“You all did. I should have done more. But it was you women who did everything.” He placed a finger below her chin and lifted her gaze to his. “You and Willow bought Sage the time to hide those parchment pieces.”
“In the end, it did nothing. Sterling still got them.”
Landyn shook his head. “But we still have them, too. And we have the advantage—he doesn’t know that.”
Raven sighed and nodded.
Landyn turned to look at the road behind them.
“Is he still following us?” Raven wondered. She had spotted Demory trailing behind them shortly after they had left the inn that morning.
“Yes,” came the quiet reply. “We’ll have to remedy that soon. I’d like to get a chance tospeakwith him.”
Raven heard the thinly veiled implication in Landyn’s words and knew exactly the type of speaking Landyn wanted to do. It had nothing to do with words.
“There,” Sage called, pointing to a large boulder about ten feet tall with the tip angled. “The arrow.”
They stopped their horses before the boulder. It was a landmark the Sterlings couldn’t miss.
“Now what?” Christian asked, turning to Sage.
“Walk ten feet south from the arrow. The point marks the way,” Sage recited.
Marcus dismounted and walked to the boulder. He glanced around while Landyn surveyed the sky.
“That way,” Landyn said, indicating the direction of south.
Marcus nodded and took ten steps, then turned toward the rock.
Raven studied his face, hoping he saw something. She held her breath.
Marcus straightened, his arm stretched out. “The top of that hill.”
Raven followed his gaze to a small hill that jutted from the linear landscape. The hill was unassuming, but beneath the cool calm, she could sense a thrill coursing through her veins. They were close to the end.
When the group reached the top of the hill, Landyn looked over the lush valley and spotted a few patches of trees and the brown dirt road they’d taken up. Below, he noticed Demory tucked away in a small crevice between two boulders, but there was no sign of the Sterlings or their troops trailing them.
“Over there,” Sage directed. “Between those two trees.”
Landyn gazed at her with a mixture of curiosity and doubt. Could she really remember all the details from the book? It seemed impossible, yet the excitement in her eyes revealed that she did indeed recall them or at least thought she did.
Christian rode up beside Landyn. “You spot him?”
“Yes,” Landyn admitted. “But I don’t see your father.”
“He’ll be behind Demory, following the deciphered directions, if he can.” Christian shrugged. “Maybe he took a wrong turn. Or maybe he is trying to figure out where we left off. Either way, he sent Demory after us. And I would be surprised if he were the only one. He’s being too obvious.”
Landyn agreed. Demory was skilled, yet he wasn’t doing a good job staying hidden.
“The quicker we find where this leads, the better,” Christian grumbled.
Landyn pulled at his stallion’s reins, guiding him downhill after the others. He caught up with Raven as Christian rode past them to Willow.
“Trouble?” she asked.
“I’m going to circle to see if anyone is pursuing us,” he replied.
“No,” she answered quickly. Too quickly.
