Landyn hugged her close.
Memories of her father flooded her mind. The image of him standing with crossed arms, gazing at her with pride as she came back from her first hunt with a rabbit. His grinning visage as he watched all of them sharpening their swords. “I remember when my mother first passed, the Chateau le Bezu was the first place he took us. I remember how frightened Sage and Willow were.”
“He knew many of the monks and knights there. He probably believed they could help.”
She scoffed. “He didn’t know what to do with us. Three girls. He didn’t know how to raise three girls.” She lifted her head from his shoulder and stepped back. “He was all we had.”
“You still have your sisters.”
Yes, but she didn’t know where they were. Deep down, she was afraid to go to Sybil’s farm. What if they weren’t there? Her jaw tightened. She had to focus on Boucher. The image of Boucher stabbing her father as the others held him burned in her mind. What if her sisters were at Sybil’s farm? How could she face them and tell them she couldn’t save their father?
Landyn appeared to follow her train of thought. “If you murder your father’s killer, then you become a killer.”
“I don’t have an option,” she said softly.
“You always have an option. Think about it. Killing him with hatred in your heart will change you from the person you are into someone you don’t want to be.”
A shiver of trepidation snaked up her back. Was she doing the right thing? She lifted her gaze to him, struck by the truth in his words. She should have saved her father. And she couldn’t do that. The next best thing was killing Boucher. She had no other choice. At least then she could face her sisters.
Tracking Boucher and his men was not as easy as Landyn would have thought. Raven believed they had split up at one point, and it took her time to find their trail again. Finally, she picked up the tracks just past a small hill.
By the time the sun was setting, Landyn and Raven agreed Boucher and his men couldn’t be more than a day’s ride before them because of the time it took to pick up the trail. They were hoping to catch up with them on the morrow. Now, they needed to conserve their strength and prepare for the confrontation. They rested for the night in a thick, grassy area.
Landyn lounged back against a boulder, stretching his feet out before him. He gazed at the darkening sky and wondered, “What did your family do when your father didn’t have a job?”
Raven shrugged. “We started a warm fire and sang songs.”
Landyn tilted his head and scowled at her in doubt. “Really?”
“No.” She gestured at her horse with a wave of her hand. “We saw to our horses. Sharpened our weapons. Practiced.”
Landyn settled back again. “You never spoke about your future… a family? Children?”
“Wearea family. Children? I don’t think any of us have actually considered it. Didyouthink of children?”
Landyn sighed softly. He stared at the cloudless, colorful sky, but he didn’t really see it. “There was a time, yes, when I thought of having children.” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her eyes round, and her brows raise.
“Were you married?”
“Yes,” he replied. Immediately, he saw Viola’s kind smile in his mind’s eye. But most of the features of her face were fading. He just recalled her kindness. It always made him sad because, while that was her best quality, it had been her downfall. She had let the monster into their home.
“What happened?”
Landyn bowed his head, and his jaw clenched.
“Did you leave her?” Raven asked.
“Never,” he ground out.
“Did she leave you?”
“No,” he whispered.
“Did she die?”
“She was murdered.”
Silence settled around them. The crickets chirped “don’t tell her. Don’t tell her.”
