He sat up and stared down at her, his eyesshining silver in the low glow of the fire’s embers.“Promise me,”he said, somber, serious.“I want you to promise me that you’llsing whatever song it takes, that you’ll do and say whatever youmust to survive and get back to your family.”
“I promise.”
He pulled the vial of White Milk from hispocket and held it out to her.“Take this,” he said.“Take it,” herepeated, placing the vial in her hand and closing her fingersaround it.“You know how to use it, for yourself or anybody else,should the need arise.”
Alina nodded, knowing he meant if they werecaptured and about to be tortured or executed, or in her case,raped, she could take it herself to numb the horror and the pain.Or to escape forever into oblivion.
“Why are you giving this to me, now?”sheasked him.
“They would’ve buried Leif two days ago,” hesaid.“Burying his son was the only thing keeping Roger fromsending everything, everyone after us.Or coming after us himself.”He stared hard into her eyes.“I know Roger.He spent the pasttwenty years nursing his grudge and planning his revenge againstyour parents.He’s never going to stop looking for us, for you,until he or we are dead.I wanted to tell you this now to make youunderstand before something happened.Before it’s too late.”
CHAPTER 11
White Milk
Roark scanned the mountainside with thespyglass.They’d ridden long and hard the past three days, saddlingup at the first light of dawn and riding ’til the dark of night,stopping only long enough to eat, make love, and sleep beforerising and doing it all again.By pushing the horses andthemselves, they’d made the Mounths’ northwest range and wouldstart their slow descent toward the lowlands tomorrow.Which meantfarms and villages, and eventually towns to avoid until theyreached the North Sea Firth in another three to four days.
He glanced at Alina, who was watering thehorses at a stream and checking their hooves.She’d nevercomplained once since they’d fled North Shore Keep, though she’dbeen on horseback, eating camp food, and sleeping on the hardground for the past seven days and nights.They’d used the last ofthe dry stores Roark’s mother and uncle had given them two daysago, and had been surviving on the small game they caught, and thewild greens and mushrooms Alina foraged.She could lay a snare aswell as Roark, and hadn’t exaggerated one whit when she’d claimedshe could skin and cook whatever game she caught.
She caught him watching her and smiled.Theirtime in the wilds hadn’t been all drudge and hardship.There’d beendips in streams and ponds, and the nights making love under thestars.Their whispered endearments as they lay huddled together ontheir bedrolls and their conversations as they rode, coveringeverything from the natural world they traveled through to thespiritual world they could feel and hope to find one day.Thoughnot yet.
It was that spirit world niggling at the backof his neck that’d had Roark on edge since he’d given Alina thevial of White Milk.He knew Leif was dead and buried, yet hecouldn’t shake the feeling his ghost was haunting him.He’d shareda brotherly bond with Leif for ten years, and though he’d hated himin the end, and would’ve killed him if Alina hadn’t stopped him, hehad left him bound and gagged, a sitting target for whoever it waswho had killed him.He felt Leif’s presence dogging his every move.This was the one thing he hadn’t discussed with Alina, andwouldn’t.
Perhaps it was his own pending death preyingon him.He knew the odds of him surviving were poor at best if hereturned to North Shore Keep to make things right between hisfamily and Roger’s.Those odds would go way up if he returned withAlina to Sea Ridge.
It wasn’t like he hadn’t considered it ahundred times a day since she’d asked him to return with her.Hewas a young man in his prime with a woman he loved who loved himback.A woman offering him a life he hadn’t dared dream of sincehe’d been sent to Roger and became betrothed to Gwyneth.Yet asmuch as he wished he could accept her offer, he couldn’t live withhimself if he left his family and hundreds of others to suffer forhis actions.He wouldn’t dishonor Alina by marrying her in such astate.
If, by some miracle, he made it back to NorthShore Keep alive and survived a public trial and was released fromhis betrothal to Gwyneth—all big unlikely ifs—then he promisedhimself he’d go after Alina, and hope she wasn’t carrying his childand been forced to marry another man in order to give their child aname.
All big, fucking ifs.
He gave the mountainside one last look asAlina walked the horses over to him, and stopped cold.“There arefive riders coming from the south,” he said.“Riding hard and fastfrom the looks of it.”
He handed her the spyglass as he checked thecinches on Artur’s and Etain’s saddles and double=checked the tieson their gear.She handed the spyglass back to him and he bootedher up onto Etain’s back and swung up onto Artur’s.
“Can we outrun them?”she asked as they sentthe horses into an easy lope due north.
“We’re going to find out.”Artur and Etainwere both good horses with lots of heart, but they’d been riddenlong and hard for days now, their only respite when they’d beenhuddled damp and cold under the cave’s overhang, and that was fourdays ago.
A lot would depend on where the riders werecoming from and how hard they’d ridden to get here.“They’re comingfrom the south, so it’s likely they followed us across the Mounths.Hopefully, their horses are as tired as ours.”
Alina patted Etain’s neck.“My faerie girlhas the heart, the will, and the legs,” she said.“They’ll behard-pressed to catch us.”
Roark pulled out the spyglass and looked overhis shoulder.“It’s time to put those legs to use,” he said, urgingArtur into a full gallop.
They kept ahead of the riders for most of theafternoon, and though they hadn’t gained any distance on them, theyhadn’t lost any either.Roark could feel Artur struggling forbreath as they climbed, making the pass as the sun was touching thetop of the western peak.He could see that Etain was struggling aswell.They stopped at the top of the pass to give the horses aquick rest and take a quick piss.Mounting back up, Roark took alook behind them with the spyglass.
“Damnation.”
“Are they gaining on us?”Alina asked.
“A little.”He turned Artur’s head north andurged the stallion forward.Twenty paces in, Artur started limpingon his right front leg.“Hold up,” Roark called to Alina.Hedismounted and lifted Artur’s hoof.“Fuck me.”
“What is it?”
“A stone bruise.”Roark touched the darkswelling and Artur jerked his leg.“It’s not too bad yet, but he’sdone running.”Gently, he lowered Artur’s hoof and met Alina’sworried frown.He untied the spyglass sheath from his waist beltand handed it to her.“Ride due north until you make those woods.”He pointed to a thick forest about two leagues down.“Turn westinto the woods and do the best you can to hide your tracks.Find astream to ride down or back and forth across while making your waynorthwest.”
“No.”She shook her head.“I’m not leavingyou.”
