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“What?” Lachlan asked, his stomach seizing.

Brinna’s gaze locked on his. “Just to be prepared.”

The clattering of horses announced the party was ready to ride. Lachlan mounted a horse handed over to him by Trevis, the guardsmen and soldiers doing the same.

Mattias assisted Jessamine onto a horse and started up after her, but Captain Johesha stopped him, grasping the bridle. “You’re leading?” the captain asked.

Mattias nodded. “I know the woods the best–”

“Then she shouldn’t ride with you. In case–”

“I can take care of myself, sir,” Jessamine bristled.

Captain Johesha shook his head. “It isn’t a comment on taking care, ma’am. It’s dark. And his mount has much to contend with besides carrying double the load. Can you ride?”

Jessamine nodded. “Of course.”

“I’m sorry, Captain, there aren’t any more mounts,” Trevis said.

“You’ll ride with me,” Captain Johesha said.

“But–”

“If it were Ferdie or Wilhemina, then we’d be fine,” Mattias said. “But the captain is right. I don’t know this horse. And I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you.”

“Fine,” Jessamine said and slid from the horse, Captain Johesha catching her waist on the way down.

The captain released her and stepped back, returning to his mount.

“Lachlan?”

Lachlan turned in the saddle as his father, surrounded by his guard, appeared in the courtyard.

“What is the meaning of this?”

“I apologize for the lack of ceremony, Father, but these are the Fareviews—your future in-laws. They are responsible for saving not only me, but Queen Keyanna.”

“Where are you going?” his father demanded.

“I’m going to find the woman who is to be my wife,” he said, “and I swear to all that is holy, if anything has happened to her, I will raze these woods to the ground.” He spurred his mount forward, leaving Mattias to catch up to lead the way.

35

A gust of power toppled Tarley against the rocks, just short of the water sliding past. “No!” she screamed, the weight of monster Rufus was pressed against her back, trapping her on the shore. With her arms stretched out, still tied at the wrists, she could almost touch the water.

“I told you the chase is what gets me going.” His hands—cold and dry—drifted up over her thighs and stopped at her shoulder blades. He pressed his thumbs into her back, his fingers wrapped around her ribs. “I’ve imagined this. Chasing you. Catching you. Fucking you. Biting you. Tasting you. Then doing it over and over again. He promised me a plaything–”

She struggled against his weight and felt him harden against her.

“The human form is so delightful.”

Tears flooded her eyes. She was trapped, truly powerless, and hope shifted inside her, collapsing.

“The smell of your fear is…” His nose pressed against the skin at the back of her neck, and she felt the scrape of his sharp teeth.

One. Stop fighting, she thought,since that’s what he wants.

Two. Stop running and face your fate,she decided. She’d go down without fear.