“Oh, no!” Sophie got a grave look on her face. She turned and stared at him in a way that forced him to stare back into her blue, blue eyes. “I don’t hate the duchess. I feel sad for her. She is a very miserable person. You mustn’t hate her, either. You mustn’t hate anyone. God says we must love our enemies. The priest said so.”
“Can you honestly say you don’t hate the duchess, after all she’s done to you?”
“I don’t. I won’t let myself. I mustn’t.” She pursed her lips into a grim line.
His heart ached for her. She was so strong and brave, all alone in the world with no one to protect her. No one but God, apparently.
He couldn’t imagine anyone God would want to protect more.
“Promise me,” she said. “Promise you won’t hate the duchess. Tell God you forgive her.”
Gabe took a deep breath and looked into her eyes again. Was she so concerned about his soul? “I promise.” He closed his eyes. Gingerbread was going along an easy trail. “God, I forgive her for all her cruelty, but I know you will make it right in the end. ‘“Vengeance is mine,” says the Lord,’ ” he quoted.
Sophie frowned. “That doesn’t sound so forgiving.”
“That’s the best I can do, I’m afraid.” He saw she was still worried, so he smiled and said, “Don’t worry, Sophie. It’s human nature to be angry at someone who’s been as cruel to you as the duchess has. You should forgive her, but you should forgive yourself too, if you feel angry and unforgiving sometimes. God understands. He’ll help you.”
She stared down at the ground. When she looked up, her expression was such a mixture of doubt and hope. “What makes you think so?”
“The Bible says, ‘There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.’ ”
“Oh. I guess I never had that part. What else does it say?”
He chuckled. “A lot of things. It says if we confess our sins, God will forgive us.”
She got quiet again. They headed up a steeper part of the path, and he leaned forward. Sophie leaned too, and held on to the pommel of the saddle to keep herself steady. Her head was pressed against his chest and her silky hair brushed his chin. He couldn’t help his arms brushing hers as he held the reins and guided the horse up the rocky trail.
Gabe was flirting with disaster. At least that’s what his father had once told him about spending time with a woman he knew he couldn’t marry. His father had also said that Gabe should never, even under the most innocent circumstances, spend the night with a woman. He’d broken that rule last night.
And now Gabe understood why his father had warned him. He felt himself on the verge of thoughts and feelings that should never be, of being as irresponsible as everyone believed him to be.
Should Gabe have waited and let Valten come to find Sophie when his leg was healed? If Valten and his father and several knights had come, they could have rescued not only Sophie, but Petra and Roslind as well. Had it been against God’s will for Gabe to come? Was Gabe creating a problem for Sophie? Everyone would hear about them being alone together. Would it cause Sophie’s reputation to be disparaged? Reproach that could have been avoided if he’d listened to his father?
Gabe thought back to the day he decided to come search for Sophie himself. He’d felt such an urgency, a lack of peace whenever he thought about waiting, but in truth, he hadn’t worried about whether he was doing the right thing when he left. He hadn’t sought God’s will like he should have. And some of his motives weren’t exactly pure.
In his defense, though, the old woman, Pinnosa, had said it was urgent, that Sophie was in great danger. And now he knew it was true. In fact, the duchess had ordered Lorencz to kill her. If Gabe had waited and let Valten come to rescue her, she might be dead now.
But perhaps the duchess had decided to kill her because of him, because she discovered he was the son of Duke Wilhelm and realized the duke would be coming for her himself.
That thought made him sick. His haste and irresponsibility had put Sophie in danger.
What if it hadn’t been God’s will for him to come? What if it had been Gabe’s impatience, his not caring if it was right, his simply wanting to go off on his own quest to prove himself?
God, forgive me for wanting to be the one to rescue her. But if Valten made one single disparaging remark about Sophie … God, I’m sorry. Please don’t let Sophie get hurt.
As they came down the other side of the mountain, Sophie caught her breath at the sight before her, at the treeless, wide-open space, an entire mountainside covered in wildflowers. She had never seen anything like it. The only flowers she’d ever seen in her life were small forest flowers, mostly tiny white ones. She’d never seen anything like these red-orange blossoms that carpeted the ground in front of her.
Just then, the sun came out from behind a cloud and shone on the beautiful, grassy, flower-covered meadow, lighting the red blossoms and setting them afire.
Sophie tilted her head up to catch the rays on her face. Her eyes closed, she realized she was revisiting her dream. Maybe she was dreaming.