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Mia slid off the edge of the bed and dropped onto her knees in front of him. She was careful not to jostle her injured hand, but her other fingers stretched out to rest on his hunched shoulder.
He shuddered at her light touch.
Her heart clenched. “Please look at me, Fletcher.”
“I can’t.”
He sounded so miserable. Her hold tightened. “I don’t blame you. I never have.”
“I blame myself.”
“Then help me now,” she begged. “Let me helpyou. Let’s all leave this awful place behind.”
Slowly, his head lifted. Tears shone in his eyes, and his chin wavered before he said, “I will speak with Rena, but I know she’ll want to go with you.”
The tightness in her chest loosened. “You’ll come with me?”
His expression solemn, as if he were swearing fealty. “Yes, Mia. I will come with you.”
Rena arrived not long after with a tray of food. Mia would have ignored the roasted potatoes, braised chicken, green beans, and still-warm rolls, but Devon insisted she eat.
They settled in the corner of the room, where Mia and Rena sat in the only two arm chairs. Devon fetched the wooden chair from Grayson’s desk and offered it to Fletcher. The older man waved it away, choosing instead to stand beside his wife’s chair.
While Mia ate, Rena was caught up on events. She was startled to learn the truth about Mia, but she wasn’t resistant to the idea of leaving. “There’s nothing for us here anymore,” she said to her husband. “Not if Mia is gone. Not since we lost Thane . . .”
Fletcher’s face tightened at the mention of their son, who had died years ago as a soldier. Fletcher nodded once, and the decision was final.
Devon and the Fletchers looked to Mia, like she was a monarch, and they were ready for a command.
Her mouth dried, responsibility suddenly weighing heavily on her shoulders. “We’ll need to pack lightly,” she said, repeating Grayson’s words. “We’ll be traveling to—”
“Don’t tell us which port,” Fletcher cut in. “We already know enough. You can tell us where we’re going right before we leave.”
It seemed like a wise precaution—one Grayson would probably have thought to take. It made her wonder if she should wait for him, but time seemed so limited, and the Fletchers and Devon were eager to hear the plan.
Forcing aside self-doubt, Mia began to share the ideas she and Grayson had discussed. Rena believed it would be easy enough to secure warm clothing and extra blankets from the laundry. “With how quickly the weather’s turned,” the older woman said, “no one will think anything of it.”
Mia asked Fletcher about securing horses from the stable, and he nodded. “I can tell the stable hands that Rena and I are going into Lenzen to visit friends.”
She wished she could ask Fletcher to take Grayson’s horse from the royal stable, but that would be impossible; the old guard wouldn’t be allowed to take a horse that belonged to a Kaelin prince. Even so, she hated to leave the animal behind. She’d visited him frequently in Grayson’s absence, and he’d helped soothe the ache in her heart.
Devon spoke, interrupting her thoughts. “That will only get us two horses. We need five.”
“We can purchase more in Lenzen,” Fletcher said. “Grayson has coin—he gave me some before he left for Mortise . . .”
The plan continued to pull together as they talked. Mia almost mentioned that the plan was to leave tomorrow night, but she held back. Not because she didn’t trust them, but because she honestly wasn’t sure if it would happen. Grayson had been adamant about leaving then, but fates only knew what he’d had to do today, or how that might impact things.
Besides, precautions weren’t a bad idea, even if she trusted everyone in the room.
Time passed, and Devon lit a small fire in the nearby fireplace as the room began to grow chilly with the oncoming night.
They were still discussing preparations when the door opened and Grayson walked in. Weariness dragged at his shoulders and tension lined his expression. The burn on his jaw looked even darker and angrier than it had this morning. He paused when he saw Fletcher, Devon, and Rena in the room. A level of alertness flashed back into his gray eyes. Then he saw Mia, and his attention narrowed on the cloth bandage that enfolded her right hand.
He muttered a curse and strode across the room. “What happened?” he demanded.
“I’m fine,” she told him.
Fletcher made a sound in his throat.
