Chapter 9: Odile Rides In

The gate bell rang in the middle of the night.

Marit woke before Torren did, and she was halfway down the east stair in a borrowed shift when she heard the guards shouting.

"Open! In the name of the queen!"

She knew that voice.

She took the last six steps in one leap and hit the courtyard barefoot on frozen stone.

A small figure in a torn gray cloak was sagging against the shoulder of a Lowmarch soldier, muddy to the knees.

"Odile!"

Her sister lifted her head.

Her round face was scratched, and her curls were full of straw.

She burst into tears and ran.

They collided in the middle of the yard and held on to each other so hard that Marit's ribs ached.

"I got out," Odile sobbed.

"The captain with the dagger couldn't do it. He left the cart door unlocked."

"He rode with me all night."

"You're safe."

"I rode so fast. I thought I'd fall off the horse."

"You're safe now."

The soldier stood back, hat in his hands, not meeting any eye.

Torren had come down behind her in his shirt and trousers, with a drawn sword he now lowered.

"Take them both in," he told his guards. "Feed the soldier. Nobody touches him."

In the warm kitchen, Hild wrapped Odile in a blanket and put a bowl of hot barley soup in her hands.

Odile ate.

Marit sat next to her, one arm around her shoulders, unable to stop touching her hair.

"Did he hurt you?"

"No. Casimir wanted me unmarked for the temple." Odile shuddered. "Marit, I have to tell you what I heard."

"Slowly."

"Father kept me in a tent behind the pavilion. They talked over my head like I was furniture."

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