He Ignored My Pain, So I Left Him in Regret novel · Chapter 14 of 32

Chapter 14: Terms

Maud said nothing more that night, and neither did Clara.

The old woman took the girl by the elbow and walked her into the wagon, and the blue curtain fell shut behind them.

Rafe stood on the grass with his crutches and his grey face.

"She wouldn't," he said to me.

"No."

"You knew she wouldn't."

"I hoped," I said. "It isn't the same thing."

He nodded and turned toward the healer's wagon, and the broad captain went with him, close enough to catch him if he fell.

The red-bearded one stayed with me a little longer.

"The elders sit again at dawn the day after tomorrow," he said. "I heard two of them say they'll hold you here until you sign."

"Hold me?"

"They'll call it keeping you safe."

"Thank you, captain."

He went red above the beard and walked away, and I found I trusted him more than I wanted to.

Joss was waiting at the lean-to with his mare saddled.

"The keeper gave me Greyhaven's letter back this afternoon, sealed," he said. "I need to take our answer up to Greyhaven's rider at the pass toll house before the road shuts for snow."

"How far?"

"A day up, a day back, if the weather holds."

"And you're telling me this because?"

"Because two elders mean to keep you in a tent, and I'd sooner you were on the road with me than in it." He looked at the stream. "It's your choice. You can say no and I'll go alone."

I was already folding my blanket.

"Nessa can mind the ledgers," I said. "I'm not leaving them with anyone else."

Nessa, who had been pretending to be asleep, said into her pillow, "I'll defend them with a ladle."

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