“What…? No…she couldn’t help me. She said that I had to do it on my own. I was terrified for you. I didn’t know what to do. Then, I remembered what you told me about bluffing.”
Jennsen frowned with a curious squint. “What do you mean about her seeing the…”
But then her words, her very thought, trailed off as he gazed into her eyes and smiled that wonderful smile of his.
“I’ve never seen anyone pull off anything like that.”
It felt unexpectedly wonderful knowing that she had surprised him—pleased him.
His arms felt so good, so powerful. Pressed back into the shadows, he was holding her close. She could feel his warm breath on her cheek.
“Sebastian…I was so afraid. I was so afraid I’d never see you again. I was so afraid for you.”
“I know.”
“Were you afraid, too?”
He nodded. “I could only think about how I’d never see you again.”
His face was so close she could feel the warmth radiating from his skin. She could feel the entire length of his body, his legs, his torso, pressed against her as his lips gently brushed hers. Her heart pounded at a furious pace.
But then he pulled back, as if having second thoughts. She was thankful for his arms because, realizing that he had almost kissed her, she wasn’t sure her legs would hold her up, just then. What a heady notion a kiss stolen in the shadows like this would have been. Almost a kiss.
Feet shuffled past nearby, but the people seemed miles away. Jennsen felt completely alone with Sebastian, weak in his arms. Safe in his arms.
He drew her closer, then, as if overcome, as if he was in the grip of something he could no longer control. She saw in his eyes a kind of helpless surrender.
He kissed her.
Jennsen stood rock still, surprised that he was actually doing it, kissing her, holding her in his arms, just like she had seen lovers doing.
And then her arms tightened and she was holding him, too, kissing him back.
She had never imagined that anything could feel so wonderfully intoxicating.
In all her life, Jennsen had never thought such a thing could happen to her. She had dreamed of it, of course, but she knew it was only a fantasy, something for other people. She never thought it could happen to her. To Jennsen Rahl.
And now, magically, it was.
A helpless moan escaped her throat as he held her tight, hugging her fiercely, kissing her with passionate abandon. She was acutely aware of his arm encircling the small of her back, his other arm behind her shoulders, her breasts mashed against the hard muscles of his chest, his mouth pressed to hers, his own needful moan in answer to hers.
Unexpectedly, it ended. It was almost as if he had recovered his composure and forced himself back. Jennsen panted, catching her breath. She liked the way it felt to be held by him. Inches apart, they gazed into each other’s eyes.
It was all so startling, so quick, so unexpected. So confusing. So right.
She wanted to melt into another embrace, another delicious kiss, but when he checked who was around, who might be watching, she gathered herself, remembering where they were and why they were pressed back into the dark niche.
Nathan Rahl was after them. Only Nyda stood between them. If he told her who Jennsen was, and she believed him, then the entire army would be after them.
They had to get out of the palace.
When Sebastian pulled away from her, doubts washed into the void.
His gaze swept the crowd as he looked to make sure no one was watching them. “Let’s go.”
His hand found hers and he was suddenly pulling her away from the sanctuary of the shadowy fold in the palace.
Jennsen felt light-headed with a flood of confusing emotions, everything from fear and shame to giddy excitement. He had kissed her. A real kiss. A man-woman kiss. Her, Jennsen Rahl, the most hunted woman in D’Hara.
She almost didn’t notice the steps as they descended. She tried to look normal, to look like any other person simply leaving the palace after a visit. She didn’t feel normal, though. She felt as if everyone who looked at her would know that he had just kissed her.
When a soldier unexpectedly turned their way, she held Sebastian’s arm in both hands, pressing her head to his shoulder, and smiled at the man as if in casual greeting. It was enough of a distraction that they passed him and were away before he even thought to look at Sebastian.
“That was quick thinking,” Sebastian whispered, letting out a breath.
Once past the soldier, they picked up their pace again. The sights she had seen on the way in were now a blur. She didn’t care about any of it. She just wanted out. She wanted away from the place where they had imprisoned Sebastian, where the two of them were in constant danger. She was more exhausted from the unremitting tension of being in the place than she had been from the dangers in the swamp.
At last, the stairs finally ended. The light coming in the huge maw of the grand entrance made it difficult to see, but the opening out of the plateau was a welcome sight. Together, hand in hand, they rushed toward the light.
Crowds of people milled about, stopping at stands, watching passersby, gawking at the size of the place, while still others flowed past on their way up to the stairs. Soldiers near the sides watched people going in, so she and Sebastian moved toward the middle. The soldiers didn’t seem as interested in those leaving as those entering.
Cold daylight greeted them outside the tower of rock. The marketplace below the plateau was a bustle of activity, just as it had been before. The makeshift streets past the tents and stands teemed with people looking or sometimes stopping to make a purchase. Others moved toward the entrance to the People’s Palace, with business, with hopes, with small goods, with money. Hawkers strolled among the visitors, calling out the wonders of their wares.
She had told him that the horses and Betty were missing, so Sebastian led her instead to a nearby enclosure filled with horses of every variety. The man watching the horses was sitting on a crate that made up part of the rope fence, rubbing his arms in the cold. Saddles sat in a line along the edge of the makeshift fence.
“We’d like to buy some horses,” Sebastian said as he approached, checking the condition of the animals.
The man looked up, squinting in the sunlight. “Good for you.”
“Well, are you selling or not?”
“Not,” the man said. He turned and spat. With the back of his hand he wiped his chin. “These horses belong to people. I’m paid to watch them, not to sell them. I go selling someone’s horse, I’m liable to be skinned alive.”
“Do you know who might sell horses?”
“Sorry, can’t say as I do. Check around.”
They thanked him and moved down the makeshift streets, looking for open areas where horses might be picketed. Jennsen didn’t mind walking—that was usually how she and her mother traveled—but she understood Sebastian’s urgency to find a horse. With such a narrow escape, and then with the wizard, Nathan Rahl, trying to stop them, they needed to get far away from the People’s Palace as fast as they could.
At a second place, they got the same answer as the first. Jennsen was hungry, and wished she could get something to eat, but she knew that they would be better off making good their escape than lingering to have a meal and end up dying on a full stomach. Sebastian, holding her hand tight, pulled her between stands, cutting across the crowded streets toward horses picketed in a dusty enclosure.
“You able to sell horses?” Sebastian asked a man watching over them.
The man, his arms folded, was leaning against a post. “No. I’ve none to sell.”
Sebastian nodded. “Thanks anyway.”
The man caught Sebastian’s cloak before they moved on. He leaned closer. “You be leaving the area?”
Sebastian shrugged. “Going back south. Thought we’d like to pick up a horse while we were visiting the palace.”
The man leaned out a little and checke
d both ways. “After dark, come see me. Plan on being around that long? I may be able to help you.”
Sebastian nodded. “I have some business that will keep me here the day. I’ll be back after it’s dark.”
He took Jennsen’s arm and moved her down the crowded street. They had to step out of the way of two sisters fawning over necklaces they’d bought as the father walked behind with a load of goods they had purchased. The mother watched her girls as she pulled a couple of sheep along behind. It gave Jennsen a pang of heartache for Betty.
“Are you crazy?” she whispered at Sebastian, confused as to why he would tell the man that they would be back after dark. “We can’t stay here all day.”
“Of course we can’t. The man is a cutthroat. Since I had to ask if he was selling horses, he knows I have the money to buy one and would like to relieve me of it. If we go back there after dark he’ll likely have friends hiding in the shadows waiting to do us in.”
“He’s a thief? Are you serious?”
“This place is full of thieves.” Sebastian leaned in with a stern look. “This is D’Hara—a land where the greedy and perverse prey on the weak, where people care nothing about the welfare of their fellow man, and even less about the future of mankind.”
Jennsen understood what he meant. On their way to the People’s Palace, Sebastian had told her about Brother Narev and his teachings, his hope for a future where mankind’s lot was not suffering, a future where there was no starvation or sickness or cruelty. Where every man cared for his fellow man. Sebastian said that, along with the help of Jagang the Just and the will of good and decent people, the Fellowship of Order would help to bring it about. Jennsen had trouble imagining such a wonderful world, a world away from Lord Rahl.
“But, if that man was a thief, why would you tell him that you’ll come back?”
“Because if I didn’t, if I told him I couldn’t wait, then he might signal his partners. We wouldn’t know who they are but they would know us and likely find a spot they could surprise us.”
“You really think so?”
“Like I said, the place is full of thieves. Watch yourself or you might get your purse cut right off your belt without even knowing it.”
She was just about to confess that that very thing had already happened when she heard her name being called.
“Jennsen! Jennsen!”
It was Tom. Big as he was, he stood out like a mountain among foothills, yet he was holding up his hand, waving for her, as if he feared she would have trouble spotting him.
Sebastian leaned closer. “You know him?”
“He helped me get you out.”
Jennsen had no time to explain any more than that before smiling her acknowledgment to the big man waving his arm at her. Tom, happy as a puppy at seeing her, rushed out to meet her in the middle of the street. She saw his brothers back at their table.
Tom wore a wide grin. “I knew you’d come, just like you promised. Joe and Clayton said I was nuts to think you would, but I told them you would keep your promise to stop before you left.”
“I…I just came from the palace, just now.” She patted her cloak where it concealed the knife. “I’m afraid that we’re in a rush and need to be on our way.”
Tom nodded knowingly. He seized Sebastian’s hand and pumped it as if they were friends long separated.
“I’m Tom. You must be the friend Jennsen was helping.”
“That’s right. I’m Sebastian.”
Tom tilted his head in gesture toward Jennsen. “She’s something, isn’t she?”
“I’ve never seen anyone like her,” Sebastian assured him.
“A man couldn’t want for more than a woman like this on his side,” Tom said. He stepped between them, putting an arm around their shoulders, preventing any escape, and guided them back to his stand. “I’ve got something for you both.”
“What do you mean?” Jennsen asked.
They didn’t have time for any delay. They needed to get away before the wizard came out looking for them—or sent troops after them. Now that Nathan Rahl had seen her, he could describe her to guards. Everyone would know what they looked like.
“Oh, something,” Tom said, cryptically.
She smiled up at the big blond man. “What do you have?”
Tom reached into his pocket and came up with a purse. He held it out to her. “Well, first off, I got this back for you.”
“My money?”
Tom grinned as he watched the astonishment in her eyes as her fingers touched her familiar worn leather purse. “You’ll be pleased to know that the gentleman who had it was reluctant to part with it, but since it wasn’t his, in the end he saw the light of reason, along with a few stars.”
Tom nudged her shoulder as if to say she could figure out what more he meant by that.
Sebastian’s gaze followed as she pulled back her cloak and tied the purse around her belt. His expression said that he had no trouble figuring out what had happened to it.
“But how did you find him?” Jennsen asked.
Tom shrugged. “The place looks big to those visiting, but when you’re here often, you learn who the regulars are and know what their business is. I recognized your description of the cutpurse. Early this morning he breezed by, talking his line, trying to gull a woman out of her money. About the time he passed, I saw his hand below her packages, slipping into her shawl, so I snatched him by the collar. My brothers and I had a long talk with the fellow about returning things he’d ‘found’ that didn’t belong to him.”
“This place is full of thieves,” Jennsen said.
Tom shook his head. “Don’t judge a place by one man. Don’t get me wrong—they’re around. But most folks here are honest enough. The way I see it, wherever you go there will always be thieves. Always has been, always will be. The man I fear most is the one who preaches virtue and a better life while using people’s good intentions to shade their eyes from the light of truth.”
“I guess so,” she said.
“Maybe virtue and a better life is a goal worthy of such means,” Sebastian said.
“From what I’ve seen in life, a man who preaches a better way at the cost of the truth is a man who wants nothing more than for himself to be the master and you the slave.”
“I see what you mean,” Sebastian conceded. “I guess I’m fortunate not to have had dealings with such people.”
“Count your blessings,” Tom said.
At his table, Jennsen took the hand of both Joe and Clayton. “Thank you for helping. I can’t believe you got my purse back.”
Their grins had much in common with Tom’s.
“Most fun we’ve had in a while,” Joe said.
“Not only that,” Clayton added, “but we can’t thank you enough for keeping Tom busy so we could spend a couple days visiting the palace. About time Tom gave us a break.”
Tom put a hand against Jennsen’s back, urging her around the table, to his wagon beyond. Sebastian followed the two of them between the wine barrels and the stand beside them selling leather goods, where, before, Irma had sold her sausages.
Behind Tom’s wagon, Jennsen saw his big horses. Then, beyond them, she saw the others.
“Our horses!” Jennsen’s jaw dropped. “You got us our horses?”
“Sure did,” Tom said, beaming with pride. “Found Irma this morning when she came to the market with another load of sausages. She had the horses with her. I told her you’d promised to come see me today before you left, so she was glad to have a chance to get them back to you. All your supplies are there with them.”
“That’s good luck,” Sebastian said. “We can’t thank you enough. We’re in a hurry to get going.”
Tom gestured to Jennsen’s waist, where she kept the knife under her cloak. “I figured.”
Jennsen looked around, feeling a rising flood of dismay. “Where’s Betty?”
Tom frowned. “Betty?”
Jennsen swallowed. “My goat, Betty.” It was a
mighty effort to keep her voice steady. “Where’s Betty?”
“I’m sorry, Jennsen. I don’t know anything about a goat. Irma only had the horses.” Tom’s face sagged. “I never thought to ask about anything else.”
“Do you know where Irma lives?”
Tom’s head hung. “Sorry, no. She showed up this morning and she had your horses and things. She sold her sausages and waited around for a while before she said she had to get on home.”
Jennsen seized his sleeve. “How long ago?”
Tom shrugged. “I don’t know. Couple hours ago?” He glanced over his shoulder at his brothers. They both nodded.
Jennsen’s jaw trembled. She feared to test her voice again. She knew that she and Sebastian couldn’t hang around waiting. With the wizard so close, trying to stop her, she knew they would be lucky to get away with their lives. Returning would be out of the question.
A glance to Sebastian’s face confirmed it.
Tears stung her eyes. “But…didn’t you find out where she lived?”
Tom’s gaze sank as he shook his head.
“Didn’t you ask if she had anything else belonging to us?”
He shook his head again.
Jennsen wanted to scream and pound her fists against his chest. “Did you even think to ask when she would be back?”
Tom shook his head.
“But we promised her money for watching our horses,” Jennsen said. “She would say when she would be back so she could be paid.”
Still looking at his feet, Tom said, “She told me she was owed money for watching the horses. I paid her.”
Sebastian pulled out money, counted out silver coins, and held them out to Tom. Tom refused it, but Sebastian insisted, finally tossing the money on the table to settle the debt.
Jennsen choked back her desperation. Betty was gone.
Tom looked heartbroken. “I’m sorry.”
Jennsen could only nod. She wiped her nose as she watched Joe and Clayton saddling their horses for them. The sounds of the market seemed distant. In a numb state, she hardly felt the cold. When she saw the horses she had thought…