Chapter 7
“Runa”
My eyes snapped open, a groan emerging from my lips as I recognized the trees above my head.
I twisted my neck, unsurprised to find Otho lying on the ground beside me. His hair was disheveled, his eyes dark with an emotion I couldn’t describe.
“What’s going on?” My head was pounding, and something about this felt off—even more off than it had the last time I’d found myself in the in-between world where I could speak with Otho.
“You need to wake up.”
“Huh?” I tried to shake my head, to clear the fuzziness.
Then Otho was on top of me. “Runa, WAKE UP!”
I awoke with a gasp, only to find I was unable to breathe.
Someone was holding something over my mouth.
My heart was pounding as I fought to clear my mind of sleep. Where was I?
My hand drifted to the side, recognizing the feel of the sheets in Leif and my bed.
I was in my room . . . but where was Leif?
I fought to work my jaw, but whoever was on top of me was exerting enough force on the other side of the cloth to prevent me from even moving my lips.
“Be quiet. Come with us, and no one gets hurt.”
My eyebrows scrunched. I didn’t recognize the voice. But was this Friar’s plan?
Something prickled at my skin—my body trying to tell me that Friar would never choose to save me like this.
Still, I didn’t resist as a second person lifted me into a sitting position, yanking my arms behind my back.
It was dark in my room, the fire in the hearth long burned out.
The man holding the cloth to my mouth shoved it inside, effectively gagging me.
It was impossible to distinguish the people who were currently taking me captive, but they appeared to be male, based on how broad their shadows were, and they all had long hair tied at the nape of their necks.
In the past, I would have panicked in this same situation, but as my captors led me from the room, a flicker of hope lit in my chest.
If this wasn’t Friar’s plan . . . maybe it was Otho’s?
We passed through the common area of Leif and my chambers, the captors directing my footsteps through the dark room. The torches had been snuffed out, which was abnormal.
Leif kept the torches in the sitting room lit all night.
A tendril of fear licked down my spine.
The man who tied my wrists together held me back as the man who had gagged me stepped into the hall.
It only took one look at him, in the light of the hall torches, to know this was neither Friar, nor Otho’s, plan.
If it had been, they wouldn’t have had to threaten violence to convince me to go with them. Anyone who knew me, and my plight, would know that.
Pair that with the fact that the men wore dark, tight-fitting clothes in a style I’d never seen before, and I knew.
I should never have allowed them remove me from my room.
But there was no time to dwell. I yanked my hands from the man’s grip—the element of surprise on my side—but that’s as far as I got, because my hands were still tied and a push wasn’t enough to disarm a man with twice my strength.
That didn’t stop me from trying, though.
I twisted from side to side, desperate to dislodge either the cloth stuffed in my mouth, or my wrists.
But before I could accomplish either, I was tackled from behind, my knees and cheek screaming as they collided with the rought stone floor at the same moment.
“I warned you to come quietly,” the man hissed in my ear.
The panic that had been absent before swelled, and I fought to control my breathing to stop from sucking the cloth further into my mouth.
When the two of them yanked me to my feet, it was much less gentle than before. One walked in front of me, and one behind, his hands on the rope that bound my hands.
But I refused to go with them without a fight.
The first few steps they were apprehensive, their shoulders at their ears and I could feel their distrust. Then we turned a corner, and the man holding my bound hands shifted his weight, the grip on my rope loosening for a blink as he switched hands.
They directed me down the hall, past the servant quarters, which were silent enough for me to know it was very late in the night. When we reached the courtyard, my suspicions were confirmed when I couldn’t find the twin moons in the sky—the first rays of dawn just barely penetrating the darkness.
They had kidnapped me in the final hours of the night, the ones when the body was least close to awareness.
But that still didn’t explain why Leif hadn’t been in bed with me.
I shoved that thought away, knowing time was passing fast and if I was going to act, I would need to do so soon, before we exited the walls of the keep.
The stones of the keep floor had been cold and rough on my feet, but it didn’t prepare me for when they directed me to walk on the ground with no shoes. Every rock and twig was apparently out to stab me in the foot, and I grimaced with each step.
They slowed their pace, seeming to notice my predicament, and I knew I could use that to my benefit.
I took the smallest steps possible, trying to conserve my energy as I waited for my moment to act. An eon passed before I felt the man behind me pause, his weight shifting. The instant his hold dropped, his shoulders relaxing, I bolted.
Again, the element of surprise was on my side, as I ran back toward the keep with surprising speed, despite my bound hands.
But the men were faster, and soon I was on the ground again, unable to breathe from the force of the man tackling me to the ground a second time.
My lungs burned, along with the rest of my body. Just as I was about to give in, to see where these men were taking me, I heard a voice I never thought I’d be happy to hear.
“Hey! What are you doing with my wife!”
Leif.
The sound of weapons being unsheathed tickled my ears, and I pinched my eyes closed.
I didn’t want to see the blood.
Metal hit metal, and there was grunting and moaning. I kept my eyes closed until I felt fingers brushing over my wrists, untying the rope there.
My first instinct was panic, especially as a finger danced over my brand and I braced myself to run.
“Runa, it’s okay, it’s me.” Leif’s soft voice broke through my panic.
A sob emerged from my chest as I sat up, my hands tingling as the blood returned. I reached for the gag, my fingers struggling to grip the fabric.
“Here,” Leif whispered, pulling the cloth from my mouth as tears flowed down my cheeks. “Shh . . . you’re okay.” He pulled me into his chest, running a calming hand down my back.
“She’s okay,” he called to someone over my shoulder, and the words caused me to cry harder.
When my sobs finally abated, I pushed off of his chest, searching Leif’s blue eyes for answers. “Who were they?”
“I don’t know, my heart.” He sighed. “Do you want to see if you recognize them? I don’t.”
I shook my head. I didn’t want to look at any dead bodies, and if I hadn’t recognized them alive, I certainly wouldn’t now. “I didn’t know them.”
There was another voice behind me. “They don’t appear to be from around here.”
Leif frowned. “But why would they try to take Runa and nothing else? My jewelry was on the bedside table.”
The man behind me sighed, and I recognized it was Derek. “My guess is they were hoping to ransom her for far more than your personal jewelry would go for. You did just announce that she is with child.”
The words were sobering, and I fought to swallow over the lump in my throat. Had I done this to myself? Was this my punishment for lying?
Leif helped me to my feet, but my legs shook as I tried to take a step forward.
“Here. I’ll carry you.”
Before I could protest, I was in his arms, one supporting my back and the other beneath my knees. I buried my head in his chest. While I would normally protest being carried, my hands were still shaking, and I just wanted to be returned to my bed before I lost it.
We traversed the halls in silence. It wasn’t until Leif led me back into our room as a servant revived the fire that I found my tongue. “Why weren’t you in bed?”
His face crumpled. “I couldn’t sleep. I went for a walk.”
His despair was potent, and I knew then that he had no knowledge of what would happen, otherwise he never would have left me.
“I was by the pond when I heard the commotion, and when I looked over . . .” His breath caught as he helped me sit on the bed. “My heart stopped, Runa. You were on the ground and I thought . . . I thought I’d already lost you . . .”
A tear rolled down his cheek, and I couldn’t stop myself from reaching up to brush it away. “Stay with me,” I whispered, my fear of being alone a living, breathing entity.
“Always,” he breathed before disappearing inside the bathroom, returning with a cloth to wash my feet. “Let me help you clean up.”
I nodded, my heart warming at his actions. This was the Leif I’d first met in Adis’s keep two seasons ago. The one who was kind, caring, and a good friend.
He finished, tucking me into bed before moving to his side. The fire was alight, allowing me to see all four corners of the room, something I relished.
Leif pulled me into his chest, and I found myself relaxing into the safety of his embrace, even as my hand drifted to the still warm scar on my wrist.
I wished I’d never met the man he was outside of moments like these.