Page 96 of Savage Warrior

“He is a child. He will learn,” Cristina says simply. “I will telephone the head teacher on Monday and tell him he has a new student.”

Cristina offers to help me back up the path, and I am glad of her assistance. I truly did not think this excursion through, and I would have struggled on my own. We’re halfway up the steep incline when her phone rings.

The conversation is brief. “Good news. Yes, she is with me. I will tell her.” She ends the call and turns to me. “They are on their way back.”

“They…?” Does she mean what I think she means? “?tefan?”

Cristina nods.

“With Natalija?” I hardly dare breathe, let alone hope.

“Yes, with Natalija. She is safe.”

My knees give way. I sink onto the closest rock, weeping. All the pent-up anguish and despair that has weighed me down for what seems an eternity releases like a deflating balloon.

Safe. My family are safe, all of us. I had not let myself believe it. Hadn’t dared.

“Are you sure?” I croak. “There is no mistake?”

“No mistake. That was Ethan on the phone. They have just taken off from Brussels and will be here in a few hours.” Cristina gathers the boys and tells them to head on up to the castle and wait for us there. “Take little Yuryl with you. Hold his hand all the way, please.”

We follow the boys at a sedate pace. My head is whirring with questions, but none of them matter. All that matters is that Natalija will be here soon.

And ?tefan.

“I cannot believe he did this for me,” I gasp when we finally arrive at the top. “To go all that way…”

“Rome loves you,” Cristina replies. “He knew you wouldn’t stay here without your family, so he went to get them for you. Simple, really.”

“What? What are you saying?” I gawk at her, open-mouthed.

“He loves you. He wants you to be happy, so—”

“No. No, he doesn’t. He can’t…”

She shrugs. “Well, I suppose you know best. It seemed that way to me, though. Ethan though so, too, or he wouldn’t have been so willing to help him.”

“I do not understand. I never thought… never imagined…”

Lost for words, I simply try to take in everything that’s happening. My world has just tilted on its axis.

What if… What if it’s actually true?

Cristina grins at me. “You look gobsmacked. Did you really have no idea?”

“Gob…? What?” My tenuous grasp of English fails me.

“Amazed. Astonished. You must have realised how he felt.”

“I didn’t. He never said anything to make me think…”

“Maybe he prefers to let his actions speak for him.”

I let that sink in. Perhaps it is true. Would he have done all of this if he did not care, just a bit?

“What about you?” Cristina continues. “How do you feel?”

“I’m not sure,” I tell her honestly. “It’s only been a few weeks. We barely know each other.” I pause. My head is whirling. “I think I might love him,” I manage, at last. “He saved my life. And Yuryl. Now this.”

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