Page 58 of To Ride the Wind

She paused to consider. The one thing—the only thing—she couldn’t do for Gwen was offer her a home. Not when Charlotte and Henry lived alone in an empty castle. The situation would be intolerable for all of them.

“Arcadia is well regarded as being a place of prosperity whose people are warm and welcoming,” she said in a rush. “My family has plans to move there. I could talk to them. I’m sure they would be willing to take you with them.”

A guilty part of her wondered if she was trying to send Gwen as far away as possible, but she pushed it aside. Gwen was clearly fleeing something, so distance was likely what she wanted.

Gwen hesitated, however, pulling her hand free just so she could wring both hands together. When she looked up at Charlotte, she looked tormented, and Charlotte’s heart seized.

“I don’t know what to do!” Gwen burst out. “There’s someone I have to find, but I don’t know where he’s gone. I don’t even know if he’s alive.” Her voice dropped to a whisper that was almost a sob. “I have to believe he’s alive.”

Cold washed over Charlotte, robbing her of proper thought. She put her hands in her lap, hoping Gwen wouldn’t notice them trembling.

“You’ve lost…him?” she asked carefully.

Gwen nodded, silent tears running down her face. “It’s been so many years since I’ve seen him. Maybe he doesn’t even remember me. But he’s the only one I trust. Now that I’m free, the only thing I want to do is find Easton. But I have no idea where to even start looking.” She wrung her hands together again.

Charlotte’s thoughts, which had seemed mired in molasses, sputtered and flared back to life.

“Easton?” she asked. “Did you say his name is Easton?”

Gwen leaned forward, excitement sparking in her face. “Do you know him? Have you met someone by that name? Someone else without a home?”

Charlotte quickly shook her head. “No, I’m sorry. I don’t know any Eastons.”

“Oh.” Gwen sat back, all the animation leaving her.

But Charlotte felt alive in a way she hadn’t since discovering the portrait. It was all she could do to keep sitting still and talking to Gwen as if nothing had happened.

“Do you love this Easton?” she asked, holding her breath as she waited for the answer.

Gwen flushed, the color making her even more beautiful. “I haven’t seen him for ten years. He may be married with children by now for all I know. But I certainly loved him fiercely as a child. He was my only playmate and companion.”

“Did his family move away?” Charlotte asked.

Gwen’s brows contracted, her face growing dark. “No, he just disappeared one day.”

Charlotte gasped. Did Gwen think he had run away? Surely she had considered the likelihood of a more awful possibility.

“You…you don’t think he met with an…accident?” she asked hesitantly. “Was he the type to run away?”

“No!” Gwen said fiercely. “He wouldn’t have run away and left me without a word. He didn’t leave by choice.”

Charlotte bit her lip, and Gwen winced.

“I know how it must sound,” she said. “Sometimes in my most despairing moments, I think he must have fallen down a ravine or met a wild animal and be dead. But he was strong and clever and resilient. When he was cast out, he would have found a way to live. I’m sure of it.”

“Someone sent him away? As a child?” Charlotte asked horrified. “Surely not!”

Gwen shivered. “You don’t know my—” She cut herself off. “You don’t know the woman who rules my home. I used to fear she killed him, but she claimed not to have done so. Just removed him.” Her voice dwindled. “I sometimes think she would have gotten rid of Nanny too if she hadn’t died.”

Charlotte’s face paled. What sort of horrible situation had Gwen escaped from?

She had wanted to help before, but the rush of warm feeling had grown in the wake of Gwen’s revelation. Gwen wasn’t searching for Henry, but for Easton. He was the sole focus of her memories and hopes.

That knowledge gave Charlotte the hope she had been lacking. If Henry’s love had been one-sided, it changed everything. She had thought his enchantment and Charlotte herself stood between Henry and his lost love. She had thought it might be her duty to remove herself so he could be happy.

But if a future with Gwen had never been possible, then perhaps she didn’t have to leave. Perhaps, Henry was in the process of forgetting the past and growing happy in the new life he had created.

“Where are you from?” she asked Gwen, filled with determination to repay the gift Gwen didn’t even know she had given Charlotte. “If you’re right, and he was banished from your home, we can use it as a starting point and work out a search plan. There may be somewhere obvious he would have gone.”

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