Loving a Prince Charming - By Danielle Monsch Page 0,15

engagement makes no sense.”

“My father’s actions make no sense,” Seth corrected. Maybe if they had a warmer relationship he could ask why. Why the whiplash decisions and quixotic behavior? But even at their best, Seth could never claim he and his father were close, and these days they were far, far from their best.

Kira finally looked up at him again. Her eyes were tired, lines grooved into the corners and underneath. He reached up and ran a thumb underneath her eye, as though he could wipe away all the stress and worry of these last hours. His already battered heart shuddered yet again in denied yearning, because he couldn’t chance wrapping her in his arms, not again. He could only stand still as she took a small measure of cold comfort from the brush of his hand.

She smiled her thanks, a smile he didn’t deserve but he squirreled away to reside with all his memories of her. She spoke. “Why bring up your father’s actions now?”

“If I could trust him, I’d go to him now with this information. We would ride to Tolshire and Rosamund and I would marry straight away. We could ask about your… real…family.”

Seth trailed off, for one of the few times in his life unsure about how to talk to Kira. This was a situation he could never have foreseen.

Kira cleared her throat, swallowed hard, but she didn’t go back to her emotional reaction of earlier. Instead, she brought herself up to her full height, her chin angled in a dare. “My real family doesn’t matter, and I wouldn’t trust any answers your father gave even if they did.” Her posture went from provocative to empathetic, her eyes softening as she kept her gaze on Seth. “We can’t trust your father, can we? That’s what you were saying. We can’t trust him to take care of you, of us. We’re tools to him, and he’ll turn us around and inside out if that’s what it takes to accomplish his goals. He’ll sacrifice you if he must. That’s what you think. That’s why we didn’t go straight to him after hearing Taren’s words.”

“Am I wrong?” He hated the begging tone he heard in his voice. He was a man, not a boy desperate for his father’s approval.

Kira shook her head, breaking off their gaze and staring at the ground, her face drawn and pinched against her own tears. The burning inside Seth’s chest was a surprise. Odd, odd that. Nothing about his father should have shocked him. In fact, he was the one who told her. She only reaffirmed his own thoughts. Odd.

Kira’s cold fingers wrapped around his own frozen hand.

Cold over cold.

Chapter Six

The rock against his window was their signal, and Seth was ready. The bag held essentials—change of clothing, money, and a little food. Nothing more, as traveling light was a necessity.

Kira waited for him at the bottom. His feet barely touched ground when she grabbed his hand and started running past Taren’s house, to a section of woods that they often played in when they were children. Two horses awaited them, and within minutes they were seated and off.

They rode in silence, rode hard throughout the night. Their stops would have to be infrequent and they would need to go as fast as their horses would permit.

Kira had their route planned. She had to avoid the people evacuating from Tolshire, out of fear Seth’s father would have guards posted along the way, but they could chance stopping in some small towns once they passed the border.

Their first major stop was only a short ride past the border right before sunset. Kira originally planned to stop farther along, but Seth’s horse was past drained, and if they kept pushing him, Seth feared hurting the steed.

“Ow,” Kira cried, rubbing her wrist. She had been doing that often lately, touching her wrist, but this was the first time a cry of pain accompanied the act.

“What’s wrong?” Seth came over to see, grabbed her arm even as she shook her head at him.

Her birthmark was red and inflamed. “What happened?” If it was infected, they needed to turn back now and get to healers.

“Nothing is wrong. I’m not sure what’s happening. It’s been…uncomfortable lately, and I don’t know why.”

As he watched, the little mark on her skin got redder, and Kira gave an indrawn breath in response. “Kira, we need to go back—”

“What do we have here?’

Seth whipped his head around to look for the owner of the