Page 113

Lachlan had.

To protect himself, she reminded herself.

Which begged the question: why had her mother lied?

Once packed, she shimmied out of her dress, dropped it on her bed, and donned her disguise.

You’re running,that little voice inside her chastised.I thought you were done running.

Tarley ignored it, hurrying through the dark courtyard where Lachlan had tied Ferdie, the horse still connected to the hitching post. She was lucky the courtyard was both dark and chaotic. Servants walked between wagons and the inn, unpacking. Men in armor stood in circles, talking, unconcerned by her—or the young boy they offered cursory glances to as she passed—moving through the courtyard to her horse. She looked around for Trevis and Horance, who’d both been out earlier, but didn’t see them.

“Here, Ferdie.” She offered the gelding an apple swiped from the kitchen. “I know you need rest, but can we just go a little bit further today?”

Ferdie nickered and stomped, enjoying both the apple and her voice.

After securing her things, Tarley mounted the gelding and pulled his reins to turn him toward the woods. She stopped to look back.

Don’t go,her inner voice said.Stay and fight.

Only she didn’t feel the fight, but rather the pressing weight of sadness. She loved Lachlan with every part of her. He’d said the right things, and she’d believed him. Now, she felt sad in a way that crushed her heart as if it were under a mountain. Maybe if he were there, if he told her it would be okay. She willed Lachlan to appear, to offer her an explanation she would accept. Because she loved him. Rationally, she knew this already, but if today had proved anything between Rufus’s threats, Lachlan’s declaration, her fear, her mother’s lies, Tarley wasn’t feeling secure in her abilities to navigate her feelings.

He didn’t appear.

And Tarley knew then that she’d come back, face him when her mind was right. She needed clarity. No matter how hurt she was, leaving Lachlan was an impossibility now. She just needed the space to think, and the woods was where she did that best.

She turned in the saddle and spurred Ferdie forward. The gelding lurched, unsteady on his legs, so she kept him at a walk, knowing it would still take her hours to get to her spot in the woods. The dark made it more dangerous.

Then what are you doing?her mind chastised.You know better. You’re smarter than this.

She considered the cottage instead. She could crawl into bed with Jessamine and find comfort in her sisters, but Tarley was so angry with her mother, she wasn’t sure she could face her just yet. There wouldn’t be clarity there. She pushed Ferdie deeper into the woods.

It took her several hours to reach her usual place. When she stopped, she fed and watered Ferdie, and instead of pitching the tent, she lit a fire and wrapped up in a blanket to lay under the stars shining overhead.

On her back, she watched the winking spirits in the sky overhead, thinking about Lachlan. She wished on those that darted across the dark expanse to new homes in the universe, recalling Lachlan’s story he’d shared at the campfire all those weeks ago. “As the story goes,” he’d said with a wink., “there were two lovers, forbidden from being together by their parents. Only they didn’t listen–”

“Because whoever listens to their parents,” Tarley had said with a half grin, letting her guard down with him. “Why couldn’t they be together?”

He’d shrugged.

“Come on. You can’t expect me to believe that these lovers were forbidden to be together just because–”

“It’s been lost to the time of legends.”

“Convenient.”

“Do you want the story or not?” he’d asked.

She’d waved a hand at him. “Go.”

He’d grinned. “When their continued love affair was discovered, both sets of parents had a spell cast on the lovers, hurling them into the sky to forever be forced apart.”

“That’s a terrible story.”

“You didn’t let me finish it,” he’d said, poking at the fire. “The legend is that every time we look up into the night sky and see a traveling star, we are witness to their union having found one another once again. And, for that moment, we can rest in the knowledge that even though they were forced apart, they have always been able to find one another across time and space.”

She’d told him that was a ridiculous story, even though secretly she’d loved it.

Now, she smiled, remembering, and took a deep breath of the cool, crisp, forest air. It moved through her chest, but it didn’t have the same cleansing effect is usually did. She knew why. Lachlan. Even angry and hurt, she missed him.