Lion's Bride - Iris Johansen [46]
His gaze never left the boulders. “Get the trees.”
“You said there was no one here.”
“Dammit, there wasn’t anyone.”
“Is it the same people who set fire to the village?”
“No.”
She impulsively reached out and put her hand on his arm. “Then why are you—”
“Don’t touch me!” He jerked away as if she had burned him. His eyes blazed down at her. “There’s no one there. Go get those trees. Hurry.”
She backed away from him, then turned and walked quickly down the hill with Abdul following. Before she reached the grove, five more soldiers joined Abdul. A half-dozen armored men to uproot a few trees? She glanced up the hill.
Ware had moved away from his horse and was standing facing the boulders. Defiance. Boldness. Challenge. He had given her an armed escort, yet he was standing in full view, as if taunting whoever was on that hillside.
Or diverting?
“My lord said to hurry,” Abdul reminded her.
She hesitated. Her instinct was to return to Ware, yet if there was danger of attack, wouldn’t he have ordered the men back to the castle? Perhaps it was her imagination. Perhaps there was no one on that hillside and Ware’s change of attitude was just moodiness. The argument didn’t convince her, but if she went to him without the trees, he would only send her to the grove again. The quickest way to resolve the situation was to get the mulberries and ride away from here as soon as possible.
“Then we will hurry,” she answered. “Follow me.”
Vaden watched the fourth tree being loaded into the wagon.
It was the woman who guided the disposition of the trees. It had been the woman who had forced Ware’s soldiers to climb like monkeys. It has been the woman who had laughed with Ware and reached out and touched him. It did not matter that Ware had flinched away. He had become aware of Vaden by that time, and the motion had been as revealing as what had gone before.
Ware was still standing looking up at him, protecting the woman by offering himself as target. It was a brave move, but Vaden could not make the kill today. If he missed, Ware’s soldiers would swarm over the hillside, and Vaden had no desire to die.
Ware mounted his horse, reached down, and lifted the woman. His mailed arm encircled her, covering her chest and part of her belly. He was trying to armor the woman.
But Vaden still had her eyes as target.
Ware was shifting her sidewise on the saddle, burying her face against his chest.
Clever Ware. He had always been brilliant in protecting his flank. The strategy with the woman had been unnecessary. If he couldn’t kill Ware today, he wouldn’t kill anyone else. Besides, he thought with disgust, he wasn’t the Grand Master, who murdered innocents without warning.
But she would have to die. He had no choice.
Ware had allowed her to come too close.
“I CAN’T BREATHE.” Thea struggled to lift her head from Ware’s chest. “You’re smothering me.”
“Be quiet.”
“When you stop smashing my nose into your armor.”
Ware’s arms tightened around her, quelling all movement. “Soon.”
She was only hurting herself. She gave up struggling and lay still.
They were several miles from the grove when Ware let her sit up. She drew a deep breath and smoothed the bodice of her gown. “I wonder you didn’t make me ride all the way back to Dundragon in that position. It was most uncomfortable.”
He didn’t answer.
She tried to turn around and look over her shoulder.
“Be still.”
His tone was impatient, but there was no tension. The danger was gone. “Who was it?”
“I didn’t say anyone was there.”
“But there was.”
“If my men had been in danger, I would have told them. I wouldn’t have risked another Jedha.”
She knew he was speaking the truth. She had seen the guilt that tormented him after the massacre. Yet there had been danger today.
“There was someone on the hillside.”
“Did you see him?”
Him. Singular, not plural. How could one man have caused such a disturbance in Ware? “No.”
“Neither did I.”
Then he had heard him or sensed him. He had known. She started to argue, but she could see he was closed to her. He had made up his mind and