35. Chapter 35

thirty-five

K allessa jerked awake, her heart hammering against her ribs. Unfamiliar shadows loomed in the darkness, and for a moment, panic seized her. Then reality crashed back—the inn, the drunken soldiers, Carly’s kindness. Dawn’s fingers were just beginning to stretch across the sky.

The door creaked open. Carly’s tall silhouette slipped inside, a bag slung over her shoulder. She perched on the edge of the bed, her weight dipping the mattress.

“Thank you,” Kallessa croaked, wincing as the words scraped her raw throat. Every muscle in her body screamed with exhaustion.

“Everyone is asleep downstairs, but I don’t think it’s safe for you to remain here,” Carly whispered urgently. “Dawn is less than an hour away. If you leave now, you can get ahead of them.”

Kallessa’s head throbbed, a dull pounding behind her eyes. “Ahead of who?”

In the near darkness, Kallessa couldn’t see Carly’s expression, but the grave tone of her voice sent a shiver of trepidation down her spine.

“Soldiers are looking for someone who fits your description. I don’t want to know why. I just want you to leave before there’s any trouble. ”

Soldiers? It must be a mistake. “But, I didn’t do anything. I’m just trying to get home.” A thought struck her. “Has a young blond lady in a Wynlar coach stopped here?”

“Not that I know of.” Carly stood up, leaving the bag behind. “There’s food inside. I have to start breakfast. Don’t be here when I return.”

The door closed behind Carly with a thud. Why were soldiers searching for her? Where was Dovina? What if she hadn’t returned home? Kallessa shook her head. No, that was silly. Of course she did. She probably just stayed at another inn. They would laugh about this in a few weeks. Or years.

Kallessa forced her aching body into motion. She left one of her remaining copper coins for Carly, laced her boots, and gathered her things. The hallway floorboards creaked ominously as she crept down the stairs. Snores and the stench of stale beer assaulted her senses.

Outside, the crisp air felt wonderful on her feverish skin. Pearly silver kissed the eastern horizon, and only a few clouds drifted across the sky. Oh, thank goodness, the rain had stopped! She was only hours from home, and for the first time on her trip, she felt relief in sight.

She saddled Sunu with the help of a sleepy stable boy and rode out to the sounds of rustling leaves and a lone wood thrush singing from somewhere above her.

After leaving the sight of the inn, she looked through the bag Carly had given her. A jug of cider sat beside two wedges of cheese, a pear, and two biscuits. It would do. She wasn’t even hungry. Only her throat felt like it had been scraped with a whetstone. She drank some of the cider, and it soothed her throat, but did little for the throbbing behind her temples. She just wanted to get home and honestly sleep for a week.

She let Sunu take her time as the sky grew lighter and color came back into the landscape. They couldn’t be more than six or seven hours from Teansong. She drowsed in the saddle as the sun began to twinkle through the trees, listening to the rest of nature awaken.

By mid afternoon, the familiar landmarks of Teansong appeared. She was so close to home, yet her last night with Nevander kept intruding on her thoughts. That kiss in the greenhouse haunted her, his strong hands on her waist, the intoxicating warmth of his lips. It had felt so real, so perfect.

The lyrics he’d whispered to her floated through her mind.

There were two lovers

Gone to sea

The Ederon sea

Shall separate thee

There were two lovers

Who sank to the bottom

Of the bottomless

Ederon sea

What if she had sailed off with Nevander, two lovers bound by their love of the sea? But fairy tales weren’t meant for girls like her. Tynan had used her, and now a prince had played her for a fool.

The small thatched cottage by the sea—her refuge for five long years—came into view. The crash of waves and cries of gulls that filled the air were usually a comfort to her. Today, it only intensified her loneliness.

Tears blurred Kallessa’s vision as she approached the cottage.

Home at last. But she’d had never felt so lost.