Nehelon shook his head. “I will ride with Gandrett until we make it to the forest where I left my horse.”
Armand raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
“Well, then.” He pushed away from the table and stood, wineglass in one hand and eyes on Joshua. “To a brighter future for Sives,” he toasted.
“To a brighter future,” Joshua replied and raised his own glass—filled with water—before he stood.
“Let’s get out of here.”
Chapter Forty-Seven
Lim whinnied as Nehelon entered the stables, the cheerful sound of an old friend’s greeting. Beside him, Gandrett was quiet. Too quiet for all the horrors she’d endured over the past days. Had he known… Had he even had an idea of what had been going on, he would have come earlier. He would have broken down doors and walls just to make sure Gandrett made it out alive.
Now pensive, as a shadow at his side, the Child of Vala was like a ghost of who he’d met in Everrun. Something had changed. And he wasn’t only thinking about her magic. For of that, he was certain, after Joshua’s and Armand’s detailed depictions of what she had done.
The lump of stone in Nehelon’s chest felt like a beating heart once more—beating and throbbing with every thump.
He rubbed Lim’s nose and promised him that they were going to see Alvi.
In the stall next to Lim, a second horse was saddled in the colors of the Denderlain guard, and by the doors lay two packs and waterskins.
Joshua led the horse out of the stall and to the back door as Armand had asked while Gandrett hesitated, waiting for Nehelon to make a move. Her shoulders had been hunched since she had hugged Armand goodbye before they had exited into the yard.
Too long had their arms remained around each other. Armand’s hands too tight on her waist, his words too close by her ear. Nehelon had heard them as he had heard hers. A promise that she’d come back for him.
He suppressed the urge to rip out the door to Lim’s stall with his bare hands, and opened it like a civilized human instead. Lim trotted to the door behind him, Gandrett following suit.
Outside, the west side of the building lay in shadows as Armand had promised, and while Joshua was already on his horse, Nehelon let Gandrett get onto Lim first. Then, with a murmured apology to the horse for having to carry both their weights, he grabbed Gandrett by her hips and shifted her behind the saddle, ignoring the sensation that allowing himself to grip her flesh like that instilled in him, before he climbed into the saddle in front of her, swinging his leg over Lim’s neck.
Gandrett grabbed his Denderlain-blue cloak Armand had given each of them by the shoulders as Nehelon nudged Lim’s flanks, and the horse set in motion. He was grateful she didn’t wrap her arms around his torso, for he wasn’t sure he could trust himself not to fall apart at her touch. He needed to remain focused on getting her out first. On getting all three of them out so Joshua could return to Ackwood palace and Gandrett’s mission would be fulfilled.
When they arrived at the side gate in the north, Armand was waiting as he’d promised. Unlike before, there were no guards by that entry, nor on the battlements above them.
“They’ll be back soon,” Armand answered Nehelon’s unspoken question. “You should hurry.”
Joshua inclined his head as he rode past his cousin in front of them. The future king of Sives nodding his farewell to the Lord of Eedwood, the hood of his Denderlain-blue cloak hiding his features.
“I’ll send word about developments,” Joshua promised.
“As will I.” Armand bowed, his elegance worthy of a prince itself.
Joshua hesitated before he led his horse out the gate. “Make sure Addie is all right,” he said, worry lacing his voice. “And tell her she won’t be forgotten.”
When it was Nehelon’s turn to ride through the gate, he stopped Lim and inclined his head at the young lord he had underestimated so dearly. His nobility, his bravery, his good heart. “Thank you, Lord Armand, for keeping Gandrett safe during her mission,” he said and was about to nudge Lim forward when Armand looked up, but not at Nehelon.
“Tell Addie I said thank you,” Gandrett said behind Nehelon’s shoulder.
“I will.” Armand smiled. ”Thank you for keeping me safe, Gandrett whatever your last name is.”
Behind him, Gandrett’s heart quickened and he could have sworn he heard a chuckle.
Before she could respond, Nehelon kicked his heels into Lim’s side, and the horse bolted out the gate, trailing Joshua along the path that followed a line of bushes and led into the forest in the distance—ten, fifteen minutes maximum if they kept up that speed.
She hadn’t thought it was possible, but she would miss Armand. For the first time in years, someone had opened up to her because he had chosen to, not because he was stuck with her in isolation in the desert. And he reminded her of her brother, the way he’d smiled when he was little. With half a thought, Gandrett wondered what Andrew would look like today. A young man of fifteen years, almost sixteen. If his blond hair was still curly, if his dimples were still there.
But not yet. They needed to make it to the forest first and back to Ackwood.
“Alvi is waiting a little bit south from where we enter the forest,” Nehelon said over his shoulder, his voice familiar and yet strange. “We’re going to go off the path the moment we’re in the shelter of the trees.”
Joshua was riding in front of them, glancing back only once or twice all the way to the forest, probably reassuring himself that they were still there, and the terrain was becoming more uneven, Lim’s steps less steady.
As the welcome shade of the first trees swallowed the view of the castle, Gandrett glanced back one last time. No one was following them. They had made it.
She didn’t dare hold on to Nehelon more tightly than clutching his cloak until they stopped in a hidden clearing where Alvi was grazing lazily in the morning sun. As Lim spotted her, he made a joyous leap to the side, forcing Gandrett to grab Nehelon’s biceps in order to keep herself from falling.
He didn’t comment but swung his leg over Lim’s neck again. The horse stopped as if he knew what Nehelon wanted to do, and he slid off the horse’s side, out of Gandrett’s grasp.
She didn’t dare frown at him with Joshua watching them from where he was waiting a bit further into the clearing. But when Nehelon offered his hand to help her down, Gandrett swallowed her pride and placed her fingers in his, allowing him to catch her as she followed his lead and flipped her leg over the saddle, sliding down Lim’s flank.
Nehelon’s free hand caught her by the waist and lingered for a long moment as he let her glide to her feet, his eyes deep and open. “I wouldn’t mind sharing a horse with you all the way to Ackwood, Gandrett,” he said with a hint of a smile, “but I am almost certain Lim wouldn’t mind sharing his burden with Alvi.”
Lim threw back his head as if demonstrating his agreement.
So Gandrett took Lim to the black mare who was fidgeting with anticipation.
Nehelon followed his steps, almost soundless on the forest ground. In the shade by the trees, Joshua had sat down on a fallen tree trunk and was sipping from his waterskin while Nehelon greeted his horse and rearranged one of the packs to her saddle. Gandrett joined Joshua, silent beside the future king of Sives.