“Everyone is gaily dressed, my lady,” he said. “Don’t you want to see?”
Propped up with a silk pillow under her head, Cadelyn lay there and toyed with her hair, a braid draped over her right shoulder. “Nay,” she said. “I can hear them.”
Yerik was straining to catch a glimpse of something. “There goes Sir Kress,” he said. “He is riding to the front of the escort. I wonder why?”
The mention of Kress’ name was like a stab to Cadelyn’s heart. So much about this journey was eating away at her and as the hours and days ticked by, she was more and more distraught about it. A husband she didn’t want, a knight who had lied to her… aye, Kress had lied to her. He’d flirted with her, told her what she wanted to hear, and then took it all back. She felt foolish, sick, and embarrassed.
And she didn’t want any part of this horrid situation.
She’d been so closely watched since departing Castle Rising that it hadn’t even occurred to her to try and run away. All of that talk about how it was her duty to take orders from William Marshal and accept the betrothal was just that– talk. She’d been willing to go forward with it because Kress had told her to, but now that he’d lied to her… hurt her… she saw no reason to comply with anything. She didn’t need men telling her what to do any longer and to the devil with her lineage and obligation. She didn’t have an obligation to anyone but herself.
She could get along, alone.
Cadelyn knew that Kress had been riding at the rear of her carriage, guarding the door, and she knew Susanna was back there, also. Hearing mention of Kress leaving his post had her sitting up with the most interest she’d shown in days.
“Is he gone?” she asked.
Yerik nodded. “He is up front with the others.”
“Where is Susanna?”
Yerik had to move to the other side of the carriage for that. “I see her,” he said, pressing his face to the opening. “She is by the rear of the carriage.”
Cadelyn thought on that, quickly. If she was to escape the carriage, she wanted Susanna away from the rear door. But she needed a distraction.
“Throw something from the window, Yerik,” she said. “Throw anything to get her away from the door. Have her go and pick it up for you.”
Yerik looked at her curiously. “Why?”
Cadelyn stood up and grabbed her purse, the one that had all of the coinage she’d earned from the sale of her poem cards. She carried it with her everywhere and guarded it fiercely.
“Just do as I say,” she said. “Get her away from the door. Toss out a quill and tell her to retrieve it.”
Puzzled, Yerik did as he was told, picking up one of only two precious quills he had. He returned to the slat window and tossed the quill through it, straining to catch a glimpse of Susanna as he did so.
“My lady?” he called out the window to her. “My lady, my quill has fallen out. Will you get it for me?”
Cadelyn made her way back to the door, lifting the bolt as she waited for Yerik’s confirmation that Susanna had, indeed, moved from her post.
“Well?” she hissed.
Yerik stared from the window a moment longer before nodding his head. “Here she comes.”
“Is she away from the door?”
“She is.”
With that confirmation, Cadelyn threw the bolt and yanked the door open. There were soldiers behind the carriage, in mounted ranks, but she didn’t look at them. They wouldn’t stop her, anyway. With her coin purse on her belt, she made a mad dash through the escort and into the crowd that surrounded them.
Freedom!
Cadelyn didn’t care that she’d just fled her cage. Aye, itwasa cage, taking her to her doom. Nothing mattered any longer; not her duties or obligations, nor Kress. He didn’t care about her, anyway, so what did anything matter? She was free and she would remain free.
Free to live her life the way she wanted to.
She wasn’t going to let men control her destiny any longer.
The town was packed with people, laughing and singing, but it was Cadelyn’s determination to get to the church to ask for sanctuary. Once she was inside, and asking for sanctuary, the knights couldn’t touch her and neither could William Marshal. In fact, the king couldn’t even touch her should she be granted sanctuary by the church, so her first order of business was to find it.
