He called my name once—not “Lady Dottie,” but just “Dottie.”
“Good night!” I called back.
I didn’t look. My head was swimming and I only hoped he wasn’t too hurt. The fact was, Ididlike it. I liked ita lot. I felt like I could have consumed him whole, the short experience far more invigorating than the sloppy make out sessions I’d had.
But the thought that stopped me from doing so was the fear that if I woke in the morning next to Lord Draw, my Fairy Bookmother would choose that moment to send me home. And I wasn’t ready to go. It was more than the fact that I’d never have a chance with Ironclaw—and honestly I had no idea what to think on that front anymore—or that I had a mission to fix book five.
It was that in the span of about twenty minutes, Draw had become truly real to me.
And eventually I’d be forced to leave him behind.
Chapter Ten: An Unexpected Letter
For such a warm evening, the morning was almost crisp. The sun was little more than a gray blur on the horizon. The horses’ impatient stamps of their hooves was a low accent to the drone of men and women as they readied the last of the provision wagons.
I had donned my leather splint mail with hunting greens underneath. I’d filled my water bottle and still had the snacks ferreted away. I hoped some of the food on the wagons was for me as well. Or did we hunt along the way? Meg had said she would be foraging.
I was sad to be leaving Castle Creneda. It was unlikely I’d ever be back. Plus, there was a level of certainty the walls brought. Out on the roads, it felt like anything could come my way.
I was pulling my hair back in a ponytail when Jerrald passed, hitting my shoulder with a heavy hand. He smiled. “I’ll see you when we camp tonight. Don’t worry, not even you could lose this host.”
“Not like you lost your room last night,” Amelia called over, her arms full of supplies. She dropped them in a cart and immediately began reprimanding the driver for not brushing mud off the horse’s legs.
It didn’t seem many people were paying attention, but I bent my head to check the belt I now had to hold my sword on. Did people know I had spent much of my night in Lord Draw’s company? Did it matter?
I knew an army marching to battle had more concerns than who had kissed whom, but I was still processing the event.
Sorrel had sent me to Landsome to save the plot of book five. Make it the series ending every reader wished for, the ending Sherry Whitehorse would have wanted for her favorite characters. Along the way, I was supposed to, as Sorrel put it, loosen up.
But I was feeling more lost than ever and, with departing the castle, a new phase of this adventure was starting. It was unclear how long I’d be in Landsome, and the anxiety made my stomach tighten. And Draw. Draw versus Ironclaw. Myself as a woman who felt so much missing from her life she had to seek out an imaginary one to fill the hole. I didn’t know what to make of any of it yet.
A young girl brought a horse to me and placed a wooden step for me to mount.
I lifted myself onto the step, then awkwardly fit my left foot into the stirrup and pulled myself onto the short horse. I had been horseback riding at summer camp once, but really knew nothing other than to stay on. The girl handed me the reins. Well, I supposed the horse would follow his friends. I patted his shoulder. He seemed docile enough.
The girl was gone and had said nothing about a name so I ran through a few in my head. His fur was tan and his mane and tail black. I didn’t like human names for pets. What did I miss most from my own world?
