Page 21 of Trapped By Vengeance

I nearly drop the oars. “Lasttime?” Except, I know there was a last time, or else myvaterwould never have known aboutKonrad. Somehow, though, I forgot about the description of the corpses when I met Konrad and could not imagine such a mild-mannered mercenary being responsible for the alleged carnage.

It is a little easier to imagine now.

“He wept for a fortnight.” Eloise clicks her tongue and goes back to petting her pigeon, her eyes reverting to the sea green shade they were when I first met her.

“Do you think he’ll . . . come find us?”

The sky darkens with an oncoming storm, giving me relief from the sun. But it also adds to the dread in my gut.

Eloise raises her eyebrow. “I’m his daughter now. He’ll always come find me. Once we get to the island, I’ll lay out an outfit for him to wear, and he’ll come find us when he’s dressed.”

“Is this a habit between you two?” The island isn’t much farther. Being in abject fear did wonders for my rowing speed.

“Not really. He doesn’t shift if he can help it, and he’s shy when he does.”

That’s something else I can use . . .

Rowing gets more difficult as the ground rises and jagged rocks protrude from the waves more and more the closer we approach.

I secure the rows and step out into the water, soaking my skirt to my knees. Eloise climbs out to help me push the boat onto the beach.

Eloise abandons me to pull the boat onto the sand by myself. Thankfully, I’m no longer living, so I don’t feel the burn of my muscles any longer.

“It’s so pretty!”

At Eloise’s excitement, I turn to behold the island we’re more or less marooned on. It’s large enough that I cannot see the ocean directly across from where we’re standing though narrow enough that I see the shore to my left and right.

The beach is large enough for me to lie down vertically without my feet getting wet. And just above it is a conglomeration of trees so tight that the island really could be tiny and I wouldn’t know until passing through this forest. Except, I think I see a hill, so it might not be so small after all.

“We should seek shelter.” Eloise comes to stand beside me, still clutching her satchel with a pigeon on her shoulder.

“You don’t want to wait for your father?”

“I told you— he’s shy.” Eloise takes a step toward the trees before pausing and glancing back at me, her eyes forest green now. “Wait a moment— I know whyIcare for him. But why doyou? Isn’t he the bad guy in your story?”

“But I like bad guys.” I wink at her.

Eloise just stares at me in confusion.

I clear my throat. “That is, I love myvater, and cannot bear the thought of any little girl being separated from her loving paternal figure.”

“Oh. Well, I definitely do not want to be orphaned again, too.”

With that happy statement, Eloise skips into the tree line.

Picking up my heavy skirts, I follow, clutching Konrad’s coat and saber and doing my best to focus on surviving the moment, not guilt over what is to come.

I have to use that saber to slice my way through quite a few hills as I do my best to follow the nimble little thing. She could be an elfling with how at ease she is, scampering about in nature . . .

I reach out with my blood magic to detect what flows through her veins. She is definitely a child of the kinfolk. How could I have not noticed before?

Likely because I was distracted by her rugged father. Her mother must have been an elf, because he certainly isn’t.

Swallowing hard, I remain where I am for a moment, letting Eloise get far ahead. There are no animals who will attack her, anyway. Not when they sense what I am and are cowering in fear as wild creatures tend to do when facing a greater predator.

Eloise is in no danger from them. But as for me . . .

TheleastI could do to her is orphan her a second time.

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