Beguiled (The Fairest Maidens #2) - Jody Hedlund Page 0,34

participate in the conflict with the Inquisitor.

As though sensing my resolve to stop her, she took a step away. “So long as there are people in this world like Queen Margery, I shall always have need of training and fighting.”

I wanted to contradict her, even forbid her from speaking to Irontooth. But at the glimpse of pain in her eyes, I held back my refusal. She was still working through a testing—a challenge—of her own. And she needed to resolve this inner battle if she would ever have true peace. But could I allow her to go on so perilous a mission?

I tried to gentle my tone. “’Tis my own fear of what may happen to you that makes me cautious.”

“Then you think I am weak and incapable?”

“Not at all. You are one of the most capable ladies I have ever met.”

“Then what?”

I glanced around to see who was observing our conversation. Only Gregor paid us any heed from where he stood next to our cave entrance. I rapidly closed the distance between Pearl and myself and took hold of both her arms.

She stiffened and struggled to pull away.

I slid my arms around her and pulled her into an embrace. I didn’t have the words to express my feelings for her, not when I didn’t fully understand them.

As our bodies made contact, she stilled.

I ran my hand down the long length of her braid and had the sudden vision of unraveling it and letting my fingers tangle in the ebony waves. I’d never seen her with her hair unbound but could imagine just how beautiful it would look.

She held herself rigidly a moment longer before she leaned in and rested her head against my chest. She didn’t embrace me in return, but I prayed she understood that I cared about her and wished no harm to befall her.

As I released her and strode away, I could feel her gaze following me. I’d learned long ago that doing the unexpected was one easy way to disarm a person and defuse a tense situation. And now I wanted to turn around and gauge her expression, to look into her eyes and see if she was beginning to care about me—even if just a little.

But I forced myself to keep walking. Sometimes a person didn’t recognize the value of what they had until it was no longer within reach.

Chapter

12

Pearl

The oars dipped in and out of the water, hardly making a sound.

My heartbeat made up for the silence and gonged as loudly as St. Matthew’s Cathedral bell now ringing for Lauds. The majestic stone church stood at the center of Fife, one of Norland’s southern ports and the city closest to our island. The echo of the early prayer hour reverberated in the darkness of predawn.

Kneeling in the middle of the boat, I focused on the water, keeping watch for any signs of Loch Ness. Beside me, Mikkel had taken the lookout on the other side. His attention hadn’t strayed from the sea since we’d begun the crossing.

We hoped the Inquisitor wouldn’t expect us at all during the night, since so few dared to traverse the sea while Loch Ness hunted. But if the Inquisitor had posted sentries, he would most likely place them at the easier, shallower crossings and not at the deepest section in the Channel, where sightings of Loch Ness along with strange drownings and disappearances were most frequent.

Loaded with six of us, the boat sat low, requiring those at the oars to press deeper, quite possibly drawing Loch Ness’s attention. With the city looming ahead in the faint moonlight, I could only pray we’d bypassed the sea creature, but I wouldn’t rest until I stood on land.

As it was, I squinted, looking for the telltale signs of bubbles and fish remains along with any unusual disturbances in the water.

“Halt!” Mikkel ordered in an urgent whisper.

The rowers stopped and lifted their dripping oars, resting them inside the boat. We waited silently, not daring to move, not even to swat at the mosquitoes and gnats buzzing around us.

With his spear drawn and poised above the lapping waves, Mikkel seemed to follow a trail. I couldn’t see anything unusual, but his focus remained unswerving upon something below the surface.

Though his countenance was shadowed by the night, the outline of his face showed regal determination. From the way he held himself to the way he spoke, he commanded attention. Although the others now knew he was nobility, did any of them suspect his royalty?