The Alpha King's Bride novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: The Cart

I woke with a rag in my mouth and the floor of a cart shaking my teeth.

My wrists were tied behind my back, and my ankles were tied too.

The air under the canvas smelled of honey, wet rope and horse.

Gray light leaked through a gap in the cover, and I saw the road going away behind us.

We were already far from Harrowmere.

The last thing I remembered was being carried out of my own room over a man's shoulder.

Perrin had been lying across my doorway with his eyes shut.

He was breathing.

I held on to that, because it was the only good thing I had.

Outside, a horse came alongside the cart, and Judith's voice came through the canvas, warm as ever.

"Don't struggle, dear. You'll hurt the baby."

I screamed against the rag.

"I know, I know. It's frightening. But Mother is taking you somewhere safe." The horse's hooves clopped. "The Frostmark has a lovely house for you. Quiet, with a garden. You'll have nothing to do but rest, and a cup of tea at every sunrise."

I thrashed so hard that the cart lurched.

"The moon is sixteen nights away," she said. "By then the child will be a Rooke ward in the Northern Lord's keeping, and the King will have nothing to challenge with. A pity. He is not a bad man. Only a hasty one."

She rode off ahead.

I lay still and made myself think.

Aldric would know by now.

He would be tearing the Crown Hall apart, and it would take him a day to reach the northern road.

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