Chapter 7 #4
not this time. Leif may have stood a head taller, but Roark
outmuscled him by two stone at least. Still, he would try reason
before brute force. If they got into a fight over Alina, it could
spoil their plans in any number of ways. “Your father has commanded
she remain a virgin until her father has paid the ransom. I’m only
making sure his orders are followed.”
Leif snorted. “You’re only sore you can’t
take her maidenhead yourself.”
“True enough,” Roark admitted, surprising
Leif. “But not sore enough to go against our,” he stressed
the word, “laird’s wishes. Besides,” he said, still speaking in the
Northern tongue so Gare wouldn’t understand what he said, “what
would Jenny do if she found out? She’d stop warming your bed, no
doubt.”
“It would almost be worth it,” Leif grumbled,
“to knock the Northern bitch down a notch or three.” He slapped
Roark on the shoulder, their standoff forgotten. “No matter,” he
said in the Green Isles tongue. “She’ll get her comeuppance soon
enough. So, what shall I tell my father about the foal?”
“Tell him the foal is improving, but is not
out of danger yet. We’ll likely be here, the three of us,” he said,
indicating Gare, “the night through tending and walking him.”
***
Alina rode Etain at an easy trot around the
paddock under a horned moon. It felt good to be on a horse’s back
again, even if it was in a fenced area in the middle of the night.
She patted the mare’s arched neck. “Good girl,” she told the
high-stepping, smooth-seated mare. “Thank you for letting me saddle
and ride you. I promise you we’ll be racing over the countryside
soon.”
It had been Roark’s idea for Alina to ride
Etain in the paddock after they’d settled Ash and Smokey in their
pen for the night. Roark intended for Alina and the mare to be used
to each other when they rode for the ship at the southern port.
He’d spiked the guard’s ale with a few drops of White Milk he’d
admitted to buying to drug Alina, and hadn’t needed to use. He’d
used a much more potent drug: himself. All he’d had to do was talk
to her and smile at her, and mesmerize her with those rain eyes of
his, and she’d fallen right into his trap.
“She’s really settled under your care,” Roark
said as he rode Artur alongside them. “Too bad the Sea
Maiden isn’t set up to transport horses or you could take her
with you.”
“My mother would fall in love with her. She’s
such an elegant, high-spirited horse. Aren’t you, my faerie
girl?”
Etain nickered and Roark chuckled. “Keep this
up, and she’ll swim after you all the way to Sea Ridge.”
“I’ll be sorry to bid her farewell,” Alina
said. She gave Roark a bittersweet smile. “And others.” She tried
to read his expression, but there was no moon to aid her. “At least
she’ll have you and Gare to look after her.”
Roark said nothing.
“What will happen to you and Gare when it’s
discovered you helped me escape?”
“If it works out as planned, nobody except us
will know Gare was involved. After you’re safely away, I’ll go to
my family and seek their protection. Unfortunately for Etain,
she’ll have to be returned to Roger as a peace offering.”
“You’ll seek your family’s protection,” Alina
said. “Are they likely to give it?”
Roark shrugged. “As likely as not.”
“And your betrothal to Gwyneth?”
“If I’m lucky, our betrothal will be
broken.”
“Along with your family’s alliance with
Roger?”
“Most likely.”
“Fucking Roger,” Alina spat. “I would’ve kept
my word and stayed for my family to ransom me. But now? I cannot
and will not stay. I will not let myself be sold into slavery.”
“I know,” Roark said. “Nor would I ever let
that happen to you.”
“I only wish you and your family hadn’t been
dragged into this.”
“My family put themselves into it when they
made an alliance with Roger,” he said, sounding more bitter than
she’d ever heard him. “They put me into it when they sent me to a
man of his ilk and betrothed me to his daughter for their
benefit.”
Alina moved Etain alongside Artur and laid
her hand on Roark’s arm. “I am sorry for you. You’re a good man, in
spite of who raised you. You deserve better.”
He laid his hand over hers and gave it a
gentle squeeze. “I used to tell myself my feelings and happiness
didn’t matter. It was worth sacrificing for the good of my family
and Roger’s, and all the people whose livelihoods depended on our
alliance.”
“And now you’ll sacrifice it all for me.”
Alina couldn’t let him do it. She couldn’t be the reason so many
people’s lives were destroyed. She’d stick to her original plan and
escape on her own, keeping him and Gare out of it.
“No, my lady owl,” Roark said.
“No what?”
“Don’t try to escape on your own. Don’t feel
responsible for what happens after you’re gone.”
“How could I not?”
Roark grasped her by the arm and both horses
stopped. “Do you truly think I could continue on here as I have
been, knowing what I do about Roger?”
“No,” she said. “What will you do?”
“I’ll find out everything I can about him and
his family before I get you free of him, and once you’re safely
gone, I’ll tell my father all I’ve learned and hope he
listens.”