Rhiannon nodded, folding her hands demurely in front of her because she wasn’t giving up on her ploy to get outside, even if it meant selling her soul to the devil in front of her. She didn’t believe a word he said. And he could try to spin it a million different ways, and she never would believe him or the words coming from his mouth. Besides, her poor pet, however ridiculous her brother thought Goosie to be, could be lost and scared or hurt. And if Rhiannon needed to pose a few minutes longer as a demure lady, that was all right as long as it got her what she wanted.
She waited, counting down the seconds in her mind as her brother took an interminably long time to deliberate his options.
“Very well, I suppose. Come along then.”
Rhiannon quickly ducked her head to keep from showing shock at his easy acceptance of her acting. This was too easy. There had to be some trick going on. But when she chanced a glance in his direction, he turned his back on her and beckoned her to follow him out of the chamber.
She kept her hands folded in front of her, her head down as they passed through the corridor and descended the thin winding stairs to the great hall where servants set out the morning meal, which she’d not been invited to. An hour or so ago—hard to tell because she had no way of keeping time—someone had brought her bowl of lukewarm porridge and a cup of milk that tasted a day away from going sour. Like a true prisoner. What had her brother instructed these people about her? That she was to be treated like rubbish? Not all of the servants were loyal to her, and she couldn’t blame them. Adam’s punishments were harsh.
“Go on, outside with you.” He waved her toward the door, then flicked his fingers in the direction of one of his guards to follow. The guard rolled his eyes, obviously irritated that he’d been put on watch.
As she passed through the door, one of the maids, an older woman she recognized from her childhood, smiled at her cautiously and offered a subtle wink. She’d been the one Rhiannon had asked to send out her last letter a few weeks ago, and she hadn’t seen the maid since. That was the sign she was looking for that it had been done.
Rhiannon was tremendously grateful the woman hadn’t been caught and punished as she had feared. Relief washed over her, and a sudden weight lifted from her chest. The servant was safe, her message was on its way and would soon be in Douglass’s hands. Now, all she had to do was pray that the letter arrived to her cousin in time—because if rescue didn’t arrive until after she’d been forced to say her vows, then there was no help for her.
Outside, the sun felt foreign. Rhiannon paused a moment, closing her eyes and tilting her face toward the sky to feel that soft warmth of the air on her skin. How long had it been since her brother had last allowed her out of the castle? At least a fortnight, if not longer. With her senses keen for the jingle of a bell around Goosie’s neck, she listened. Over two weeks without her meant so many predators could have gotten to her sweet pet.
She walked toward the gate, snapping her fingers and making the subtle call with the click of her tongue that usually had Goosie running. The guard didn’t say a word, not even as she passed under the gate and out into the fields dotted with flowers. Goosie often hunted in the fields, looking for a mouse or other tiny rodent to devour. A glance back saw that the guard wasn’t paying attention to her, his gaze on the women washing by the distant burn. He had no doubts that she would stay here and he wouldn’t have to chase her. Incredibly arrogant of him.
But he wasn’t wrong. She had no supplies, and her knife was still sticking out of the back of her bedroom door. Rhiannon wanted to run, but doing so without a weapon and without at least a day or two of food—let alone without her cloak for sleeping in the chill of the night out of doors—was setting herself up for disaster.
But she could pretend. Daydreams flashed in her mind’s eye and made her smile a little at the thoughts.
Another cluck of her tongue, and she could have sworn she heard the tinkling of a bell. She paused, slightly tilting her head to listen. Then she moved toward the sound. She hoped it wasn’t phantom bells ringing.
The closer they drew to the forest that dotted the left side of the castle, the closer her guard stepped to her, now suddenly a little more alert. She didn’t usually wander this far, and doing so must be prickling his senses.
To be fair, Rhiannon was teasing him to a point to see how far she could go in the forest and get away with it, and the guard was too stubborn and arrogant to warn her to come back. But also, she thought she heard the distant meow of Goosie, and she wasn’t going to give up the search for her beloved cat.
The jingling grew closer, and the guard said, “Halt, lady.”
She ignored him with a glance, and when he touched his hand to the hilt of his sword, she lifted her brow at him and stopped.
“Are you planning to do something with that weapon, sir? Or are you afraid of a wee feline?”
“What?” he sputtered. “No.”
“Then get your hand off your sword.”
He frowned but did as she said.
“If that is my cat, Goosie is harmless. And if you think I’m running away, you must know that I’m not. Besides looking for my cat, I’m searching for a few wild onions or mushrooms or the like. They will add flavor to Cook’s meals that I’m sure everyone would enjoy. So don’t think I’m running away. I can assure you that was merely me sputtering in a fit of female weakness. I know my place.”
Despite her lying through her teeth and the hint of derision in her voice, the guard smiled and nodded, appeased. Goosie had yet to appear, but Rhiannon felt eyes watching her. Likely, as soon as she knelt to start picking the mushrooms, her cat would pounce in a game they often played.
Rhiannon had to turn away from her guard, so he didn’t see her roll her eyes as she marched into the forest on the pretense of finding some wild vegetables. Of course, she’d never found any before because she had no idea what they looked like, and she was more likely to poison someone with her finds than to offer them any culinary inspiration.
But what the guard didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. The real reason she’d wanted to come into the forest today was to plan her escape—she needed to memorize the various hiding places and escape routes.
She’d noticed her brother didn’t have a regular guard stationed on this part of the woods, though they did usually circle around her for their morning and evening rounds. But on the right side, where the road led toward the village, they always had two guards on duty in case someone came toward the castle.
She suspected it was because her brother feared the men that he was indebted to more than he feared a siege from a neighboring army.
They’d made it no more than a couple dozen paces into the woods when a giant of a man stepped out from behind a massive tree so huge it could have easily fit ten of her inside its trunk. No wonder he’d been able to hide so easily. Rhiannon halted so fast that she nearly fell backward.
The man watched her steadily, his eyes the color of a blue sea in a storm. Dark hair framed his face. He looked just as casual as if they’d happened upon him taking a stroll. But no one simply took a stroll in the woods, especially not on another man’s land.
There was an air of danger that surrounded him. The sheer size of him was enough to make her gape. And beneath his simple clothes, muscles bulged, exuding a power that proclaimed he could break her in half if he wanted.
