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“What do you mean, he left?”

“Just what I said. He paid the bill and rode away. I’ve already cleaned out your room and moved the things you left behind down to storage.”

I stood up quickly. “You must have misunderstood.”

He scratched the side of his nose with a plump finger. “What I don’t understand is, he told me you had gone as well.”

I stared at him. “I merely went out for a few hours. We were going to leave together today. Are you certain?”

“As certain as I can be. Imagine him riding off and leaving you all alone here.”

My mind reeled. Pollux had ridden away and left me behind? Why would he do such a thing? And how would he even know where to go? I was the navigator of our small party.

“Did he give you any idea where he was going?” I asked.

“Now that you mention it, he did ask about the road to the mountains. But I still don’t understand him leaving you behind.”

I couldn’t think of a single thing to say. I could hardly comprehend the idea that Pollux had left Mareus without me. I was alone.

The innkeeper rested his forearms on the counter. “I’ve been wondering about the three of you, with your nice wool cloaks and worked silver. Where are you on your way to? And now he runs off with the other one and leaves you here alone? You’re all up to some strange business, if you ask me.”

“The other one?” And then, of course, I realized he meant Ismene. “Oh, no, that’s not it at all.”

“And you’re a pretty thing, aren’t you?”

The full weight of it hit me. I was alone. This innkeeper would not be the only person to notice me. By the Goddess, what was I going to do?

I took a deep breath and remembered the commanding tone Sebastianus used when he expected his wishes to be obeyed. “I remember now. My traveling companion informed me that this might happen. He might have to leave abruptly on an important errand. I had forgotten all about it. I’m to follow him first thing in the morning. At that time, I’ll need to buy some food. And—did he leave either of our horses?”

The innkeeper frowned. “He took the carriage and one horse, but he left that stumpy little mare for me to sell.”

“Absolutely not. It belongs to me. I will need all my belongings, whatever he didn’t take. And my former room for the night. I wish to be left alone to prepare for my journey. See that this is done.”

I climbed the stairs quickly, leaving him standing beside the counter with a puzzled expression on his face.

Safely inside the room I had shared with Ismene, I checked that the lock on the door was secure and considered what to do. The late-afternoon shadows had grown long outside. As concerned as I was about staying overnight by myself at the inn under the too-interested eye of the innkeeper, I was even more apprehensive about setting out with nightfall coming on. I wouldn’t be safe riding alone on the road.

I thought through my options. By the time I had washed my face, I had landed on the only possibility. If there was a marked trail that women could follow from the mountain city to the sanctuary, surely the same path could lead someone back again.

I lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling, until what was left of the light outside faded into night. I turned over again and again in my mind the question of what would have made Pollux abandon me. Fear of being discovered? Had he learned something? By the Goddess, had he realized that soldiers were headed our way? That thought made me sit up quickly, my heart thumping in the silence of the room. What was that noise? Was there a footstep on the stairs? The bones of the building creaked and settled.

To calm myself I imagined Sebastianus beside me in bed. I thought of the warmth of his body and the way I seemed to fit right into the curve of his muscled arm.

I find myself alone in a small town, far away from everyone I know, I pictured saying to him. I’m frightened, and I don’t know what to do. I squeezed my eyes shut.

He would trace the line of my jaw with his finger and smile. You’ll figure it out, falcon. I believe in you.

With the memory of his voice in my mind, I fell asleep.

THE INNKEEPER TRIED very hard to dissuade me from going, but in the end, he could not refuse the solidi I pulled from my small coin purse, and he sold me the provisions I needed. By the time a cold sun had risen high over the town square, I was leading the little gray mare, laden with full saddlebags, toward the small schoolhouse.

Portia saw me through the window and came to the door, frowning. Behind her, the children began to chatter. “Anna? I thought you were leaving the village.”

“I had an unexpected change of plans. I wonder if you might show me the path.”

She glanced back over her shoulder at the already unruly pupils. “You have changed your mind about staying with us?”

“No. I still mean to leave.” I leaned in and whispered, “I don’t mean the path to the sanctuary, but the one beyond it. The one women follow to get there from the mountains.”