Hadley’s face relaxed, and she motioned to where the saddle and bags lay beside the remaining horse. Kade followed her gaze and was relieved to see she had enough presence of mind to keep the larger of the horses. And by removing the saddlebags, she’d ensured they still had enough food. “You did good. You thought on your feet. Not once but twice. Not bad for a newbie.”
Her lips curved into a smile that drew the breath from his lungs for an entirely different reason.
He dropped his gaze and ran a hand over his neck, his ribs searing in agony. “We should get moving.”
Her smile disappeared as she hastened to the horse, picking up what she’d removed, and stuffing everything back into the saddlebags. Kade watched her for a moment, keeping his thoughts to himself as she secured the supplies.
With an inelegant mount, that sent shock waves of pain resounding through his body, he settled in the saddle, before Hadley scrambled up behind him. Her voice soft in his ear as she slid her hands around his waist. “Let me know if you need my bindings.”
Kade’s body tensed as he considered what she meant. What that meant for her. “I’m fine.”
Hadley breathed out a long sigh before he tugged on the reins and led the horse back towards the pathway. Pain searing through him, he focused on the road ahead, calculating how far they had to go. It would be painful, slow and if they ran into anyone, he’d be at a disadvantage.
There was no way he could protect himself or Hadley. He’d just proven that. His lips twitched as Hadley yawned behind him and laid her head against his back.
Kade carried on at a slow but steady pace, trying not to jostle his ribs as he thought about getting across the river. Getting back to Meg.
Nothing was going to plan. From the moment they’d set out, they’d been at the receiving end of bad luck, after bad luck. But would things really have gone easier if Hadley hadn’t been here?
He worked his jaw as he considered just how much help she had been to him. She’d managed to get into the princess’s room. And she’d thought on her feet with the wolves, would another recruit have done so well?
Kade frowned down at the horse’s neck as he thought of all that had transpired. Hadley wasn’t proving to be the hindrance he’d thought she’d be. She wasn’t asking for special treatment, he was the one with the problem. He was the one who was treating her differently. Were all his problems with her solely because of his insistence she needed special treatment?
Kade’s frown quickly morphed into a scowl as they plodded along the trail. Dust pluming around them as they travelled the terracotta earth. His thoughts speeding to the moment he’d set foot on Azetarian soil. Soil so lush, and green, vibrant colour after a week of endless dust.
Meg and Carl would be close to the Retreat by now. Waiting for him, waiting for him to bring the princess who didn’t want to be found.
Would the king send more Stormers in to retrieve her? What if Carl was sent next? His stomach tightened at the thought. As soon as he located Cester and told him of his failure, there would be consequences.
Kade swivelled slightly to ask Hadley a question he should have thought to ask before now. “When is the princess getting married anyway?”
Hadley’s voice was muffled as she answered, her cheek still pressed firmly against his back. The slightest of shivers ran down his spine as she spoke. “Tonight.”
Kade took too deep a breath and was rewarded by sharp pain surging through him. “Good,” he managed.
Hadley yawned again, her fingers lacing together where his belt buckle met. “We can’t look for Thomas then?”
Her words pierced through his pain and exhaustion. “I can’t do anything right now. It’s taking everything I have to stay on this horse. I need to go home. I need to figure this out.”
Hadley stiffened behind him, and her voice was no longer carrying hints of sleep. “Figure what out?”
He shook his head. “I need to make sure Meg is safe. Cester lied to me. I don’t know if I can trust him anymore.”
Hadley’s grip tightened around his waist. “But what about Thomas?”
His patience gone, and his pain increasing as he struggled to breathe, Kade half growled his response. “I can’t help you.”
Hadley’s voice was shaky as she replied. “Oh.”
Hadley sniffed behind him, and a pang of guilt censored his words. “I can’t do anything right now. Not for you, not for him, not for anyone.”
They carried on in silence, his energy zapping away with every kilometre they came closer to home.
Ripped into fragments by anger, by hurt, by pain and by his foolish promise to help a girl he hardly knew, Kade slunk in his saddle and fixed his eyes on the horizon.
He kept the horse going until the pathways started sprouting the trees signalling they were on the home stretch. One and a half more day’s travel and they might just make it back alive.
Hadley pushed down the sob and locked it away. Nothing good would come from crying. No matter how she felt. No matter how hopeless everything looked. Kade wasn’t to blame.
Now that the dawn was breaking through the grey, and they’d stopped once again by the watering hole; she could see just how badly hurt he really was.
If his ribs weren’t causing him a great deal of pain, the numerous cuts on his filthy face would be. His face was covered in bruising, his lip swollen, and his gait was lacking the swagger he normally carried.
His face tensed in pain as he tried to bend to fill the water skins. “Can you do this?”
Hadley took the skin and was quick to fill it, her eyes flicking back to check he was still upright. He sagged against the horse as he waited for her. His shoulders downcast, his expression grim as she handed him the skin to drink.
His eyes locked on hers and his voice was weak as he spoke. “Not long now, we’ll be home soon.”
Hadley nodded and moved before her tears gave her away. She stared at the water, desolation crippling her as a large duck gracefully stirred the surface. How could she go home with him? She had no home to go to.
Her bottom lip quivered, and panic smothered any hope she once had of finding Thomas and returning to her cottage.
Kade had his own family to look after. She shouldn’t blame him for no longer wanting to help her. And he had asked questions, maybe Thomas wasn’t here? Maybe he was still inside Azetaria?
Her chin quivered as she remembered the last time she’d seen Thomas. The morning had been much like this. Dawn had pinked the sky as she’d made her way out of the lane. As had become her daily ritual, she’d gone scrounging, searching behind the shops still operating, for any day-old bread, rotting vegetables or looking for any late-blooming fruit trees.
She’d arrived home with nothing. To nothing. To no one scolding her for being too long. The door carelessly left open, wind blowing the cold air through the stripped cottage.
Hadley dug her nails into her palms, trying to locate the inner hardness she’d relied on to keep going. Kade’s voice jarring her into pulling the barriers back into place once more. “We should get going. I need to get back to check on Meg.”
His words caused her temper to spike. She had nothing left. Her only chance remained in finding her brother, so she could make sure the cottage stayed in their family. “Meg is with Carl! You have more family than I do.”
Kade’s eyes narrowed a fraction before he turned on his heel. “It’s not a competition.”
Hadley met his uneven gait and whirled around so she was blocking his path. “No, maybe not, but she does at least have someone looking after her, Thomas doesn’t.”
I don’t.
Kade’s lips pressed together before a muttered curse escaped. “What do you expect me to do? It’s pointless anyway!”
Hadley sucked in a breath, the words out of her mouth before she could stop them. “Because you think he’s already dead?”
Kade backed up a step, his hand on his ribs as he winced. “I don’t know. But you need to face the po
ssibility. You’re being ridiculous.”
Desperation clawed at her. She needed to make him understand. Make him see she had nothing left apart from her brother. The cottage didn’t matter. But she needed to have someone to cling to. Someone who tethered her to the past.
But the words locked in her throat and she found herself staring at his battered face searching for what would possibly convince him to stay.
“Now, get on the horse, or…damn it,” his features twisted in pain. His face was pale as he gritted his teeth. “Get on the horse; we still have a lot of ground to cover.”
He swayed slightly, listing heavily to one side. Hadley’s alarm grew as she tried to hold him upright. If not for her support she was sure he would hit the ground. “You need to rest.”
Kade eyed her, an incredulous expression on his face. “And I will. Soon as we get out of this hell hole.”
Hadley cocked her head at him, straining with the effort to hold him. “Let’s get going then.”
He stared at her, his eyes searching her face. “This isn’t going to be pretty, there is a chance I’ll pass out again, if I do, just pour some water over me, got it?”
Hadley curled her lip. “Just get up.”
He pulled a face at her, then turned and lifted his arms, a strangled sound escaping as he pulled himself up. He swayed in the saddle before giving her a pained look.
Hadley scrambled up, ignoring his outstretched hand, and settled herself in against his back, breathing a sigh of relief as they departed once more.
The day grew warmer, and her back was soon damp under her shirt. Her bare legs were already burnt from the unaccustomed exposure. Kade, on the other hand, seemed to be growing more bronzed as each day passed. His tattoo still mostly covered on his forearm by the green paint.
With the motion of the horse soothing and the heat beating down on her, Hadley struggled to keep her eyes open. Every so often she’d think of taking a drink, remembering to take small sips, passing the water skin to a sweat-drenched Kade.
By the time Kade’s shack came into view again, her lips were cracked, and her skin raw. She’d long come to accept she probably smelt just as bad as Kade did.
His insistence she bathe before they left, a reminder of how right he’d been. Her thoughts began to wander to the tavern and the bath. And the dress. Her tongue swollen in her mouth, her words thick as she croaked. “Are we stopping here then?”
Kade barely raised his voice as he replied. “I’m not getting off this horse, and there isn’t much left inside that’s useful anyway.”
Hadley shook her head before remembering he couldn’t see. “What about the horse?”
She cast a look down at the slathering, dust-covered animal. Kade didn’t reply for a moment. “I can’t walk to the river, we take him as far as we can then set him loose.”
Hadley kept her eyes on the dusty dirt and watched the ground pass underneath him. “How are we going to cross the river? The current flows in the wrong direction doesn’t it?”
Kade’s reply was clipped. “Leave it to me.”
With a frown, Hadley leaned against his back and breathed in another lungful of hot dry air. Her eyes were closing again when Kade’s body went rigid. Her eyes popped open, and she peered around him to see what was wrong.
Numachi warriors on horseback were watching them. Her breath seized in her chest as they edged in closer. Even if Kade hadn’t been injured, there was no way he could do anything.
Kade growled as one approached, and Hadley found her fingers edging closer to his. She barely acknowledged his touch when he grasped her hand and wrapped his fingers around hers.
The warrior barked something to the men alongside him before pulling his horse out to level with their horse. Hadley found herself unable to look away. He was handsome, strong, and his bearing regal.
Hadley’s stomach flipped as the warrior’s gaze fell to her, the slightest twitch of his lips as she tore her gaze away.
“Nomahi Wray,” Kade muttered.
Hadley pressed her body in closer to Kade, his heart beating as rapidly as hers as the warrior looked him up and down, a bemused expression on his face.
Hadley’s eyes widened, as he leaned closer in his saddle, keeping his voice low. “Are you the Senior Stormer?”
She sucked in a breath as Kade recovered enough to answer. “And you are?”
The warrior leaned back, and a slight smile crossed his face. “Do you hold all your slave boy’s hands like that?”
Kade’s laugh was forced as he pulled his hand away from hers. “Prince Rahid is it?”
The prince beamed at Kade. “You should be thanking the Ancient it was me who found you. Were it not for Him and for my alliance to one of your own, you’d be dead by now.”
Kade remained silent, and Hadley wished she could see what he was doing. His heart was still slamming in his chest, but his voice gave little away. “I’ll be sure to tell her father she’s found a home here.”
The prince nodded thoughtfully before his expression changed. “I’ve come to make you a bargain. My wife and I seek to make a treaty with Azetaria. I want you to deliver a message for me.”
Kade nodded. “Of course. If it prevents war.”
The prince looked pensive for a moment. “Tell the king this is his final warning. I have been more than forgiving allowing his people onto my land because I am a peaceful man, and do not wish to continue on in my father’s ways. I offer my bride’s father a choice to align with me.”
“You have something in writing?”
The prince shook his head. “My word is my bond. And your testimony will bear witness to my generosity. Perhaps if I had not learned of the Ancient things would be different.”
Kade nodded again. “My captain talks of the same god.”
The prince raised an eyebrow, an amused expression on his chestnut skin. “Yet he works for the king? The same king who allows his people to starve. The same king who wishes war and not peace? What kind of a king is this man you serve?”
Kade didn’t bother to hide his distaste as he replied. “I hold no love for the king, and I work for my captain, nothing more.”
The prince looked Kade over. “Yet this captain has a hold over you does he not? But still, you chose not to attempt to recover? Is that the word you Stormers use?”
“Retrieve. I chose not to retrieve the princess for the reasons you gave. The truth was withheld from me.”
The prince seemed perplexed for a moment. He ran his hand over his smooth chin and moved his gaze to rest on Hadley. She held her breath as he spoke to her. “What are you doing here boy?”
Hadley exhaled loudly, and Kade started to protest. The prince merely held his hand up. “Answer the question. Why are you here?”
Hadley swallowed and choked out the words. “I came to find my brother.”
The prince stared at her before he narrowed his eyes at Kade. “You came for more than just the king’s bidding then?”
Kade shifted slightly, his voice tense. “I’ll pass on the message, you said you’ll spare us?”
The prince turned and shouted in a language she couldn’t understand. Two of the men nodded and moved their horses out of formation. “Go with them, they’ll help you get on the raft you made.”
Hadley’s confusion grew as the prince extended a hand, and Kade’s met it. “Remember this, Stormer. We are not all the monsters you’ve been led to believe we are. Take that back to your captain, tell him from one follower of the Ancient to another, that there can be no more retrieval. Too many lives have been lost on both sides. For my new wife’s sake, I promised I’d locate you to remind you of what’s at stake. I give you the gift of your lives today, I’ll not do it again. If you so much as step foot across the river I will kill you myself.”
Kade’s shoulders were locked back, his voice carrying the slightest hint of a tremor as he spoke. “I give you my word, I’ll deliver the message, and I have no plans to return here.”
The
prince gave him a slow nod. Panic rose in Hadley’s stomach as Kade’s words sunk in.
Cold chills spread down her back as the prince reached for the reins once again. I have to do something. “Wait!”
The prince raised an eyebrow, and Hadley gulped under the scrutiny. “Yes?”
Tremors wracked her body as she found the courage to speak. “My brother, please, I need to find him.”
The prince flicked his gaze to Kade and narrowed his eyes. “Why does your boy think he is here?”
Hadley found herself answering before Kade could speak. “Maybe your people took him?”
Kade groaned slightly. “Not the time.”
The prince worked his jaw, his eyes on Kade as he spoke. “Is this what you have been told? That my people take your men?”
Kade only shrugged mildly.
The prince spat out a word, leaving no doubt of his anger. He stared at her, his eyes softening a little as she blinked back tears. “Lies. More lies. Numachi do not cross the river, if anyone is stealing your men, look to your own king.”
He spat on the ground, bringing to mind the other warriors Kade had felled. Hadley’s voice was just above a whisper as she risked another question. “Why would the king take men?”
The prince shook his head. “I have stayed too long. My wife will be growing anxious. Stormer do not return here, I spared you because you will serve a purpose.”
Kade nodded slowly. “I won’t forget this.”
The prince nodded slowly, his gaze burning into Hadley as she hugged her body closer to Kade’s.
“You are brave to do this for your brother. I pray the Ancient helps you find him.”
The prince pulled his horse away, and the rest of the company of warriors surrounded him as they broke into a gallop, sending clouds of dust billowing into the air as they rode off.
The two remaining eyed them warily, but Kade’s shoulders relaxed a notch as he kicked his heels in. The warriors split apart and flanked them as they began the final trek towards the river.
Hadley’s mind whirled with what the prince had said. “Do you think he’s telling the truth?” she whispered.
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