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“Are you in a position to ride a horse, my love?”

They both looked at each other for a second and blinked.

I just called her that, of my own free will. And I meant it.

He could see in her eyes that she had read through it, and she gave him a soft smile.

“I think so,” she replied.

Thomas put his arms around her and tried to lift her, ignoring the searing pain that splintered across his shoulder. Sophia, however, couldn’t seem to suppress hers.

“Ow, ow, ow… oh no…” Her legs seemed to not respond to her commands. “I… might need a while…”

Thomas’s face hardened, thinking of what to do, when he heard an unusual sound from outside the lodge.

“Whatisthat?”

Below the dull hiss of the rain and the creak of the old lodge, the clatter of something like bells grew louder, coming closer at a swift pace.

Thomas put his arms under Sophia’s knees and lifted her effortlessly bridal style. Sophia raised her tired hands and wrapped them around his neck, apparently forgetting her pain. Even though he was wet all over, had lost blood, was aching everywhere, and had gone through several days with barely any sleep, including this one, he didn’t feel weary at all. He felt right.

Thisfelt right.

He carried her up the steps and out into the miserable night, James just ahead of them. Two full carts of constables had justarrived in the clearing, the discordant clamor of the bells like a heavenly symphony to Thomas’s ears.

Gregory and Charles hopped down from one of the carts and ran towards them.

“Sophia!” Charlie cried, his arms outstretched. “My beloved daughter!”

Meanwhile, the constables leaped out and ran towards the lodge, and James went back inside with them, urging them to hurry.

“I’m all right, Father,” Sophia said, her head leaning against Thomas’s uninjured shoulder. “Please get my fool of a husband to a physician. Otherwise, he’s going to keel over while carrying me, and we’ll both be the worse for it.”

There was only the brightest and most mischievous of smiles on her face as she looked up at the husband in question.

Thomas looked back at her and felt her smile coax his own.

This woman is my wife… Lord, what a fool I was to treat her as if she was anything but the greatest gift. At the end of the day, she’s right—I am a fool of a husband.

“Sophia.”

“Thomas.”

“I love you,” he whispered, his heart full.

She beamed from ear to ear. “Well, if you must know…” She leaned close to his ear, hugging him around the neck. “I love you, too.”

Away from them, above the thick trees, glorious moonlight peeked out from behind the clouds and draped the woodland in an ethereal silver glow that seemed to catch each bead of rain, transforming that dismal corner of the world into something truly spectacular.

Not least because they were there together, safe in each other’s presence, confessing what they had not dared to speak aloud until that moment. A moment that signaled, at long last, the end of a dark past and the beginning of a bright future.

One that Thomas could not wait to discover with her.

CHAPTER 34

“You are supposed to be resting,” Sophia scolded, sneaking into the boathouse where she had known she would find her disobedient patient.

Thomas let out a groan, glancing back over his shoulder. “Alas, the huntress has found the wounded fox at last.” He grinned. “But what she is forgetting is that she is also supposed to be resting.”