Page 22 of The Warrior Priest (After the Rift #1)

But the constables didn’t gain an advantage.

Not even for a moment. Rhys’s blade nicked the hand of one of the constables, causing him to drop his sword with a cry of pain.

Rhys forged a path to me, using his body to push aside any constable who got too close, sending them into the path of Rufus or Andreas where they were swiftly disarmed.

Twice more, Rhys cut a constable’s sword hand.

He kicked another in the stomach, winding him.

Rhys dispatched them all, with Rufus and Andreas cleaning up behind him, gathering dropped swords and forcing the constables onto their knees.

The one holding the leash around my neck pulled on it, hard. The cord burned, biting into my skin, my windpipe. I couldn’t breathe. My body slammed against the constable’s and his arm wrapped around me, pinning me. I couldn’t even move my hands to crush his balls in my fist.

“Come any closer and she dies,” he snarled.

Rhys adjusted his grip on the sword. He lowered himself into a fighting stance.

“No, Rhys!” Rufus shouted. “Don’t!”

Don’t kill him , he meant.

If he did, the sheriff could arrest him. Not even Merdu’s Guards were immune from a murder charge if there was enough evidence. And there were seven witnesses lined up on the side of the road who would testify.

I tried to gasp in air, but the rope was too tight. The edges of my vision blurred and I felt my body weaken.

Rhys attacked. Not with his sword, but with a knife. I wasn’t sure where he’d pulled it from. His boot, perhaps. By the time that thought registered, Rhys had plunged the knife blade into the constable’s thigh.

He roared in pain and clutched his thigh, releasing me. He hadn’t seen it coming either.

Rhys caught me as I fell. I sucked in air, my body filling up in desperate need, but my sore throat protested. I choked and coughed as pain raked at my throat. It felt like I was swallowing nails.

Rhys untied my hands and removed the cord from around my neck, then he scooped me up. He cradled me against his chest, as I had cradled him a week ago on the temple’s tower. His heart beat erratically, his breaths came short and fast.

“Jac,” he whispered in my hair.

I clung to him, my fingers scrunching the tunic at his back. I wanted to stay there all night, enveloped in his arms, feeling the muscles twitch as they slowly unwound.

But I knew I could not. “You can’t be seen here.” My voice came out as a rasp, but Rhys would have heard it. Even so, he didn’t release me. His arms tightened again.

“Rhys,” Andreas said sharply. “We have to go.”

Vizah emerged from the shadows, leading four horses, but it was Giselle who filled my vision as I pulled away from Rhys.

She inspected the wound on my neck. “I have a salve for that.”

Vizah brought Andreas and Rufus their mounts. “Next time, one of you hold the horses.”

“You didn’t miss much,” Andreas said. “Rhys did it all.”

Vizah gave the reins of a horse to Rhys. The big man laid a hand on Rhys’s shoulder as he studied him. “You don’t have to do it alone.”

Rhys acknowledged him with a curt nod, but he watched me. His gaze suddenly narrowed. “I think someone’s coming.”

I heard it too. A horse. No, not one. Dozens, as well as the unmistakable rumble of wheels rolling over cobblestones.

Rhys released me, pushing me toward Giselle. “Take her to the Cat and Mouse. I’ll come when I can.”

Giselle grabbed my hand and pulled me away into the park while Rhys mounted but didn’t ride off.

He turned to face the newcomers. Pain flared in my throat again as I gasped in more deep breaths.

I stumbled, but Giselle helped me to maintain my balance.

She tucked me into her side and half-carried me further into the park where she pressed me back against a large tree trunk to rest.

Uncle Roderic’s voice demanded the release of the constables. It must have been his carriage I’d heard, with his usual retinue of guards accompanying him on horseback. “What is the meaning of this? I was told there was a prisoner! Where is she?”

“This brother attacked us, sir!” one of the constables cried. “The girl escaped.”

“I know it hurts,” Giselle hissed in my ear, “but we have to run.”

“I can’t,” I managed. “No breath.”

“Master,” I heard another familiar voice say. “That is Master Rhys, of Merdu’s Guards.” It was the high priest, and he sounded furious.

I leaned back against the tree trunk and closed my eyes in relief. The high priest would protect Rhys and the others. He wouldn’t allow my uncle to arrest servants of the god.

“I don’t care who he is!” Uncle Roderic shouted. “He interfered in city affairs! Arrest him!”

“No!” the high priest said. “He does the god’s work.”

“I said arrest him!”

“Take your men and leave, Governor. If you do not, then every warrior priest will come for you, and when they have finished with their vengeance, Merdu will banish your souls to the pit. Not even the merciful goddess will want to save you and your men.”

I suspected it was the constables who backed down before my uncle. He’d never had much time for religion, and I doubted he believed in an afterlife. He wanted to win in this life and win at any cost.

“Search the vicinity,” he ordered.

God’s blood. I pushed off from the trunk, ready to run, but the words of one of the constables made me stop.

“Sir, I have her necklace.”

A wave of nausea rose within me. In the turmoil, I’d forgotten about the pendant.

Uncle Roderic ordered his guards and the constables to retreat.

After they’d left, I heard the high priest’s angry snap. “That was a poor use of the order’s men, Master.”

“I disagree,” Rhys said.

“We weren’t here on the order’s business,” Rufus added. “This was personal.”

“There is no personal .” The high priest’s tone remained ice-cold.

“Everything you do is the order’s business.

Every act you perform, every word you utter, and every breath you take is on behalf of Merdu’s Guards, no more so than now you are its master, Rhys.

Go back to the temple and compose yourselves.

There’s a problem in Mull that requires your attention.

I was on my way to tell you about it when I saw the governor’s carriage heading this way at speed with all his men. ”

Giselle tugged on my hand. “I don’t think they’re coming after us. Can you breathe now?”

I nodded and squeezed her hand. We slunk off through the park together.

Although it was easier to breathe, my chest still felt tight. Despair constricted it. My mother’s pendant was gone, my only link to her and the women of my ancestry with it. If the story of the talisman was true, then Uncle Roderic was in possession of enormous power.

Although I could break into his home or office and steal it back, he was too clever to simply leave it lying around or in a locked box. He would hide it, or keep it on his person. My uncle was always well guarded. Could I even manage to get close to him without Rhys’s help?

The answer was irrelevant because he would refuse to help. He’d already made it clear he didn’t believe in the legend and didn’t care enough about an object to risk his life, or mine, for it.

The high priest had also made it clear that, as master, Rhys had a responsibility to his order.

The fact that Rhys didn’t counter him proved that he agreed.

In my heart, I knew it was the way of things now.

The days of escapades across the rooftops were over, as were our meetings in the secret room.

Rhys couldn’t spend his evenings chatting idly with me anymore, or drinking in the tavern with his friends, or kissing women.

He was the master of the most powerful religious order on the Fist Peninsula, and he had a great responsibility.

He needed to use diplomacy and sound judgment in the future.

He had to keep the respect of all his priests, not just his friends, and he must be seen to be on the side of justice.

He would make a fine master, as long as he wasn’t subjected to distraction or temptation.

I was both.

I’d made up my mind a week ago to leave Tilting, but I’d been putting it off. Now it was time to follow through on that decision before I ruined Rhys’s life.

But I couldn’t simply slip out of Tilting without telling him. He’d worry that I’d succumbed to my injury. After everything he’d done for me, I owed him a goodbye.

As I sat on the bed in Giselle’s room at the Cat and Mouse with the cooling salve tingling the cord burn at my neck, I penned a woefully inadequate note to Rhys.

It didn’t say all the things I wanted to say.

For one thing, I didn’t tell him I loved him or that I was leaving so he could fulfil his duties as master of Merdu’s Guards.

It simply said it was best if I left as soon as possible. Then I thanked him for ‘everything’.

I reread it—it was definitely inadequate—then gave it to Giselle to deliver. “Before you go,” I said, “can I ask you another favor?”

“Of course. Anything.”

“Is the offer to be your apprentice still open?”

Her smile started slowly then quickly spread. “It is. Are you sure, Jac? It means leaving Tilting.”

I indicated the folded note in her hand. “That’s why I’m saying goodbye to Rhys.”

She studied it. “Ah. You don’t want to say it in person? He said he’ll come as soon as he can. For one thing, he’ll want to see for himself that you’re all right.”

“Tell him not to come. Tell him I don’t want to see him. Say anything to put him off. I can’t face him, not to say goodbye. It’s too hard. If he wants to write me a message, then he can do so.”

Giselle slapped the note against her hand.

“I’ll deliver it now.” She paused at the door.

“For what it’s worth, I think you’re doing the right thing.

He won’t leave the order for anyone. You need to move on with your life.

Once you start presenting yourself as a woman, the men will all start noticing you, and you’ll realize there are many more fish in the sea. You’ll forget about him.”

I shook my head. No man could compete with Rhys.

She must have mistaken my head shake for modesty. She approached and sat on the bed. “You’re very pretty, Jac.” She touched my chin. “You have the most striking eyes.” She released me and stood. “When I’m finished with you, you will be the most alluring woman in Glancia.”

I fell asleep but awoke when I heard the door open and close. “Well?”

She sat on the edge of the bed. “He asked how you were. I told him you were recovering and would be fine. Then I handed him the note.”

“And?”

“He ranted for a bit, but when I explained that you were in an impossible situation, he calmed down. He understands, Jac.” She tapped her chest. “Deep down, in here, he knows it’s the right thing for you to do.”

I blinked back hot tears. “Did he give you a note for me?”

“Not a written one. He just wanted me to tell you goodbye and that he’ll always be fond of the time you spent together.”

“Fond?”

She lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “I think he felt awkward talking to me about you.”

“Did he say anything else?”

“Not about you. He told me he has to leave tomorrow for Mull.”

I settled back against the pillow. “Can we leave tomorrow, too?”

She smiled as she stood. “We can, and it’s fortunate we’ll be heading west since they’re heading east.”

“Where are we going?”

“My home. It’s in Dreen.”