Willow’s chin lifted in a false show of confidence, but her voice wavered, and her stomach twisted. “I’m not afraid.” It was the usual retort, the one she fell back on. But this time, shewasafraid. Her gaze shifted to Sage, still stubbornly bent over those parchment pages with a focused intensity. She was unyielding in her need to understand, and Willow felt powerless to stop her. What was the use in denying Sage her answer?
Willow slowly drew in a breath and released it, her gaze shifting to Christian for an instant. She exhaled again and steeled herself, her entire body trembling. She walked toward Sage. Her hands shook, and her breathing quickened. She stood over her for a moment, attempting to control her nerves. Sage would discover the truth anyway.
“Sage,” Willow called.
Sage looked up at her.
Suddenly, the door flew open with enough force that it hit the wall with a loud thud. Pons stood in the doorway, his jaw tight. “There is a man at the inn asking questions.”
Landyn approached Pons. “What type of questions?”
“Asking about women with swords,” he said hurriedly. “And Templar Knights.”
Christian and Landyn stood together in the back room of the inn. Pons had told them one man was asking questions and they had to be careful. Christian felt a chill run down his spine. Could it be his father searching for them, knowing Simon had the fake book? Or was it someone else? It was too risky to stay in the cave.
The light shining through the window was soft, warm, and not harsh. Christian guessed that it was mid-morning. The inn was quieter than it had been when they arrived. A woman with long, dark hair and a stained apron walked across the room and wiped one of the tables.
Christian quickly surveyed the room. At one of the round tables in the center, a man wearing a brown tunic hunched over a steaming bowl of stew. In the back corner, farthest from Christian, Jo spoke with a man whose balding head had wispy strands of dark hair poking from it. Christian’s gaze was immediately drawn to the jagged scar on the man’s left cheek. He stepped into the shadows, a memory tingling tauntingly in his mind that he couldn’t quite place. Still, something about the man made Christian uneasy.
“We should leave,” he whispered.
Landyn nodded. “Agreed.”
Christian followed Landyn into the tunnel. “How?” he wondered. “We can’t go out the front. When Willow and I were in the forest, I thought I heard something. I’m sure the door’s being watched.”
“We’ll have to split up.”
“No,” Raven declared, her hands firmly on her hips. “We are staying together.”
Christian and Landyn had returned to the cave and presented their solution to the group. Sage stared at Christian with a scowl of disapproval.
“It’s the only way,” Christian said. He had known it would be difficult to convince the women to split up, especially after they had just found each other. “If we all march out of here together, we will be noticed.”
“We can wait until nightfall when the inn is crowded and leave in pairs,” Marcus suggested.
“No,” Raven reiterated.
“You’re being irrational,” Christian said in frustration.
Raven’s gaze swung to Christian, her jaw set and her eyes burning. “I am not leaving my sisters. Not again.”
Marcus sighed softly. “Raven, I understand your hesitation, but—”
“You can go with one of your sisters,” Landyn suggested.
Raven looked at him, and her expression softened as her gaze swept his face. Then, she lifted her chin and shook her head.
He stepped close to her, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder. “We won’t be separated for long, and we’ll meet up after that.”
Raven shook her head again, but her tone was gentler. “That’s what happened in le Bezu.”
Willow exchanged a wary glance with Sage.
Christian rolled his eyes. They had to leave. Raven had to see that. “I don’t want to be separated from Willow either,” Christian agreed. “But we need to mix with the crowd in the inn to escape unnoticed. It’s going to be difficult. You Hawkes don’t exactly blend in.”
“Who did you see in the inn?” Sage wondered.
“One man.” Christian shook his head. “I’ve seen him before, but I can’t remember where.”
