Page 37 of Bride of the Midnight Prince

“I promise I’m trying! There’s just a lot I didn’t know!”

She lets out a long sigh. “I know. I was afraid of that, but I didn’t have time to teach you everything. Is he very hard on you?”

I think of the intense power that follows his presence, the way he looks at me as if he knows all my secrets. And yet . . . “He has not been hard on me.” In fact, heshouldbe much harder on me.

“That’s a relief.”

“How have things been back at home? Is it too much to ask if they bought Bartholomew back?”

She gives me a sympathetic glance. “I’m afraid not. Things have not been well at the manor, actually. Your stepmother has been in quite a rage. Lord Boreham was furious too, and one of the girls overheard him yelling to your stepmother about how he’s been putting up with you for this long and,‘this is what I get?’ She was pleading with him to not revoke his offer of marriage, but he stormed out in a fury.”

“So . . . I might be free of him?”

“I wouldn’t be quite so optimistic at this point.”

“Did they give you trouble?” I wince.

“Oh, of course they did. I told them you’d been cooking up some scheme to keep your money and not get married, but that you refused to tell me any of it and I was surprised with the rest of them when your room turned up empty. In fact, I was the one who came running down saying you were gone. I think they believed most of it and moved their wrath on to other things.”

The sun dips below the horizon, and the evening glow fades.

“I need to go,” Mary says, glancing back toward the kitchen. “I hid your box ofolleaand your raid essentials behind the outhouse. Send word if you need help. I’ll drop everything and come at once.”

I refrain from hugging her. I wish I could repay all that she has done for me. “You are too good to me. I promise to be careful. You must also promise me that you will get out of my stepmother’s house if they are cruel to you.”

“Don’t you worry about me.” She pats my head, even though we’re the same height.

Then it’s goodbye, and I’m left to head back inside by myself.

Right as I’m about to open the door, a tall silhouette in my periphery catches my attention. My head swivels just in time to see the prince stride casually toward the stream, staying in the shadows of the trees.

I stand there for a heartbeat, debating with myself, and then let go of the door handle and creep along the wall, trying to get a better glimpse of what onearththe prince is doing at this hour. An innocent evening walk? Somehow, I don’t think so.

I angle my body until I find a good view of the prince. His back is to me, so he doesn’t see me, and he’s far enough away that he cannot catch my scent. Why has he stopped walking? Is he—

Suddenly, it’s as though two great shadows emerge from behind him—massive and towering. They spread wide, and I’m still puzzling over what I see when the prince leaps into the air, and the shadows begin beating, carrying him into the night sky.

Wings.

My mouth falls open and I stand as though I’ve grown roots, watching until the darkness swallows him whole. Even when I was at the Nothril Court, he didn’t have wings! Does he always glamour them away?

He’s heading toward Caphryl Wood.

Why is he here, in the human world?

Did he come to hunt the slave girl I freed? She’s long gone by now. He won’t find her by searching along Caphryl Wood.

Or is he here for another reason?

I wish I dared follow him. But no, I need to stay alive. I have my raids to accomplish. How I will manage those without Bartholomew . . . I have no idea. But I’ll figure something out.

Until then, I intend to figure out this prince.

Chapter 12

Rahk

Ispendseveralhoursat the edge of Caphryl Wood, but when my spells remain untouched and the cart shows no sign of being moved, I return to Nothril briefly to meet with Pelarusa. She informs me that Pavi has kept herself out of trouble so far, and agrees when I ask her to have a servant leave notice for me on the Nothril Path when the Ivy Mask strikes. Not without vicious complaint however, and a promise to make my life miserable if I don’t catch him soon.

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