His voice was so kind and gentle. Will Valten’s voice be as gentle as Gabe’s? She rested her head against Gabe’s chest again and breathed deliberately and slowly. Gradually the sick feeling in her stomach subsided. But she didn’t lift her head from his chest. It was too hard to try to hold herself steady against the horse’s jolting gait.
Gabe had said he was taking her to his home, to his family. As she rested against him, holding her hand over the wooden cross around her neck, a sense of joy and peace bloomed inside her. If they were able to escape the duchess’s guards, she would be free from Duchess Ermengard. She would see the sun and feel it on her skin, have the freedom she’d always lacked. Her dream was coming true. And Gabe was taking her to her betrothed. She would marry Gabe’s brother and then they would be family.
“I’ve never had a brother before.”
Gabe tightened his grip around her waist. He seemed so intent on getting them as far away from the castle as quickly as he could, she wasn’t sure if he’d even heard what she’d said. But then he pulled on the big horse’s reins and stopped.
“Sorry, but I have to let you down for a moment. Can you stand?”
She nodded.
He let Sophie slip off the saddle, then he dismounted and stepped toward a half-fallen-down wooden structure amongst the trees. Sophie watched curiously as he went inside then came back out with a large leather pouch and a crossbow he slung over his back by a strap around his shoulder.
Tall, with his head high and a grim, determined glint in his eye, he looked quite capable of keeping her safe.
He strapped the leather pouch tightly to the back of the saddle, next to a cloth bundle she hadn’t noticed earlier. “Where did you get that?”
“The cook handed it to me as I was leaving. I hope it’s full of food.” He helped Sophie back on to the horse, then hauled himself up to sit behind her once more.
Knowing Petra, the bundle was filled with food, the kind that would not spoil on a long journey. Petra always did like to show her love by feeding people.
They pressed onward once more. She was nestled against Gabe’s chest again — not an unpleasant place to be at all, she discovered. With his arm circling her waist, she felt safe.
“Gabe, does the duchess know you’re helping me? Will her guards be after us?”
“I hope she thinks I’m still in her dungeon, and that you’re dead. It could buy us some time, because as soon as she finds me gone, she’ll send her guards. And she may wonder if you’re still alive when she discovers Lorencz has disappeared.”
“Did he leave?”
“Yes. The way he took off, I don’t think he’ll be back.”
“Good. I never want to see him again.” Sophie suppressed a shudder as she pictured his face again just before he smashed her head against the tree. “How did you get out of the dungeon?”
“Lorencz. He let me out.”
“Oh.” Perhaps Lorencz was repentant. She hoped so. For his sake.
They’d been traveling since before midday, and the sun had already sunk behind a peak at his left shoulder. Gabe pushed Gingerbread to get as far away from Hohendorf as possible before nightfall. The duchess had probably discovered him missing by now. If so, her guards could easily catch up to them at any minute. Then again, they would probably have some trouble tracking them, since Gabe and Sophie hadn’t followed a trail, just headed in a general northerly direction. Every so often they encountered the small river that wound north and south through the mountains and forests. Whenever Gabe saw it, he knew he was going in the right direction.
Gabe was all too aware of the way Sophie felt in his arms. He kept reminding himself that she belonged to Valten, and he conjured up Brittola’s face often — as often as he started enjoying the trusting way Sophie leaned her head against his chest, the silkiness of her hair brushing his chin.
But she thought of him as a brother. And that’s just what he was, for she and Valten would be married as soon as he could get her back to Hagenheim.
It was a long way to Hagenheim, about seven days. His heart sank a bit as he thought about just how far it was. Petra had said the “Cottage of the Seven” was three days’ ride to the north. He wasn’t sure what this cottage was, but she had said it was a safe place. In three days, they would probably be in desperate need of food and a comfortable place to sleep. Sophie surely wasn’t used to sleeping outdoors, and he had precious few supplies with him. Although he doubted Sophie would complain. She had lived too hard a life to bemoan a few days of living off the land.
She was different from any other girl he had ever met.