he loved her last night. Did he love her no matter what, even if she was now Lady Manning?
She opened her eyes the tiniest bit to see if he was in sight, but all she saw were men loading up horses.
If they were already loading horses, she should probably wake up.
She sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes and did her best to comb down her hair. It was a ratty, tangled mess—being kidnapped hadn’t done her any favors.
She didn’t need to appear perfect, but it would be nice if she looked a little less like a mess before Caspian saw her again. Not that he would stop loving her because her hair was a mess…but she didn’t want to look terrible, either.
Caspian appeared a moment later, and his eyes lit up when he saw that she was awake. He hurried over to her and sat down next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her close. “Good morning, my darling.” He kissed her forehead. “How did you sleep?”
“So well,” she said with a little laugh. “It’s amazing how tired you can be after being kidnapped.”
“I’m glad you were able to sleep,” he said softly. “Because we have a decision to make.”
“If we need to go to Riyel,” she said. She didn’t see any way around it.
