John nodded.
“Be quick about it. The pack won’t stay spooked for long.”
John remounted and led Atlas away as fast as the fog and the horse’s injuries would allow. Adam turned Zeus about and pulled Persephone close to him.
“John?” Adam asked as they passed him.
“Yes, Yer Grace?”
“If the pack gets aggressive again, you leave Atlas behind and get to safety. Understood?”
John nodded, but Adam couldn’t say with any certainty if the man would actually abandon a horse to save his own skin. He returned the nod and urged Zeus to a faster pace.
“Persephone?” he asked as he negotiated the trees and fog.
She didn’t answer.
“Persephone?” he repeated more urgently. “Are you well?”
“No,” came the sob, tiny and quiet and filled with fear.
Adam tightened his hold on her. Behind him another howl sounded.
Chapter Thirty
“Blast this fog,” Adam muttered, turning Zeus around once more. He’d never been lost in Falstone Forest in his entire life until that moment. He could hardly make out the trees around him, let alone any landmarks that might have told him where he was.
Somewhere in the impenetrable fog, the pack continued to make their presence known. They sounded closer. Zeus all but jerked the reins out of Adam’s hand. He needed a firmer grip on his horse.
“Persephone?” When she didn’t respond, Adam simply continued. “Zeus is going to run off with us if I don’t have a firmer hold on him.” Still no response. If he hadn’t felt her shift now and then, Adam might have wondered if she was even conscious. “I cannot hold on to both of you at the same time.”
“You’re going to leave me here?” Her voice filled with panic.
“Of course not.” How could she even think that? What kind of a monster did she think he was? “You are going to have to hold on to me instead of the other way around.” His frustration and sudden anger entered his tone.
“Don’t yell at me, Adam.”
“I’m not—” He stopped, quieted his tone with some effort, and spoke again. “I am not yelling at you.”
He guided Zeus around a thick tree trunk that suddenly appeared out of the fog in front of them. He pulled Zeus to a stop. Holding the reins with the arm that ran behind Persephone’s back, he awkwardly undid the front buttons of his greatcoat.
“Arms around me, Persephone,” he instructed sharply.
She obeyed immediately. Ignoring the sudden pounding of his heart, Adam buttoned the coat around her. Only one button would fasten and not in the hole it was intended to occupy, but it might help Persephone stay mounted.
“Hold fast,” he said. “If I find the road, we are going to run.”
Adam felt what he thought was a nod buried deep inside his coat. Her arms closed more firmly around him. The position must have been deucedly uncomfortable: sitting sideways, sharing a saddle, and twisting enough to get her arms around his middle. And she was shivering.
“Blast it,” Adam grumbled. Both hands now on the reins, he nudged Zeus into a slow trot.
A grumbling growl stopped their progress in the next moment. Zeus nearly bucked Adam off, though he managed to subdue him. Persephone seemed to be slipping.
“Hold tight.” Adam pulled Zeus around.
A wolf appeared directly in their path, his growls aggressive. Adam hoped it was the only one.
Another member of the pack darted out of the fog and ran alongside Zeus. The shadow of yet another lingered just out of sight. And Persephone still seemed to be losing her grip.
