“Aye. I even wounded the man. A cut across his right forearm halfway between his wrist and elbow.”
Chills erupted all over her. She had been right! There was someone else playing her father and Draven against one another. As her cousin said, if Godfried had fought Draven he would now be lying in his grave. She’d seen Godfried train enough to know he was no match for the earl.
But who could possibly have anything to gain by pitting them against each other?
Something strange was definitely afoot. And one way or another she would find out what.
Draven didn’t breathe easily until they were out the gates and headed across her father’s property.
Emily had tried to speak to him before they left about some ridiculous notion of someone else perpetuating the hostilities between her father and him, but he didn’t believe a word of it. ‘Twas more of Hugh’s lies.
And he had had enough of them.
But far be it from him to belittle her father to her. Let her have her delusions. He wasn’t a fool.
Not soon enough to suit him, they approached his property. And as they rode over a sharp hill, something in the trees to his left caught his eye.
Draven glanced just in time to see the flash of sunlight glinting off a crossbow in the forest. Before he could give a word of warning, a bolt snapped from the bow and pierced his left thigh.
“Attack,” he shouted to Simon and the others as more bolts rained down upon them. “Get the lady to safety!”
His horse reared as an arrow landed in its haunches. Draven struggled with his mount. Another bolt buried itself in his chest, knocking him back, and he felt himself slipping from the saddle.
He hit the ground with a thud.
Stunned, he lay on the earth, trying to feel his arms or legs, but he could feel nothing save throbbing pain.
“Draven!” Emily screamed as she saw Draven fall to the ground.
“Get back!” Simon jerked her reins from her hands.
Emily launched herself from her horse and ran toward Draven. She didn’t think about the archers or anything else. All she could focus on was the still form in front of her.
Draven didn’t move at all.
She fell to her knees by his side.
“Draven?” She carefully removed his helm and touched his cold, grisled cheek.
He opened his eyes and looked up at her.
She sobbed in relief.
“Take cover,” Draven said, but his voice had lost its thunder in his wounded state.
Tears streamed down her face as she saw the two crossbow bolts jutting out of his body. And the blood.... There was so much of it.
Simon came up behind her and lifted her from the ground. “Get away from him.” He shoved her in the opposite direction.
His unwarranted fury startled her. “He needs help.”
“Not from you, he doesn’t.”
Stunned, she didn’t move while Simon stooped to help Draven up from the ground. Draven hissed in pain as Simon draped his right arm over his shoulder and helped him to stand.
“We need to get him back to my father’s,” she said.
Simon’s hate-filled glare blistered her. “Why? So he might finish the deed?”
