Page 13 of Seven Ways to Kill a King
Cass caught her just as she broke through the line of trees, bits of earth flying from their horses’ hooves as he grabbed the reins to jerk Wolf to a broken halt. She might have fought him, but her attention had caught on the figures in the distance. Half a dozen kingsmen held a struggling woman and a bloodied man in their grasps.
Cass laid a hand on Miri’s forearm, and she met his steady gaze. His posture was pure anticipation. His other hand was on his reins, loose and ready to wield a blade. An understanding passed between them. Miri would have to decide. Face the kingsmen at risk to Cass’s life and hers, or abandon the man and woman to their fate of being dragged to Stormskeep and tortured for their loyalty to the long-dead queen.
She didn’t know what to do. There was no right answer. There was a chance she and Cass couldn’t overcome so many trained kingsmen on their own. And if they did, they had little chance to escape before others were warned. If Miri saved those two people, she would be sacrificing a chance to help so many more.
A shout rang out in the clearing as a spiral of fire rose through the air.
It wasn’t half a dozen kingsmen—it was half a dozen kingsmen and a sorcerer.
Miri’s blood ran cold. “Go,” she whispered.
Cass turned to sprint back into the woods. The horses were sure-footed and well trained, and Miri and Cass had both ridden since they were young. They should have made it. They should have gotten free.
A black-cloaked figure stepped from behind a tree and grabbed Miri’s leg as she barreled past. Cass slammed into them just as Miri’s form was ripped from the saddle, and Wolf reared and spun in the tangle of limbs and reins. Cass’s arm drew Miri onto his horse, and he leapt from the horse the moment she had a grip on his saddle.
Cass’s body seemed to ram headlong into the kingsman as Miri grappled for Milo’s reins. She jerked the horse to a spinning stop just as Cass rolled over the form of the kingsman, black fabric and leaves dancing through the air in their wake. After only a brief struggle came the sickening sound of blade through flesh, then Cass crouched over the prone form, eyes on the forest around them.
Miri held her breath, waiting to see if someone had heard and if more were coming. Cass’s eyes met hers, and Miri could see she was meant to run, but she didn’t.
The snap of a twig made her wish she had. Her gaze flicked to the trees, hands and heart trembling with the need to run, and she saw the black cloak of a tall, slender man. Cass straightened, and the two of them exchanged hurried gestures before Cass turned to stride toward Miri. He closed the distance to grab the saddle and pull himself up behind her. She startled, shifting forward, but Cass spoke low in her ear.
“We need to get out of here. Terric will take care of our trail.”
Miri tried to look at Cass, but he was pressed too close against her, and she couldn’t see to gauge his expression. “We can’t just leave him—”
“Go,” he whispered into her ear. When he apparently realized she meant to argue, he reached around to her grab the reins himself. “This is our duty, princess. This ishisduty.”
Miri’s eyes shot to the cloaked man, who was already starting his work.His duty. It was to protect her and—if need be—to die in place of the queen or her family. She thought she might be sick.
* * *
Miri leaned forward.Cass’s chest was pressed against her back. Her guard was apparently unwilling to listen to anything she might say. The queensguard would die if he were caught, but if they stayed, Miri and Cass would die along with him. He was following a queen’s order, not Miri’s. She couldn’t stop it.
The horse raced through the trees, his gait smooth, but Cass and Miri were ill fit in the narrow saddle. Miri pressed her legs tight to stay ahorse, hands gripping over the edge of the saddle leather and into Milo’s mane. A short, sharp whistle came from behind her, then Wolf ran back through the trees, nostrils flared but eyes not wide with terror. He’d been trained well. He came to a stop beside them, and Cass took hold of Miri’s waist to throw her astride. He wasted no time before they were off again, at a full run through the forests of Pirn.
They didn’t stop until well past nightfall, when Cass was satisfied that they had not been trailed. They’d crossed a dozen creeks, only to cross again, and gone through thick brush and sand in order to confuse their path. But they hadn’t been followed. Terric had taken care of that. Gods, she hoped he was alive. She hoped he had not been caught.
They would know soon enough. As soon as they made it to Pirn, rumor of the kingsmen would pass to their ears. It would be a wonder if Miri’s rash action had not set the king’s full guard on a rampage through Pirn.
Miri and Cass set their camp at the base of a small rise, and Cass tied the horses nearby. He lit a fire, snapping the wood with more force than might have been necessary. His fingers were still flaked with the kingsman’s dried blood.
She was a fool—a sodding fool.
Cass leaned down to blow on the flame, and when the light flared, it caught his expression. Miri had thought him angry, and certainly, he was, but something else simmered beneath his displeasure. Terric was a queensguard and had been his friend. Miri hadn’t just risked cost to herself. If Terric didn’t make it, it would cost them both.
Her fingertips curled into her palms. She sank to sit on the cool ground, heedless of the settled dew.
“I’m going for meat.” Cass gave her a look, one that seemed to imply she should stay precisely where she was until he returned—possibly longer.
She managed a curt nod.
Then he was gone. The horses let out quiet breaths and tore occasional clumps of grass from beneath the trees. Shadows shifted outside the fire, and after a time, the faint sounds of the forest returned. Miri tried not to drown in her thoughts. Her hands could do nothing to occupy her mind, for her heart had no interest in finding the occupation. She’d been there before. She’d made mistakes and chosen wrong. It had always made her feel exactly that alone.
By the time Cass came back through the trees, cold had settled into Miri’s bones. She’d added a few sticks to the fire, but it hadn’t helped.
Cass dropped the body of a small rabbit onto the ground across from her. Its form was limp and molded to the curves of the earth. He knelt before it wordlessly and shifted the rabbit to puncture its fur.
“Have you thought about it? About what you’re going to do?” His low voice felt loud in the darkness. His long fingers curled tighter around the animal’s neck as he pulled the pelt slowly down its form.
