“Will you take her? Tonight?” This was my only chance, the only way to get her out. I’d become a prisoner of the king, and no one else I trusted had visited in the hours I’d been here. We couldn’t wait any longer. He nodded again, and a cool rush of relief filled me.
“What about you?” he asked, and I turned my head toward the dim entrance of my prison in an attempt to stop the emotion rising to my throat.
“Only her. He won’t stop if I go with you. If I stay, he’s less likely to go after her.” He studied me for a moment, then blew out a long breath. I was right, and we both knew it. “Find Wista, my hand maiden, she will be able to help you get out unnoticed.”
“This hand maiden, she can be trusted?”
I met the lords gaze again. “I would trust her with my life.” Not only would she protect Eleanor, but she would be able to provide her healing tea.
Harkin’s eyes searched mine, lips pressed tight, then he rose to his feet. “If you’re sure, Miss Adelia.” He made his way back across the filthy tent.
“Take care of her,” I called out as loud as I dared just before he reached the entrance. Harkin looked over his shoulder, his face shrouded in shadow.
“I will,” he said, and then he was gone.
I didn’t know how they would make it out without being seen, but I had to trust Harkin and Wista would succeed, that together they could do better than I had.
They would make it out.
I waited on bated breath well into the night, and no one else came to visit, the evening meal passing without me. There was no sound of alarm or shouts at my sister’s escape.
In the early hours of the morning, when I was confident they’d made it out, I let myself go.
Despair engulfed me in its shadowing grasps, and heavy sobs racked my body, swarming me in pain and darkness. Every decision I had ever made was to keep Eleanor safe, and I had failed her so completely. My mother never should have entrusted me to protect her.
I wasn’t strong enough.
Into the wind, I whispered the words my mother would never hear. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t protect her. I failed you.”
My sobs didn’t subside until the sky started to lighten. With straining shoulders and eyes heavy with exhaustion, I finally allowed myself to fall asleep.
Chapter 37
Iwas pulled from dreams filled with the horrors of my past and present by the sound of ripping canvas. I blinked through bleary eyes to find Terym standing before me, arms folded across his chest and face twisted in a vicious smile.
I didn’t know how long I’d slept, but the sun shone through the gaping entrance of the tent and my body ached worse than ever. I pulled at the bindings on my hands, straightening myself in front of the king. I refused to bow down to him now that Eleanor was out of harm’s way.
“Where is your sister, my dear Adelia?” To anyone else, he would appear calm. Cool. Collected. But the undertone of malice licked over my skin like oil, those icy-blue eyes beyond furious. I wasn’t affected by it, not at his confirmation that Eleanor had escaped. She was free from his sadistic manipulations, and that relief was stronger than any fear his demeanor elicited.
“I don’t know.” My voice was raw from a night of releasing bone racking sobs, and the crick in my neck ached. I twistedmy head from side to side, feigning disinterest while I eased the tension there.
“You don’t know?” Incredulity coated the parroted words, and I offered him a small shrug.
It wasn’t exactly a lie. Ididn’tknow where Eleanor was, only that Harkin was taking her to the Western Territory. I couldn’t begin to speculate where he would hide her.
Those ice-cold eyes raked over me. Assessing. Searching for deceit. I didn’t back down. I would no longer submit. My stomach blazed with fury, and I let defiance settle on every inch of my features.
He could beat me. Abuse me.Force himself on me.But I wouldn’t yield.
Not. This. Time.
The only thing I’d do was stay long enough for Harkin to get Eleanor far away, then I’d take my first opportunity to escape.
The king scowled, then barked at Pierce, who had followed him into the tent. “Release her!”
Pierce cut through the ties holding my wrists aloft, the knot pulled too tight from my countless attempts to get free. I slumped forward as soon as the rope broke, gone too long without food or water, and my body trembled with fatigue and dehydration.
Prickling pain swept down my arms through my hands and to the very tips of my fingers, blood rushing through them like an agony-soaked river. I gritted my teeth through the pain and forced my hands closed, clenching them repeatedly to speed up the process. I missed Terym’s next words as I did what I could to keep from crying out.
