Please be alive,he silently pleaded.Please don’t be lost to me.
No one spoke as they drew closer, and the humid air was thick with tension.
Why didn’t I make her leave?Aren asked himself. He stood tall, trying to see into the longboat as it slid into the valley of a swell.Why did I allow her to go at all?
A question he knew the answer to, though admitting it made him feel sick. Allowing Ahnna to go to Harendell had been the path of least resistance. His twin had not made his life easy since they’d expelled the Maridrinians from Ithicana. Her unwillingness to forgive Lara—and her ongoing animosity toward his wife—had created a rift between them. Worse still, his people were influenced by Ahnna, and many chose to follow her lead in continuing to blame Lara for their suffering. He’d believed that after a taste of what Harendell had to offer, his twin would beg to return to Ithicana, and that when he facilitated it, Ahnna’s gratitude would temper any lingering ill will she felt toward Lara.
A decision that he seemed fated to regret for the rest of his life.
The sound of something impacting wood reached his ears. Something that sounded distinctly like boot heels hitting the side of a boat.
Whoever was in there was alive.
Relief flooded Aren. Ignoring the protests of his soldiers, he put a foot onto the edge of the vessel and leapt into the longboat.
He landed on one of the benches, easily keeping his balance on therocking boat as his eyes shot to the figure bound and gagged in the pooled water at the bottom.
Bronwyn’s azure eyes stared up at him.
“Shit!” Aren dropped to his knees and pulled the gag out of her mouth. “What’s going on? What’s happened?”
Bronwyn spat into the pooled water next to her, coughing violently, then croaked out, “Is Ahnna here?”
Aren’s stomach sank as he helped her sit. “No, she isn’t. Bronwyn, tell me what’s going on. Why has Edward done this to you?”
Bronwyn’s blue eyes welled with tears. “It wasn’t Edward.” As he untied her wrists, she reached out with scraped hands to grasp him tightly. “Edward’s dead. Murdered, and Alexandra barely escaped the same fate. They say…they say it was Ahnna who killed him. Stabbed him to death in his bed because William wed Lestara instead of her.”
All the breath disappeared from Aren’s chest, because Lara had been right. This was so much worse than an illicit affair. Worse than he possibly could have imagined.
Bronwyn’s grip on him tightened, her teeth chattering. “James sent me with a message: Deliver Ahnna to Harendell for execution, or it will be war.”
5
James
A king belongs on thefront lines.
Will’s words had lingered in James’s mind since he’d parted ways with his brother in Sableton’s harbor, Will heading to Fernleigh and James taking up the hunt. War hung in the balance, and while he did not hold his brother’s belief that Ahnna had acted under orders, he did believe that Ithicana was where she’d flee.
The hounds had followed the path she’d taken out of Sableton, and today they’d found evidence a horse had been tethered on the outskirts of a large farm. The hounds had pursued, but her scent led in multiple directions. False trails set by Ahnna, and in the midst of the hunt, it started to rain. The deluge of water made short work of any evidence the dogs might find, and the trails in all directions had gone cold. Now night had fallen and they were no closer to finding her.
“It shouldn’t be this hard to find one woman.” Georgie scowled, exhaustion and the miserable weather wearing on his friend’s temper. “Ithicana had to have agents waiting to aid her. It’s the only explanation for how she disappeared into thin air.”
The explanation was that Ahnna was a woman who had spent most of her existence with her life on the line, so she could survive in the worst of circumstances. “Increase the reward for any witnesses who come forward.”
“There will be many false leads,” the captain standing with them said. “We’ll have to divide our resources.”
“Better than no leads at all.” James wiped rain from his eyes, knowing an update for his brother was long past due. “I’ll be at Fernleigh House. Keep me apprised of any developments.”
“Yes, sir.”
He and Georgie mounted their horses, heading toward the royal residence. James had avoided it until now, catching a few hours of sleep in the same barracks as his soldiers when exhaustion threatened to send him off the side of his horse. But Will had requested a report, and James could no longer avoid telling his brother that Ahnna had slipped his net.
“I’m going to check for updates on the harbor, and then I’ll head to Fernleigh,” Georgie said. “We’ll catch her, Jamie. It’s only a matter of time.”
James didn’t answer, only reined his borrowed mount toward Fernleigh. A ship out of one of the southern ports was the obvious route back to Ithicana. But with passage on a vessel not an option, what strategy would she try next to get to the relative safety of her homeland? Civilian militias patrolled every stretch of beach and the navy was on the water stopping any vessels heading south, but this net wasn’t sustainable. Logic suggested that she’d find somewhere to hide until civilian exuberance for the hunt waned, but no part of Ahnna’s plan seemed based on logic.
Forty-seven times.
