Odin appeared out of the darkness, bouncing in excitement. “You got away,” he crowed happily.
“Not yet,” Máel muttered. “Get on,” he said again to Cassia.
Odin looked at the dark shapes of Cassia and Fury, then peered up at Máel. “You escaping?”
“Go.”
His face collapsed. “Take me with—“
Máel dropped an entire pouch of coins into the boy’s hand. It was an outrageous amount of money. Odin and whatever warren of children he huddled with at night would be fed for the rest of their lives. Or he’d be robbed by dawn.
None of it mattered to Máel. None of it could matter.
He had one thing left of his father, one thing left of home. He would not let English take it away.
Odin stared at the pile of pennies then looked up swiftly. “I can help—”
“I cann
ot be helped. Go. Now.”
Odin tossed him one bleak look of betrayal and ran off.
Máel spun to Cassia.
She was gone.
His blood slowed to a sluggish, preparatory beat.
He turned another inch and saw her, backing up into the shadow of the trees.
Chapter 14
Cassia locked gazes with him as she backed up slowly.
Too many things had happened. Too much had been overturned. Her heart hammered, her breath came swift and shallow, her head whirled.
She didn’t know anything but that she had to get away from this bandit. Get back to her father. There was no way—no way on Earth—that he had burned down the Irishman’s tent thinking her still inside. Surely he had searched first.
Surely.
“Where are you taking me?” she stammered.
“Into the wild.”
“I cannot go into the wild,” she whispered. “I am noble-born. I am not made for wild things.”
“You will learn.” Anger rolled off him in waves.
There was no hope there.
She backed up another step and bumped into a tree. A frantic look over her shoulder revealed nothing but deep forest on all sides, black-green and thick. Spears of moonlight rayed down here and there, breaking the blackness, revealing downed trees and thick vines and dense underbrush in a silvery, ghostly glow.
One thought sped through the valley of her fear-stricken mind: His horse will never get through that.
As if following the direction of her thoughts, he flicked his gaze over her shoulder, then snapped it back.
“Do not,” he warned in a low voice.