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I could lose myself in you, Black Wolf.
“My lord? My lady?” His captain’s voice cut through the great hall. She moved away from Rowan, the blood rushing through her ears. Edrick stood in front of them, his feet shoulder-width apart, one hand wrapping the pommel of his sheathed sword.
“I… I must go,” Blanchette said as she took her leave without another glance.
She rushed through the dark halls of her castle.
Up the winding stairwells and through the corridors where only a few braziers were lit. Moonlight streamed through the angled mullion windows in thin shafts.
Oh God… what am I doing?
Panic overcame her. She hastened her steps as if the devil were on her heels. Or a wolf that wanted to devour her. Sweat dripped from her hairline despite the night chill.
What am I running from, really?
After what might have been an hour or only minutes, Blanchette slammed her back against the corridor’s wall as her legs weakened beneath her. Breathing hard, she leaned against that wall for support. She remembered the night of the siege. How she’d almost lost her sanity while leaning against these same walls.
My promise… oh God, I am lost…
As her eyes shut, Rowan’s face surfaced in her mind. Her palms pushed against the coarse wall, seeking purchase, yet she felt his powerful arms encasing her, the heat of his breath rushing against her neck.
I had promised…
Seventeen
“FOR EVERYTHING, there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1
Rowan cursed as Edrick stared at him, unblinking, with a frown of blatant disapproval.
“The port village is under attack? You’re certain?” Rowan asked.
“I am certain. This wouldn’t have come as a surprise if you hadn’t been so preoccupied as of late.”
Rowan said nothing. He paced past Edrick with Smoke at his heels. The three of them stormed through the entrance and into the inner bailey. Captains yelled orders as the night came alive to the clamor of weapons and armor.
“This is madness,” Edrick said.
“My armor and my squire,” Rowan shouted at a passing guard. “Find him! Now!”
Jonas brought Rowan Sunbeam minutes later, saddled and ready. He quickly donned his armor with his squire’s help. The Black Wolf swallowed Rowan Dietrich; where a man once stood stalked a plate-armored wolf.
“You mean to ride out now?” Edrick asked.
“Yes, but I won’t be riding alone. I want you and twenty of our best men with us.”
Rowan led a column of mounted soldiers down the dirt road and into the heart of the night.The wood rushed by in a swath of green and dark brown.
A full moon floated above him, halfway hidden behind a blanket of low-hanging clouds. The clop-clop of horse hooves sounded unsettlingly loud within the quiet. Rowan directed his men toward the smoky ruins of yet another village. As they encroached, they could hear the screams of the dying.
Moments later, they arrived at the mayhem. They observed the town from a hill overlooking the village.The town stretched almost a mile outside the lush outskirts of the woods, nestled against the sea.
Thank God it isn’t the central village. He recalled visiting there with Blanchette, of the little children calling his name and the boisterous innkeeper.
I am indeed distracted.
I’m making mistakes again.
