Isa kept her back turned until she heard Robbie close the door behind him. She might not be able to stop her tears, but she certainly did not have to let him see them.
She grappled with her emotions, forcing herself to keep moving, to gather what was needed for the journey. It felt as if she stood outside herself, watching herself go through the movements as a normal person might, but she felt anything but normal.
Anger seethed through her, twisting and burning like a fiery serpent. Worse still, the pain in her heart beat at her. Heavy and throbbing with the knowledge of her loss.
She piled as much as she could onto the cloth, then tied the corners together, making a neat bundle for the journey to MacQuarrie Keep. That should do well enough for the two of them.
Crossing the room, she ran her fingers lightly over Jamie’s sleeping face, tucking his hair behind his ear before brushing her lips over his forehead.
That Robbie would see to his welfare she had not the slightest doubt.
At the door she paused for one last look around her beloved home.
Robbie had been absolutely correct. She could not ask him to risk his life in confronting Roland. Nor was she willing to put poor Jamie in danger again.
But there was nothing to preventherfrom delivering the justice Roland Lardiner deserved. He’d taken from her the only family she’d ever had and she meant to make him pay for his crime.
Chapter 23
“Goddammit!”
Robert stood in the center of the quiet cottage, furious at his own stupidity. He should have known better. Should have guessed Isa was up to something the instant she gave in so easily.
But he hadn’t. He’d allowed himself to be tricked because he’d wanted it so badly.
“Goddammit to hell,” he fumed, stomping across to the table.
She’d left their provisions all packed and ready to go like she was fool enough to believe he’d leave without her.
“Robbie?”
He turned at the sound of the little voice, hurrying to the boy’s side.
“Hush now, lad. Try to get yer rest. I’m going out for a bit to find Isa, and when we return, we’ll all be leaving this place.”
Faerie Magic be damned. Whether she wanted to or not, he intended to get her to safety if he had to tie her to the back of his horse.
Perhaps she had been just a wee bit hasty in her decision.
Isa stopped running and bent over at the waist to catch her breath, the energy from her white-hot fury beginning to wane. The betrayal she’d felt when she learned Robbie had withheld the news of Annie’s murder had stoked the fire burning in her belly. A fire of hatred and the need for vengeance. Not that the anger had gone away, only that she’d had time for reason to kick in. Reason and the vaguely unsettling feeling that something important wasn’t as it should be.
She straightened, and looked around to gauge her bearings, trying to determine how far she’d come. She’d specifically chosen to cut through the forest, avoiding the trail just in case Robbie tried to look for her, but that made it more difficult for her to judge her progress.
Not far, she’d guess.
Standing here looking around like a lost sheep certainly wouldn’t get her where she was headed. Wiping a hand across her perspiration-slicked forehead, she pushed back the damp curls that tickled her face, squared her shoulders and started out again, at a slower pace this time.
One foot in front of the other.
“One, two, one, two,” she murmured, keeping time with her footsteps.
Her father had taught her to count, and in languages other than her own.
“Unum, duo...”she said aloud, recalling how lovely the Latin had sounded rolling from his tongue as he’d read to her.
“Alpha, beta.”
She shuddered, remembering her dislike of the ancient Greek language her father had deemed so important to learn. There had been something about using letters for numbers that had confused her, even when she was older and her grandfather had gone over it, again and again, until he’d lost his patience.
