My hands curl into fists at my sides, and my jaw clenches tight.
She was trying to escape. Just as I told her to. She took the coin, a horse, and the supplies, and she tried to make it out of the court. And they caught her.
Why didn’t she stay longer?
Last I heard, she was planning to stay a while until the tension died down. What changed?
I squeeze my eyes shut. The anguish is sudden and fierce, far stronger than I expected. I see her face behind my eyelids. Those wide, expressive eyes. The way she looked at me when I told her I couldn’t take her with me.
I can’t involve myself. I can’t risk everything to try to save her. I can’t!
Then again, she rescued me twice by breaking the spell and then breaking me out. And I repaid her by sending her off alone into a court crawling with guards who were looking for us both.
Gods’ bones.
I press my forehead against the cool rock. I need to focus on my plan. This is the only chance I’ll ever have. If I abandon my position now, if I leave to go after Isla, I risk everything. I could get caught. I probably would.
I wrestle with myself, my jaw clenched so tight it aches.
Then another thought creeps in. A darker one.
What if this is a trap?
It would be the perfect strategy to draw me out. Dangle the bait and have me attempt a rescue. Then the queen would have me alive and in chains. She could use me to lure the other Lost Kings out of hiding.
It’s exactly the kind of thing Snow would do.
I turn it over and over in my mind, searching for the angle, the deception.
But then I think of Isla and of the possibility that she’s innocent. That she’s exactly who she says she is. That she more than likely helped me not because of some grand scheme, but because it was the right thing to do.
What if she’s innocent and I leave her to die?
Could I live with that?
I already know the answer.
“Dammit all,” I mutter under my breath.
It is against my better judgment. Every instinct I have is screaming at me to stay put. To stick to the plan. To let her go.
I can’t.
I grab my waterskin and what remains of my food. Then I slip out from between the rocks, keeping low as I scan the open field. I wait a few long minutes to make sure that all is clear. The road is empty in both directions.
I need to move fast. They said she was being taken back to the castle. If I can intercept them before they reach it, there will be hope.
I’m on foot. I’ll never catch them like this.
I think fast, retracing my journey from the cabin. The route I took through the forest. The edge of the court where the farms sit tucked between the trees.
There was one. A small homestead I passed in the dark. I remember the low fence of a paddock. The shapes of two horses standing quietly in the moonlight. The dark outline of a barn.
It’s not far, so I run hard through the trees. If I am quick enough, I will be able to make it back in more than enough time to intercept Snow. Time is not the issue; getting captured is. I need to be very careful.
I keep to the tree line, running hard until my lungs burn.
I push through it.
