Chapter 35

Flora

My plan does not work.

I’ve been recaptured.

Someone roughly lifts the sack from my head and I can finally see. But not much.

The stench of onions is overpowering, but it’s nothing compared to the sickening hopelessness that is beginning to consume me.

I prefer the musty cloth sack that someone put over my head after they recaptured me in the woods.

Still, at least I was able to belt out one good scream.

There’s a slight chance someone heard me.

There’s an even smaller chance someone like Callum or Sigurd heard me. And if they did, they’ll be able to find me for sure.

But that’s a very big If.

Dammit, I had actually escaped. Rappelled down the side of the monastery, and I was about a kilometer away. I thought I was free.

But then I felt the vibration of footsteps behind me. Horses. More than one. A nauseating feeling followed of being tackled to the ground, the bag cinched over my head, my body being dragged upward and manhandled by an unknown person’s iron grip. Thundering horse hooves carried us back to the hideout.

And now I sit in a windowless room with a bucket and the two delusional idiots at the door. And me in nothing but half a dress, a string of pearls, a corset, a little hope, and my wits.

And the last two are hanging by a thread.

Do I wish I was in my room at home in the palace, with a comfortable bed and a proper bathroom? Of course.

But I wish more than anything in the world that Callum was here.

If given a choice I would rather be here in this hellhole with Callum than the finest room on the planet without him.

I realize now that what I’ve done is a horrible thing. All these many years, I’ve been in love with Callum Black and never told him. He told me he loved me dozens of times, but I never said it back. What I wouldn’t give to be able to say it to him now.

I wish I hadn’t waited so long. I wish I hadn’t waited so long for a lot of things. I wish I had given him what he needed sooner. He deserved more of me when his father died. I needed more of him when mine suddenly passed away.

I wish we had been able to walk in the light together for everyone to see; neither of us caring, only focused on us.