AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The torchbearer backed away, then dropped the torch and stomped out the flame before he turned and fled.
In unison, the others followed suit, surging away from me as fast as they could.
“Hey!” I yelled. “I said free him, you morons.”
Every single runner paused. Then, they returned to Indigo in a rush, fumbling to cut the ropes from his hands.
A refreshed sigh left Indy’s lungs as soon as he was liberated. He brought his arms around to his front and rubbed at his red, raw wrists before he jumped down from the top of the pyre and stepped right into the face of the now-meek mob leader.
“I believe this is my sword.” He snatched it from the other man’s side and slid it home into his own scabbard, staying in the other man’s face the entire time and grinning smugly.
“Now go,” I told the mob. “Before I lose my mercy.”
They bolted, racing toward their horses and fleeing, even as they were still trying to climb into their saddles.
As they scattered, Indigo checked on the two dead men that the others had abandoned, relieving one of a dagger he found. Then he finally turned to me with a ready smile.
“God damn, my lady,” he greeted. “But it’s good to see you. Looks like our target practice worked, huh?” He glanced at the dead men again. “Excellent aim.”
I blinked, unimpressed by his cheerful praise as I put the Colt away. “Did it not even occur to you to at least try to hide your mark when you entered enemy land? Maybe attempt to blend in with the locals?”
The idea made Indy snort. “I don’t hide who I am.”
Shaking my head slowly, I said, “What are you doing here, Indigo?”
“Oh, you know,” he started conversationally. “I heard the weather was nice in Far Shore this time of year.” Then he rolled his eyes. “What do you think I’m doing here? My ward said she was coming here, so here I am. You may not recall, but my job happens to be seeing to your security. Literally, protecting you is my only task in life. And that’s what I plan to do.”
I let out a deflated sigh. “Oh, Indy.”
“Don’t you oh, Indy me,” he snapped. “Just because you decided to run off in the middle of the night doesn’t mean my duties end there. I am your bodyguard, and I will continue to be just that for a long time to come. Do you hear me?”
“I didn’t just run off willy-nilly,” I muttered, growing a little less sure of myself. “As I said in my note—”
“And don’t get me started on that bloody pathetic note. I can’t believe you left that way. How could you do that to me? To your family?”
I cringed. “How did they take it?”
“I’ve no fucking idea,” he exploded. “I didn’t stick around long enough to find out. As soon as I read what you’d written, I scribbled out my own note, saying I’d gone after you, and I took off, too. We left you alone all that next morning, thinking you were still upset about what happened the night before and were barricading yourself in your room. When you didn’t come down for lunch, I finally decided to check on you. But you were long gone by then.”
I sighed and rubbed a spot on the center of my head. “I didn’t want to leave that way, but I thought it would be the safest route for Farrow.”
I broke off abruptly when Indigo narrowed his eyes.
“Yes, speaking of Farrow.” He glanced around the forest before returning his attention to me. “Where is this true love bastard of yours, anyway?”
“Don’t call him that,” I warned.
He sniffed and stepped closer to me, squinting at the coverage over my tattoo. “I can’t see whether you’ve lost your mark or not under all that muck to know if he still lives. I’m kind of hoping he is, as I’ve the urge to kill him myself. Because what kind of cowardly bastard—yes, bastard—steals a woman away in the middle of the night without even trying to properly meet her family first?”
“Well, he couldn’t rightly introduce himself to them when he thought he was—”
When he thought he’d been kidnapping me out from under their noses.
Oh bother. What a mess. No way was my family ever going to accept him now.
My bottom lip trembled. “Dammit, Indy,” I sobbed suddenly. Crumbling, I rushed against his chest, squeezing my arms around him because I needed something from home right now to make me feel better more than I needed anything. “Everything is so messed up,” I confessed, soaking the front of his tunic. “I think I made a huge mistake.”
“Of course, you did,” he murmured lovingly and wrapped his arms around me. “You always make the most spectacular of mistakes, I swear.”
