Page 97 of The Iron Dagger
“You saw to that when you erased Mother’s visions. If you had only looked closer, you would have seen your fate.”
There was a pause as Hara tried to control her breathing, and then he said softly, “I want to offer my help, whatever it is that you are going to do. Please. Let me make amends to you.”
“How do you know I am going to do anything?” she said.
“Because you are going north, not south,” he said.
She closed her mouth and gave him a hard glare. She would sooner go back to the palace than accept his help.
“Are you going to the oubliette?” he said, still in that soft voice.
It took a moment for Hara to understand what he meant. “You know of the place on Herebore?”
He nodded. “I’ve watched them bring witches there for years. None ever escape.”
“Your fault,” she said. “All of this is your fault.”
Seith hung his head. “All the same. I wish to help you. Are you going to go and find her in there? You would never escape, Angharad. It is impossible.”
“Get out,” she spat. “Leave me.”
“Angharad—”
“GET OUT!” she screamed.
He flinched slightly, his eyes full of pain. The small amount of satisfaction it gave her did nothing to dampen her rage. Slowly, he gained his feet, crouching in the limited space.
“I will leave you,” he said. “But I hope you can forgive me someday, Angharad. She would want that.”
Hara spat at his words. He left the cave, stepping out into the pouring rain. She crawled to the entrance to make sure he had left, and she could just see a small sleek body diving into the swollen stream.
Gideon
Why did Hara’s blasted familiar have to be a black-and-white cat?
He would have had a hard enough time seeing it as they moved through the black forest, but the sheetlike rain blowing into his face made it nearly impossible. The white paws that flashed in the darkness ahead were the only clues that Gideon was not about to tumble face first down a rocky crag.
He should have been thankful for the cover of darkness and the storm. If anyone was tracking them, they would have to fight through it as well.
They followed a roaring stream. Gideon had to watch his footing to ensure he did not slip onto the muddy bank and get swept away. They seemed to walk for hours, and Gideon wondered how in the hell Hara managed to come this far. She only had perhaps an hour’s head start before him.
The one thing that brightened his considerably damp mood was that anyone who followed them would be led in the wrong direction. Before he left the palace, he had taken one of Hara’s dresses and attached it to the back of an autocar before he watched it drive off. Anyone who checked his credit key would see that his last destination was set to the Mycan border. By the time his parents realized he was missing as well, they would direct their search to the west. Hopefully, that would buy them a day’s head start.
The cat, which had been keeping a brisk pace, suddenly took off into a sprint. Lightning flashed, and a moment later,an ear-splitting crack of thunder shook the ground. In the flash of light, he saw what the cat had sprinted towards. A massive rock fall loomed out of the darkness, and white paws were disappearing between the boulders. He quickened his pace and found the dark space in the rock where the cat had slipped.
As he stooped to enter, he saw a faint orange glow from within, and when he turned the corner around a sharp slab of rock, he found Hara wrapped in a blanket and cooing over her drenched pet.
“Seraphine, oh, my sweet darling,” she said, using the dry edge of the blanket to wipe at the cat’s face. It sneezed and shook its wet fur.
“Of course you would care for that cat before you said hello to me,” he said, but he couldn’t help grinning. He was so relieved to find her safe.
Her stony glare quickly gutted his high spirits.
“It’s no thanks to you that I was caught and had to escape,” she said. “Your plan failed, and your father was expecting me.”
He had already chastised himself for the failure of the plan, but he hadn’t expected to hear it from her so bluntly. Defensiveness rose to shield the sore spot she had jabbed, but he tamped it down and took a measured breath.
“I’m sorry, Hara. It was a stupid idea. I could have found a way to ask him without bringing suspicion onto you.”
