He spotted Sage sitting on the floor, bending over the parchment pages spread before her. Marcus sat beside her, pointing to one of them. Christian tried not to grimace in distaste. He didn’t know what Sage saw in Marcus and didn’t want to know.
Raven and Landyn sat to his left, eating bread and drinking ale.
Christian swept the entire cave and didn’t see Willow. He stood and glanced at Raven. “Where’s Willow?”
Raven and Landyn scoured the room with their eyes. Raven mumbled a curse, shook her head, and slowly climbed to her feet.
Christian held out his hand, halting her. “I’ll find her.” He strode towards the door, searching for an explanation as to why she had gone missing. Perhaps she went to relieve herself. Maybe she was admiring a cute animal she had found in the hallway. Maybe she was kidnapped by Pons. He mentally shook his head. All his thoughts turned dark. He stepped into the corridor. Willow wasn’t a damsel in distress. She knew how to take care of herself. Yet, Raven had just told her not to disappear without telling someone where she was going.
Trepidation crawled up Christian’s spine, hot and thick as it covered his neck and shoulders. As he looked down the tunnel both ways, he half expected to see Willow leaning against one of the walls. But there was only flickering light from a torch splashing the wall.
Christian walked down the hallway until he heard a garbled snore. He stopped and stared into the darkness. As his eyes adjusted, he made out two feet. “Pons,” he called. When there was no answer, he kicked his feet and urged more firmly, “Pons.”
The snoring stopped. “What?”
“Have you seen Willow?” Christian demanded.
Pons sniffed. “She came this way earlier. Stopped and talked for a bit.”
Christian stared into the dank passageway. What was she doing? She knew how dangerous it was. “I thought you were guarding the tunnel.”
Pons chuckled. “I am.”
Christian scoffed. Pons was sleeping. But it didn’t matter now. Only Willow did. “Where did she go?”
Pons lifted a wrinkled hand and pointed.
Christian continued through the cave.
Pons’s voice echoed behind him. “She’s a beautiful woman. And she smells like flowers.”
Christian gritted his teeth and walked faster, wondering how long it had been since these men saw a woman. The twisting in his gut grew worse, and he hurried. He passed another man, sitting on the ground wearing a tattered white tunic emblazoned with a red cross. He nodded to the guard, grateful he was at least awake. “Did a woman go this way?”
The man nodded and pointed farther down the cave.
Where had Willow gone? He jogged to the end of the corridor, the hairs on his neck standing up. At the far end, he had inspected the only other way out. Three shallow steps had been carved into the rocky cave wall, leading up to an old wooden hatch in the roof. One guard sat near the door, ready to sound the alarm if the hatch was opened. It wasn’t the man he had seen and questioned yesterday. This man was young with haunted blue eyes. He stared at the ground as Christian approached. “Did a woman leave the cave?”
“I didn’t want to let her, but she insisted,” the young man said. “She seemed…desperate.”
Christian scowled. Desperate. What did that mean? He stepped on the first step and reached for the latch.
“I’ll tell you the same thing I told her,” the young man said softly. “It’s dangerous out there. You’re taking your life and the lives of everyone in here into your hands if you exit.”
Christian nodded. “We’ll be back,” he said and climbed to the top step. He pushed the hatch upward a few inches to look around, searching for any of the king’s men. When the glade seemed free of any threats, Christian opened the hatch wide enough to climb out. He quickly shut it and began to scan the surrounding forest for Willow. Why would she have left the cave? Her family was here. He was here.
A bird cawed in the distance. He swiveled his head toward the village. The trees were largely barren of leaves, and sunlight shone through thick branches to create crescent sunbeams on the grassy earth. Smoke rose from the chimney of the inn in billowing clouds. Had she gone into the town? Could she have sought out singing?
The snap of a twig in the stillness of the forest caused him to freeze. His hand instinctively reached to the hilt of his sword, and he cautiously examined the shadows with keen eyes. Every instinct was on high alert as he listened and watched. When he saw nothing through the trunks of the trees, he moved toward the sound, stepping carefully over the fallen leaves and branches. He hid behind a tree trunk for cover and peered around the wooden bark.
Willow knelt on the forest floor, her hands resting on her thighs as she leaned forward to inspect something on the ground.
Christian stared at her with a furrowed brow. Why was she out here? She wasn’t doing anything in particular, but he couldn’t help feeling a sense of unease as he searched the area for signs of danger. The woods were quiet except for the peaceful chirping of a single bird.
Then, she swept her hand out over the green ground.
Christian narrowed his eyes and moved from behind the tree. “Willow?”
She lifted her gaze to him. Fear and concern etched into her wrinkled brow. Tears shone in her bright blue eyes.
