Page 43 of Red

“Well?”

Ah.

“I am out for a walk, looking for snowdrops for Momma,” she answered quickly as her mind spun to fabricate a plausible story. “Pardon my surprise, but we don’t see strangers out this way. I don’t think there’ve been any at all through this part of the forest since my family had come through the woods with a group of colonists. At least not by the way my daddy tells it.”

“It is an abandoned route due to how dangerous it is,” he acknowledged gruffly and squinted at her. “These woods are not a safe place for rearing a family.”

Arie shrugged. “That’s what Momma says, but there was no helping it when they became separated from the group when she went into labor delivering me. Daddy saw little choice but to build a cabin to provide some shelter for us and we’ve been living a short distance from here ever since.”

The merchant leaned back in his seat and the horse tossed its head as his arm pulled the reins tight and wrapped them around a post at this side. Reaching into his vest pocket, he pulled out a cigar with one hand and with his other hand, he pulled out a small knife from a strap on his leg. She watched as he cut the tip of the cigar off before sheathing the blade and sticking the cigar between his teeth. This was no simple merchant wandering from village to village and town to town. At the very least, he had business in the Citadel that paid well, despite his worn appearance. Few people had the means to afford good cigars, but almost no one in the sanctuary villages had ready access to wood matches, and those who could afford to purchase them were not the sort that would be traveling through the forest in a rough-looking wagon.

“Did you find them… your snowdrops?”

“Oh yes, I have filled both gloves with them,” she said. Small truths inserted into a lie made it far more believable.

He grunted and eyed her for a long moment.

“What’s your name, girl?”

“Kila,” she answered with the first name that came to her mind. She didn’t feel comfortable providing him with her real name.

He puffed on his cigar and pulled it out to inspect it. His eyes narrowed on her once more.

“Kila, you say. Tell me, have you seen anyone else passing through? Perhaps a woman of your height and age? I caught word from one of the villages some ways south of here of a missing girl named Arie. She would have been hard to miss with all that red hair of hers.”

Arie felt her heart thump faster in her chest, but she schooled her features in an impassive mask, grateful that her hook hid all of her hair and much of her face.

“I’m sorry. I can’t say I have. As I said, we don’t get any visitors out here. I’m sure I would have especially remembered someone with red hair.”

“How about you come closer so I can get a better look at you?”

Her blood went cold, and she offered him a polite smile.

“I’d rather not. My parents don’t approve of me talking to strangers.”

His lips parted in a chilling grin. “How do they expect to marry their daughter if they keep her in the middle of the woods without contact with men? Come closer. I don’t bite.”

Arie took another step back, unnerved by his insistence.

“I’m sorry, but I… I have to get back.”

His eyes went cold, but his smile widened. “How about I give you a ride home? It is the least I can do. I would be pleased to meet your family.”

She shuddered. “No. No, thank you. I should be going. Have a blessed day.”

She backed away, her hand on her blade, but he sighed and shook his head.

“I really wish you hadn’t done that. It would have been a lot more pleasant if you’d come along peacefully. Come on out boys, I think we’ve got her,” he shouted over his shoulder.

On cue three men burst out from the back of the wagon, each of them wearing the deep blue capes of the Order. She backpedaled in alarm and his laughter followed her.

“Yes indeed, I am pretty certain you are just the girl we are looking for.”

Chapter

Twenty-Four

Rager hadn’t meant to fall asleep and judging from the long shadows he’d been out for a while. He hoped Arie had not been too bored while he’d been sleeping. She’d been getting more restless over the last few days and he and his brothers had been taking turns accompanying her on short walks outside. He would take her out in recompense. He understood how miserable it was to be stuck indoors, and even worse to be stuck alone with one’s own company such as she would have been while he slept so soundly.

---