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Hell fire, I’d definitely been spotted.
I froze, squinting through the trees until I finally saw movement. My heart pounded.
For a woman alone, on foot, I knew exactly how vulnerable my situation was. Slipping my hand into the pocket of my cloak, I clutched the Colt close.
A wagon full of three men rolled through the break in the trees.
They had given me a greeting first, not flung an arrow, though, so I took that as a sign of good faith, hoping they might just be friendly after all. I lifted
an arm in reception, all the while, my stomach knotted painfully.
Blinking in surprise, they looked around for the rest of my traveling party. When they found no one, the driver tugged on the reins, pausing his horses.
“You lost, miss?”
I couldn’t ask them how to get to Donnelly. No one here would treat me kindly if they knew which kingdom I hailed from.
Swallowing thickly, I said, “I’m going to Dimway Forest. My husband…” My frame trembled as I pictured Farrow. “I lost him on the Cull River. A Coral Reef Killer attacked the ferry we were riding, and—” I pressed the back of my hand to my mouth with a tragic flare, leaving the rest unsaid.
The lie came so easily; it made me wonder if it was always this easy for Farrow to distort his tales, too. I felt a sudden burst of kinship with him. When it came down to survival and saving a loved one, lying didn’t seem so awful after all. And he’d always had a reason to lie. Maybe—
“Aww, you poor dear.” One man clucked his tongue, and just like that, the lie wasn’t so easy anymore.
They seemed kind. Deceiving them wasn’t right. Acid swirled in my stomach.
But I had to preserve myself, so I said, “If I could just get to Dimway, I could return to my family.” My voice cracked.
Okay, that didn’t feel so awful to say. If I merely concentrated on the true parts of my story and just altered small details in order to survive, lies were tolerable.
Because, honestly, I had lost my husband—the man who was my true love and soul mate—in the river yesterday. The moment he decided not to tell me I had died from my fall off the ferry, he proved he wasn’t ready to form a committed, honest, equal relationship with me yet. He still had to discover his inner truth and become the man he needed to be first.
So, until then, I really did want to get to the Dimway Forest to return to my family, just as I’d said. I merely kept the fact that my family didn’t exactly live there from these fine men.
They seemed the decent type, but how would they feel if they knew I was really a princess from their enemy realm that had burned a whole army of their royal troops to a crisp with a single dragon?
Elliot, the dragon, was gone now, but I’m sure the fear—and maybe even hate—he’d instilled in these people was not.
“Poor lamb,” the driver said as the other two hopped off their wagon to assist me. “We’re headed to Vance. The forest is just on the other side. So we can take you that far at least.”
“How far away is Vance?” I asked cautiously, for I didn’t want to stay overnight with strangers and risk letting my guard down around them long enough to fall asleep in their presence. Farrow had taught me that trust should not be so easily given to anyone.
So, when they answered, “About a half to three-quarters of a day’s ride from here,” I relaxed.
“That would be most kind of you, then,” I said. “Thank you.”
My hands went to the richly jeweled necklace at my throat. “I could pay you with—”
But all three men shook their heads in rejection. “No, no, miss. What kind of self-respecting men would we be if we didn’t give assistance to a wee woman as you, traveling alone? I’ve a daughter of my own; we’re on our way to her wedding, in fact. And it would turn my stomach to learn no one helped her if she ever found herself in a similar situation.”
I smiled softly. “I completely understand. And congratulations to you and yours.”
“Let me get your pack for you, miss,” one of the men said, hurrying forward.
“I’ll help you onto the wagon,” the other readily offered.
At least they seemed respectable, honest, and considerate. But I remained alert and ready to use the Colt to defend myself if that changed.
I spent a good portion of the day with Jax, Max, and Pax, as the three men were called. I soon learned they were brothers, two bachelors and a widower.
