He glared at her. “Would ye have preferred that Iwasdyin’? Is that it?”
“I would have preferredIhad died,” she retorted before she could stop herself.
She looked at the priest, then at her supposed groom. She had to go, she had to leave. There was no way she would stay here and let herself be married off to someone she didn’t know.
“Apologies.” She lifted the hem of her skirts andran.
The guests, frozen still by the turn the day had taken, merely watched as she tore past them. She had made it as far as the door before she was roughly yanked back by her collar.
“Where do ye think ye’re goin’, lassie?” Harrison hissed in her ear.
He turned her around, grabbing her chin roughly in one hand so that she was forced to look him right in his cold, grey eyes. Eyes that held nothing but cruelty. Thalia knew she had made the right decision to run.
“Ye think ye can just run off and embarrass me like that?” he continued. “Ye had better behave yerself, or else ye’ll face me wrath in our marriage bed.”
Shock coursed through her. She couldn’t believe her uncle thought that this man would ever be worthy of being her husband.
She tried to pull free, but Harrison’s grip only tightened on her. Desperate, she moved just enough to sink her teeth deep into the soft flesh between his index finger and thumb.
He yelped, dropping his hand and holding it tight to his chest. Thalia wasn’t quite satisfied, and acting purely on instinct, she lifted her boot and drove it straight up between his legs.
She didn’t give herself enough time to properly enjoy the way he crumpled to the ground before she was running again. This time, no one dared stop her, and she made her way back to the stables easily. Kenna was still there with Ava’s horse, conversing with one of the stable boys. She bristled when she saw Thalia running towards them.
“Me Lady! What are ye doin’ back here?” she asked.
“I daenae have time to explain.” Thalia mounted the horse, rubbing its neck sympathetically. “I’m sorry, friend. I have to ask ye to run again.”
“Run? Me Lady, where are ye goin’?”
“Anywhere that isnae here!”
With that, Thalia kicked the horse into a gallop again.
The crowd jumped out of her way as she flew out of the castle gates. The wind whipped through her hair, and she felt like she could breathe again.
CHAPTER 2
Thalia didn’t knowwhere she was going. Not back to her sister’s, for surely they would find her there. It didn’t matter. She only knew that she needed to put as much distance between her and MacFinn Castle as possible.
On the second day after running away from her wedding, Thalia decided it might be best to stay off the main roads. She began trekking through the forest, finding much-needed shelter under the trees. The horse, too, was grateful to settle into a trot rather than the full gallop on the main roads.
She was able to make camp that night near a babbling stream, and she finally let sleep pull her under. Her dreams, however, were anything but peaceful, and she awoke feeling just as exhausted as she had been.
She was lost and utterly alone. She had not brought much with her at the start of her trip, and she had left MacFinn Castle with even less. The forest did provide her with some nourishment;there were plenty of streams to be found and fruits that she knew were safe to eat. Though she knew they would not be able to sustain her for long.
Her dress was beyond ruined. It was the same one she had left MacCabe Castle in, and it was made almost stiff by the dirt and dust that clung to it. It snagged on a stray root as she walked, and as she tried to pry it free, it ripped a large hole along the bottom of the skirt.
Frustrated tears stung her eyes, but she continued her journey. She did not know to whom she could turn, or where she could go next, and by the third day, she did not even know how to find her way back from where she had come.
The hopelessness began to settle into her bones like a winter chill. She feared she would never find her way back home, and she prayed that her sisters and mother would not despair too much over her death.
On the fourth day, there was a shift in the air. Thalia walked across the forest ground, leading the horse behind her. The smell of rain hung thick on the wind, and the air thrummed with the promise of a storm.
She could not make out the clouds properly through the thick canopy, but she knew it was coming. The horse knew as well, and she could feel his anxiety. She petted his neck reassuringly.
“Daenae worry, me friend. It’s just a wee bit of rain. It’ll be over before ye ken it,” she told him.
The horse remained unconvinced.
