CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
RAFE
It was twilight when I returned. I hadn’t eaten all day, and my head was pounding. I led my horse to the barn and unsaddled him, feeling the burn of wind and sun on my skin from a long day of riding. I was tired, still trying to sort the timing of everything out. How would we pull this off? I raked my fingers through my hair. I hadn’t planned my trip well, but after the late night with Lia, I’d had little sleep.
“We need to talk.”
I looked over my shoulder. I was so preoccupied I hadn’t heard her come in. I heaved my saddle onto the rack and faced her. “Lia—”
“Where did you go?” Her shoulders were stiff, and her tone curt.
I took a hesitant step toward her. “I had some business to take care of. Is that a problem?”
“An out-of-work farmhand with business?”
What was wrong with her? “I told you my lack of work was temporary. Supplies needed to be ordered.” I threw the horse blanket still in my hands over the stall wall and closed the space between us. I looked into her eyes, wanting to kiss every black lash, wondering how this had happened to me. She reached up and pulled my face down to hers, pressed her lips hard against mine, then slid her hands down my neck to my chest, and her fingers dug into my skin. It wasn’t desire I heard in her breaths, but desperation. I pulled back. I stared at her and touched my lip where her rough kiss had nicked my flesh.
“Something’s wrong,” I said.
“I’m leaving, Rafe. Tomorrow.”
I stared at her, not quite understanding what she was saying. “What do you mean, leaving?”
She walked over to a bale of hay in an empty stall and sat, looking up at the rafters. “I have to return home,” she said. “I have an obligation I need to meet.”
Home? Now? My mind raced. “What kind of obligation?”
“The permanent kind. I won’t be back.”
“Ever?”
She stared at me, her expression blank. “Ever,” she finally said. “I haven’t told you everything about my family, Rafe. I’ve been manipulated and lied to my entire life. I’m not going back because I want to, but one fact remains—I’ve caused them and others a lot of pain through my disloyalties. If I don’t go back, I may cause far more. I need to return to live up to my duty.”
Her voice was rigid and unfeeling. I rubbed my chin. She looked so different. A different Lia than I had ever seen. Manipulated and lied to. I glanced away, my eyes darting back and forth, unable to focus. I tried to sort through what she had said and refigure my own thwarted plans at the same time. I looked back at her. “And your family will give you this chance?”
“I don’t know. But I have to try.”
Tomorrow. I’d thought I had more time. It was too soon. The plans—
“Rafe?”
“Wait,” I said. “Let me think. I have to figure this out.”
“There’s nothing to figure out.”
“Does it have to be tomorrow? Can’t it wait a few more days?”
“No. It can’t wait.”
She sat stone still. What had happened while I was gone? But it was obvious her decision was made and final.
“I understand about duty, Lia,” I said, trying to buy time and think this through. “Duty is important.” And loyalty. I swallowed, my throat dry with road dust. “When will you leave tomorrow?” I asked.
“In the morning. Early.”
I nodded, even as my mind reeled. That gave me very little time. But one thing I knew with certainty, I couldn’t let her go back to Civica.