journey to Silesia and form a new court in your absence,” Godfrey said. “We will await your return. Be quick about it. And don’t die.”
The men dispersed, and Thor stood there, feeling his world changing, reeling all around him. Then he felt a hand on his wrist.
Thor looked over to see Gwendolyn standing beside him, tears in her eyes. His heart broke at the sight of her.
“Before you leave, talk with me a minute,” she said.
Thor walked with her, stepping away from the crowd, and they took privacy behind a stone wall. She looked up at him, and a tear rolled down her cheek.
“I don’t want you to go,” she said. “Please. Not after all we’ve been through.”
“But if I don’t, the shield will stay down,” Thor said. “The Empire will attack. We will all be finished.”
She shook her head.
“We are all finished anyway,” she said. “The Sword is gone. The shield will never go up again. You will never find it. You will just die alone out there. If we are to die, I would rather that we die together.”
Thor shook his head.
“Then your death, all of our deaths, would be on my head, because I had not tried to find the Sword. I must do this Gwendolyn. You, of all people, must understand. Please. I do not want to leave you. Know how much I love you. I wish for nothing more than to stay by your side. But I must do this. For our kingdom. For the Ring. For honor. Don’t you understand?”
She nodded slowly, looking down at the ground, wiping her tears.
Thor felt the ring his mother had given him, burning inside his shirt, and at that moment, he wanted more than anything to get down on one knee and to propose to Gwendolyn, to ask her to be his wife. A part of him felt that this was the moment.
But another part of him felt it would not be fair to her to propose. He was about to leave, to head off into what was a likely death. If she were to be married to him, that would leave her a widow, forever. It would not be fair to her.
Thor decided to keep the ring where it was, and as soon as he returned—if he returned—he would propose to her then. Then, they could live together forever.
He reached down, raised her chin and looked into her eyes. He smiled down at her, wiping away her tears, and leaned in and kissed her.
“I love you, Gwendolyn,” he said. “More than I could ever say.”
She choked up in tears, crying, and threw her arms around him and hugged him tight.
“I hate you for going,” she said.
“You will be safe this time,” Thor said, his heart breaking. “You will be with all these men. You will run your own court. An entire army will be protecting you. No one can hurt you now.”
“It is not for myself that I fear,” she said. “It is for you.”
Thor finally pulled her back, and looked deeply into her eyes.
“I will return to you, my love,” he said “Not the moon and the stars and the heavens in the sky can keep me from you.”
She smiled up weakly, a tear running down her cheek.
“I wish I could believe that,” she answered.
CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT
King McCloud burst from his castle as the second sun was setting in the sky and ran across the plaza of his royal court, filled with rage. He leapt onto his horse, followed by dozens of his loyal men, and kicked, taking off at a gallop through his small city, through one of the arched gates, and onto the dusty road leading up the mountain. He kicked the beast harder and harder, outrage burning through his veins. He had just received the news that his son had escaped, his bride with him, had broken free from his grasp before he’d had a chance to torture and kill them both and make a public display of them.
McCloud burned with the indignity of it all. He could not believe that little witch had outsmarted him. He had been in a foul mood since returning home, and now he was in an outright fury. If it was the last thing he did, he would hunt them both down, find them before they could reach the safety of the MacGil side, and torture and kill them both himself.
McCloud galloped, dozens of men following, desperate to reach the hilltop outside his court where he could