She couldn’t go back with him, no matter what happened. That wasn’t going to be an option for her. She would rather die. If she could just wrench herself free, then she would run off into the forest.
She was confident that she would be able to cover her tracks if she tried. She could even hide in the trees. With his build and age, it would be far more difficult for him to climb as high as she could. She was fairly certain of that.
She knew that her horse was likely long gone, and that she was on her own here. She would just have to make it work and hope that the rest of her skills hadn’t deteriorated along with her strength.
If she made it out of this alive, she was going to start training with Kaden every morning for the rest of their lives, whether he liked it or not.
She found the knot and started working at it with her swollen fingers. Everything hurt.
She couldn’t think about it now, or she was going to cry, and then where would she be? Graham was here. She was trapped. Her hands started to tremble and then shake so hard that she couldn’t pull on the ropes.
No.
She exhaled slowly, balled her hands into fists, and then counted to three in her head. She opened them slowly and tried to undo the knot once more, but the shaking wouldn’t stop. She tried to shove the ropes down past her hips and then up to her chest, but it was not working. There wasn’t enough room for either.
Somewhere outside the cabin, she could have sworn that she heard a puppy bark.
Graham wasn’t kind to animals. Other than his hunting dogs, he didn’t tolerate anything else in his castle. She could only imagine what he would do if he caught sight of Maggie, even worse if he realized that Maggie belonged to her.
The yipping was growing closer… and then it stopped.
Dread filled the last few parts of her that had been holding out hope.
The knot was undone, and her fingers felt numb as she finally freed herself. Was she too late? She must be, for she couldn’t hear anything.
She rushed to the door, then started looking around for anything that she could use to break the lock or pry it open. She dropped to her knees to peer through the keyhole and could only see Graham’s figure advancing toward somebody with a knife, but she couldn’t see the other person.
Had the priest arrived already?
That must mean they were close to a village or a town. If she could only get out of this cabin, then she would be able to make it somewhere she could find help. She could climb one of the taller trees, get her bearings, and then gauge what was possible.
Yes, that was the only option. There was no time for fear.
At least, not until she realized that the man Graham was advancing toward was Kaden.
34
Strangely, Kaden was almost happy that it happened this way—just the two of them against one another.
There was another man in a priest’s robe with him, but he was warily walking away from the two of them. He didn’t even seem to wish toattemptto interfere, lest he get caught in the crossfire.
No doubt if he knew who Kaden or the other man was, he would turn on his heel and bolt. For now, he was wise to back away from both of them. Nothing good would happen for him here.
His back hit a tree in the clearing, and he stopped, holding onto the bark behind him like it was a shield that he would be able to quickly duck behind should he need to.
So long as he had the good sense to stay the hell out of Kaden’s way, then it would be all right.
Kaden hoped so anyway.
There was no way for him to pretend that the man’s voice didn’t scare him. He had endured too many years of pain for him to be unafraid. Too many nights dragged from sleep because this man wanted to try out a new torture technique. But no matter how many times the man had tried to make him feel subhuman, Kaden was still standing here today.
The muscle in his jaw ticked as he stared him down. As much as he needed to get to Emily, as much as he needed to make sure that she was safe, he couldn’t allow this man to keep breathing.
“What are ye going to do with that knife then, boy?” the man taunted.
Kaden could hardly believe that he was able to see the man’s face while he was speaking. He could finally see the soulless eyes that he had only gotten flashes and glimpses of before. Never the whole face, never a name.
He could remember the man’s colors from all the bodies he had gone through on his way out of that place. Even though much of his escape had been a blur, there were some things that he would never be able to forget.