Page 58 of The Abandoned Princess

I beamed at him, but Lori frowned.

“Eulalie has been moving more quickly, remember, and we have no idea of the details of this situation. We might end up delayed for a significant length of time, and we could lose her completely.”

“We won’t lose her,” Xander said confidently, “because we know she’s heading for Greenwood, and that’s still several days away. We’ll just have to move at faster speed ourselves to catch up.”

“We think she’s going to Greenwood,” Lori said.

“Can’t you hear the desperation in her voice?” I asked softly. “She and her family must live alone out here, and we rarely pass other travelers on this road.”

“If we don’t help, who will?” Xander added, and Lori finally capitulated.

“Fine, if you both insist.” She shook her head, but Xander caught her up in an enthusiastic embrace.

“You’re a good woman under all that practicality,” he said as he released her.

“Someone has to keep their head on their shoulders with you two around,” she replied, but she looked a little pink.

I plunged into the trees beside the road, Xander a step ahead of me. Lori sighed and followed us, and I turned my attention on the continued cries.

“We won’t be able to offer help,” Xander said, “so we’ll just have to hope we can work out the situation.”

We reached the woman easily. Her twisted, tear-streaked face made my own heart twist, and I desperately wished she could see and hear us.

“We’re here to help,” I said uselessly. “What’s wrong?”

“We found him!” a male voice called through the trees, and the woman’s face lit up.

I relaxed, glad the crisis was so easily solved, but I tensed again when the man came into view and I caught sight of his expression. He didn’t look like someone released from tension. Surely the boy hadn’t been—

“Is he alive?” the mother gasped, clearly caught by the same fear.

The man nodded quickly, and we both relaxed.

“He doesn’t seem injured, but…” The man’s voice trailed off, leaving me concerned about what was so bad he didn’t want to say it.

The mother grasped his arm, her voice urgent. “Tell me! What is it?”

“It will be easier to show you.” The man towed her along, and I didn’t even look to the others for confirmation before following. I couldn’t walk away until I was sure the situation was resolved.

“He’s climbed up beside the falls,” the man said. “You know how fascinated he always is by them.”

The woman gasped and began shaking, while I registered a dull roaring sound I hadn’t noticed before. Now that I was hearing it, it was clearly the waterfall in question.

“The problem is his mood,” the man said, and the woman gave a small wail as if she knew exactly what he was talking about and was terrified by it. “You know how he was when he ran off. When he gets like that, he won’t let anyone near him.”

I exchanged a concerned look with Xander, who was keeping pace beside me. What sort of child was this?

I willed the mother to ask some more clarifying questions, but before she could do so, the trees abruptly ended and were replaced with a small pool. The irregular circle of water had trees growing right up to it on this side, but on the other, there was a stretch of clear ground.

A stream ran out of the pool, running toward the east on a parallel path with the road. Opposite it, a waterfall thundered into the pond, agitating the water on that side. It wasn’t a particularly high waterfall, but the rocks around it were sharp and jagged, slippery with spray.

The man and woman froze instantly, both of their attention on a rock on the other side of the water. A small child who looked about two years old stood on the rock, staring back at the adults with an expression of defiance on his face.

“Oh, he’s a toddler,” I said, understanding the situation at last.

Although I had been the youngest in my own family, the palace and its surrounds had housed enough families that I had grown up around younger children. Since I had always defied royal protocol by befriending the servants, I had known many of them through pregnancy and early motherhood when they would sometimes bring their little ones along while they completed their tasks.

And even in my tower, I had encountered children of this age since older siblings would start bringing them along on their adventures as soon as they were established walkers. Two could be a difficult age, and when the more defiant children became enraged, they responded badly to any attempts to interfere with them.

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