Had MacSween Castle been an option, she would have changed course and started in that direction immediately, but the door there was closed to her. Leo had made sure of that.
As she stumbled her way through the dense growth, she was somewhere in between hurt and furious. She didn’t know how to be fully heartbroken, especially over someone like Leo.
It wasn’t that long ago that she had considered him a brute and a beast, the type of man who served a purpose on the battlefield and nowhere else. The shock of him leaving her out in the cold when she had been trying to convince herself that what they had was an arrangement, plain and simple, was a struggle to absorb.
And then he just left me. Rode off back to his castle while I slept in a bed we had shared.
Beatrice tilted her face up towards the canopy of leaves above her. She closed her eyes, unable to ignore the hot tears rolling down her temples. Crying over Leo felt silly to her, but she was beyond lying to herself.
The thickness of the woods around her blocked the sun and turned the path she was clawing through into a narrow strip with barely the room a person needed to walk.
She wasn’t sure how long she had been walking, but she was tired, drained. Her feet were sore, and her lungs pumped out thick, hot air as she tried to get a breath into her body. She wished she had stayed at the inn and demanded the innkeeper send a message or lend her a horse.
That’s all over, is it nae, lass? Always got to be doing things yer own way. And just look where yer way has led ye.
Beatrice cast her gaze around the forest, the heavy growth threatening to swallow her like a child in a fairytale.
Nothing to do but continue on.
She almost turned right around to get back to the road. Crude as it was, it was better marked than this, but she didn’t have an idea in which direction it was. She had taken too many turns, followed too many broken paths, and now she was at the mercy of her own decisions, flailing through the woods.
In the near distance, not so far away that she could ignore it, branches snapped and leaves rustled as if someone was charging through the woods. She froze in anticipation, relieved that there was a chance someone would find her and take her to wherever she needed to go on horseback rather than on her tired and uncertain feet.
But wherever I need to go… Where do I need to go? Where can I go?
As hard as those questions plagued her mind, they could be dealt with later. For now, she just basked in the solace of the noises coming towards her, the possible rescue she didn’t want to admit she was desperate for.
The noises suddenly stopped.
Nay, nay, nay! I’m right here, daenae leave without me!
Beatrice started in the direction she assumed the noises had come from. The woods were full of tricks, noises and voices bouncing in preternatural ways, so she couldn’t be entirely sure that she was heading towards them or away.
She knocked through branches, stumbled over exposed roots that breached the dirt like rising corpses. If her salvation was nearby, she was determined not to miss it.
The sound of timid hoofsteps drew her attention. Through a veil of heavily boughed limbs, she burst out onto a path, searching for anyone who might be around.
“Is there anyone there?” she called out, and the forest returned her voice to her in watery snippets. “Can anyone hear me?”
“Aye,” came a low voice, gentle as a whisper.
Beatrice spun in a circle, looking for the person speaking to her. “Aye? Is there someone there?”
In front of her, behind the split trunk of a massive tree, Allistair stepped out onto the path, smiling at her the way he always did.
Smiling like he’s keepin’ a secret.Smiling like he kens something I should and he’ll nae be the one to tell me.
“Allistair?” Beatrice didn’t move towards him. She let out a convivial laugh. “Are ye real, or is me mind playin’ tricks on me as I die of exhaustion?”
“Wouldnae that make me life so much easier?” Allistair sighed, still smiling.
Beatrice took a step back as he closed the gap between them. “Oh, aye, would it?”
“Can I pay ye a compliment, Beatrice?” Allistair asked, pulling something from the inner pocket of his jacket. “Or do ye prefer I call ye Bea?”
The blade of a knife caught the dappled sunlight that forced its way through the overhang of tree branches and leaves, glinting silver and gold in rapid succession. Beatrice took another step back, glancing in the direction she had just come from and wondering how far she’d be able to run if she needed to.
Faster than him, though? Nae likely.
