Page 1 of Torin and His Oath (Torin and the Princess #2)

LEXI

SOMEWHERE IN SCOTLAND

W e ran across an open field barely glowing in the moonlight.

There were a few small buildings dark against the sky, not a light to be seen, and we ran into the woods, crashing noisily through dense underbrush.

It got very dark really fast, and the bushes clawed at the skin on my legs.

I gripped Torin’s hand tightly as he led me into a deep, dark forest.

We ran until it seemed like we had gone a good distance.

I could make out his dark form, barely, and I was panting heavily.

He turned to look back over his shoulder. “Och, I think we are safe.”

“Good,” I let go of his hand to push my hair from my face and adjust the cloak on my shoulders, but had a second where I thought, what if he disappears in the dark?

I grasped his hand again and did as I always did, closed my eyes.

If I tried to ‘see’ I would begin to panic, so instead I stopped trying.

I held his hand and tried to calm my breathing.

I could hear him turn his head to look around, and then felt his hand shift as he turned to watch behind us.

Panting, I asked, “What are we going to do?”

“We need tae run, but… I need tae determine our route, and…” He turned again. “…och nae, I need m’broadsword.”

“We can’t go back there.”

“I ken, tis too dangerous.”

I felt him shift and turn.

Then he put a hand on each of my shoulders. “Are ye warm enough?”

“Yeah, the run helped, the panic heated me right up. Are we far enough away?”

“Nae, we haena gone far enough?—”

“Have you figured out which way we should go?”

He adjusted the cloak on my shoulders. “I need ye tae sit down here.”

I opened my eyes. “What… why? ”

“Ye will wait right here, while I go back for my sword and dirk.”

“But… no, what do you mean?”

While I asked this, his strong hands sort of pushed and guided me down on my ass, sitting on the forest floor. “What is happening… you’re going back?”

He crouched in front of me, his hands still on my shoulders, pulling the cloak tight around me. “Aye… lean back on the tree.”

I did as I was told. “Are you leaving me?”

“Nae, I am goin’ back for m’sword, without it I canna keep ye safe.”

I couldn’t see him. I couldn’t see anything. My heart pounded in my chest. My breathing was so loud it made it hard to think. But... he was leaving me alone here , that much I knew.

“You said you wouldn’t leave me, and now you’re leaving me in the woods?”

He looked back over his shoulder. “Tis right there — can ye see the sky, Princess?”

I shook my head. “I see nothing.” The lump in my throat caught my words. “You can’t leave me, you promised.”

“I canna think what else tae do, Princess, tis right there. I will go get m’sword and I will return, and if ye look, ye will be able tae see me most of the time.”

“I can’t see anything.” A tear rolled down my face. “Don’t leave me here, please. I’ll come with you.”

“Nae, ye canna see in the dark, twill be unsafe. If I go fast, I can get my sword and return before anyone figures out that we are missin’. I will return in just a moment. I need ye tae wait for me, be verra quiet, daena make a sound.”

“How will you find me?”

“I ken where ye are. I will find ye, I promise. I will go right there and come right back — ye wait right here, daena move.” He turned to look back then said, “Promise ye winna move or speak, promise?”

I nodded.

Somehow he saw me. “Good, I will be right back.”

He stood and was gone, slipping away through the night.

I was alone.

It was like sensory overload. My internal processes were loud, echoing, but I couldn’t see at all, nothing — like being in a vacuum, a darkness so encompassing it made me want to scream, sitting alone cross-legged in a forest.

In the dark.

In Scotland.

In a totally different century.

There was a shift beside me, a movement.

I burst into tears.

There was a rustle in the leaves.

I cowered and then whispered, “Who is it?”

Dude climbed into my lap.

I sobbed, folding over so my forehead was on the back of Dude’s head, terribly frightened. I stroked Dude, tears rolling down my cheeks.

He didn’t curl up and get comfortable, he sat like a sentry, on my criss-crossed ankles, facing in the direction Torin had gone. I hoped that meant Dude could see. I hoped Dude would let me know if he saw something go wrong.

What if something happened to Torin?

If he died, I’d die too. I was probably already dead, just acting out the motions of escape. There was no way we were going to survive this. Torin had promised to protect me and minutes later, here I was — alone in the woods.

Then it came: faint, far off — yelling.

My heart dropped like a stone.

Oh God. He’d been seen.

I crouched lower, peering into the darkness.

Should I stay? Run? Go to him?

Every choice seemed like the wrong one, so I froze.

Then I heard steel — the sound of metal clashing against metal, ringing sharp and terrible. I’d heard it once before on my own lawn, but this was worse: a melee through the trees, that I couldn’t see, and Torin, the only person I knew in this world, was in the middle of it.

Men were shouting. Boots thudding. The wet, grunting sounds of bodies colliding. My protector was fighting for both our lives.

Dude stretched, arched his back, and gave a lazy shake before hopping off my lap. His tail flicked as he trotted straight toward the noise

I whispered, “Deserter!” and wrapped my arms tight around my knees and pressed my forehead against them, listening to the chaos through the trees.

How many men? I thought there had been four who captured us. Four men against Torin.

The fight was savage. The yelling rose. Horses screamed. I did not like that sound at all.

What was I going to do? How long should I wait before I ran?

He told me not to move, but… he didn’t know everything in the world.

But also, I couldn’t run. I was frozen. Fear and indecision had me stuck, trembling, spooking at movements and all alone in the dark.

Then — a final crash, a roar of effort, and something heavy hitting the ground.

And silence.

Not just quiet. Absolute silence. The kind that hums in your skull. No men. No horses. No steel. Only a bit of a breeze gently rippling the leaves above me and the wild hammering of my heart.

I lifted my head, straining to hear. Nothing. He could be dead. They could all be dead.

I couldn’t breathe.

Suddenly a crash into the woods — a horse, at least one, galloping through the brush. It was coming at me, full charge. I was in full panic, gasping for air. Was it Torin? What if it were someone else?

I scrambled to my feet behind the tree. But the horse continued crashing through the woods and galloped away, another horse following along behind it.

Then silence again.

The fighting was done.

I put my forehead on the trunk of the tree and held on so I wouldn’t crumple into a heap on the ground.

I was going to die. I had thought it, now I knew it.

There was a footstep behind me — I shrieked.

Then Torin was there. He put his arms around me, pulled me close, and hugged me to his chest. He said into my hair, “I am sorry ye were frightened.”

“I didn’t think you were coming back.”

“I try tae be a man of m’word?—”

I stepped back and shoved his chest. “Torin, you ass! You almost got yourself killed! You left me to die here! I am so mad at you!”

He tried to put his hands on my arms, but I brushed them off. “No, I am furious! Don’t touch me.”

“Aye, Princess.”

I set my jaw and raised my chin. I could make out the side of his nose and not much else. “Why do you insist on calling me Princess?”

“Because ye are sometimes tryin’ my patience and I need tae remind m’self that ye are above me in station.”

I huffed. “Did you get your sword?”

“Aye, I got my broadsword, so I can protect ye. I got m’dirk so I can skin the beasts I will feed ye, and I got two horses. I hae also killed all the men. They winna bother ye again.”

“Oh.” I gulped. “Like ‘ killed ’ killed them?”

“Aye, I slaughtered them on the ground, their blood rolling intae the dirt, their souls driven tae the depths of hell tae burn in the fire of eternity. I did it tae avenge ye, as I promised.”

I huffed. “Well, um…that’s not. Not really what I wanted to happen…”

“Ye dinna want me tae avenge ye?”

“I mean, yes, but… I’m not really okay with murder.”

“They would hae done worse tae ye, tae me, tae yer brother, tae yer family, the world is better that they hae been ended.”

He rolled his arm around, stretching his shoulder. “It took a great deal of effort tae do it.”

“Well, I appreciate that, I suppose, but I’m still pissed.”

“Tis fine, ye daena hae tae like me, but I am goin’ tae protect ye anyway.” He began walking through the woods, then stopped when I didn’t follow. “Ye comin’?”

“No, I can’t tell where we’re going, where are we going?”

“Tae get tae the horses.”

I exhaled.

He said, “I canna throw ye over m’shoulder, I am exhausted from the battle. I need ye tae walk tae the horses and then we will ride.”

“Fine, but... can I hold onto you? It’s really dark.”

“Aye.” He put out his hand and I took it. And as he drew me deeper into the woods, I wrapped my hands around his arm and clung to him as he picked our path and pushed branches away so I could pass unharmed.

Finally we came to the edge of a field where two horses stood in the moonlight.