11. Chapter Eleven
Chapter Eleven
Konrad
E loise hears me almost the moment I see her. She sets down the piece of bark she is piling huckleberries on and then runs toward me.
I hold out my arms and catch her as she hurls herself out at me. “Hey there, pup!” I stumble back a step because of my exhaustion from swimming.
“I knew you’d be all right!” Eloise cries, her arms wrapping around my neck as she turns to glare at Valda. “I told you!”
Valda shrugs one dainty shoulder. “And I acquiesced that you were correct.”
Eloise realizes I’m wearing only a coat over my shoulders and releases her grip on me. The moment I set her down, she digs into her satchel until she procures a tunic and breeches from it for me. “I’m sorry— I would have set it out sooner, but our prisoner distracted me.”
I take the garments and try not to think of the outfit left behind in Valda’s chest on the ship. “Perfectly understandable. Lady Valda is a distracting creature.”
Valda dramatically bats her eyelashes at me, and I roll my eyes back at her.
Thunder ripples above us .
“Our cave is right over there.” Eloise points proudly.
I ruffle her hair. “Good job. Grab what berries you’ve picked, and let’s take shelter before the storm really starts.”
Clutching my garments, I move around the cave and set my clothes on a low-hanging tree branch.
“So, how do you intend to ransom me now?”
I groan. “Do we really have to do this now?”
Crossing her arms, Valda leans a hip against another tree. “I’m sorry? Is my being your captive an inconvenience to you?”
“As a matter of fact, yes.” I keep my back to her as I tug on a fresh pair of breeches over what remains of my previous pair. “I didn’t want to abduct you—”
“It just sort of happened?” Suddenly, her fingers on me, helping me ease out of the coat she considerately brought to the island for me.
Turning to her, I cross my arms now. “It wasn’t personal.”
“Right. Just vengeance. Against my vater .” Valda rolls her eyes.
It might be smart just to doggie paddle back to Trotzdem. “Valda, I’m sorry—”
Thunder crackles so loudly that I don’t even hear the rest of my sentence. The wind begins blowing more dramatically. Valda’s hair swirls around her form, making her look like an avenging ghost rising from the moors.
“What’s your plan?” Valda demands.
I grab my shirt just before the wind can carry it away. “Right now, it’s getting dressed.”
Valda’s gaze drops to my naked chest.
Quickly tugging my shirt on, I add, “And then I’m going to take shelter. We can make a long-term plan when the storm has passed.”
“You mean you can make the plan? I’m just the abducted maiden.”
I pull on my coat before checking to ensure my leather pouch is still tucked within, heavy with what coins I have left to my name. Fat raindrops pelt me. “In the cave. Now.”
“Such a brutish kidnapper you are.” Valda rolls her eyes dramatically.
Gritting my teeth, I ignore her. “Eloise!”
“Coming!” Eloise hurries to the cave, trying to shield what she’s collected for dinner from the torrent pounding down on us. The pigeon holds one wing protectively over her head.
Great. Now I’m never going to be rid of it.
Once I see that Eloise is sequestered into the cave, safe and sound, I turn back to Valda. Ladies first, after all.
But Valda is no longer beside me. The roaring thunder disguised her escape.
A fork of lightning slices a palm tree just fifteen yards away. I feel the heat of it from here— smell it burning. And by the light of it, I see a flash of red running deeper into the jungle.
I growl a few words that are lost to the rumble of thunder. Then I stoop to face Eloise. “Remain here.”
Her eyes widen. “But you can’t—”
“Protect Sir Pigeon,” I order.
She clutches her pet bird and nods solemnly.
Then I run after the woman I regret abducting for so many reasons.
I ’m no stranger to the elements. My early childhood amongst a pack of werw?lves saw me outside more often than not. And my career as a mercenary often saw me in less than comfortable situations .
But I’ve never been foolish enough to go running about in a storm like this before.
“Valda!” I yell, though I’m not sure if she can hear the way the wind rips words from my mouth and the thunder tries to drown it out. And the rain is trying to drown me . Honestly, it feels like I’m back swimming for my life in the ocean, except that then I could turn my head to find air. Now, there is no escape.
Valda’s red skirt remains several yards ahead of me, ducking dangerously around trees. Right now, my sight is the only sense I have to track her with, bleary as it is with all this rain. But I can’t smell anything but ocean, fire, and the wrath of the First Heaven. I can’t even hear myself speak past the thunder.
Still, I cry, “Lady Valda!” Has Little Miss Baroness really been so sheltered by her father that she doesn’t know that people die every day in situations such as these?
Mayhap Baron Schwerin rejected my ransom because he knew no man in his right mind would ask that little after taking care of his daughter for any amount of time.
If I could, I would transform into a wolf and close the distance between us already. But I cannot return to my other form until I have slept, eaten, and drank. And that might terrify her a tad bit. Not that it’s anything she doesn’t deserve, foolish girl that she is.
Another bolt of lightning strikes so close that I have to turn away.
When I turn back, the rain is trying to douse the flaming tree next to where Valda had been standing.
“Valda!” I yell again, and this time my voice echoes over the torrential rains, cruel maelstroms, and violent thunder. Because if she’s been injured on my watch, I’ll be the most ferocious of all of the above. I’m not sure how I’ll avenge her, but I’ll find a way. Probably starting by scolding her corpse —
The flash of red reappears, giving me a moment of relief. Only, instead of fleeing, she’s barreling toward me.
I help close the distance between us and find her even paler than usual. Her hair is soaked against her face, and her gown clings all the more to her distracting figure.
“Valda!” I cry.
She halts suddenly, just before she barrels into me. Her eyes roll up into her skull. Then her knees buckle, and she collapses.
I wrap my arms around her just before she hits the ground.
I’m not sure what just happened. She doesn’t smell burned, but the tree certainly does. I also don’t smell any blood.
But I can peruse her for injuries later. First, I need to get her to shelter, or else we’re both dead.