Page 109 of The Enemy's Daughter

I ignore him. “Who did that to you?”

He shakes his head as he fights to lift his eyes to mine. “Can we talk about that later? Are we getting out of here?”

I drop to my knees and use my blade to hack at the thick rope around Tristan’s feet. It’s tied to a ring bolt in the floor. Thank the mighty stars I didn’t wait any longer. Why didn’t I fight harder to get him free last night? I sniff as tears of frustration burn my throat.

“Isadora,” Tristan whispers.

I look up. Our faces are just inches away.

“I love you,” he says, then he kisses me. The connection rejoices only to cry out in pain when the kiss ends as quickly as it began. Tristan jumps to his feet and turns so I can work to free his hands. Rising, I saw at the thick rope binding his wrists, sharp edge of my knife facing out.

There’s a pounding at the front door.

I suck in a sharp breath.

Tristan looks over his shoulder, then with gritted teeth, snaps the last strands left uncut. “Cut Henshaw free.”

I run to the next room and do as he says. A disheveled and slightly bloodied Henshaw urges me on.

The pounding won’t stop. It only grows louder. “Isadora, I know you’re in there.”

Liam.

“To the back door,” I whisper.

A beam of wood secures the lock, but Henshaw and I make quick work of it, then run outside. “There.” I point. Two horses graze not far away near the edge of Percy’s backyard. My pack is tied on the back of one of them.Thank you, Freia.

The three of us race over, Henshaw and Tristan each taking a horse. Tristan immediately scoots back for me. “Get on.”

I freeze. The clan leaders need to know what Father has done. I can’t leave yet.

Tristan gives me a puzzled look, and then I feel his anger pump through my veins. “Isadora, get on.”

But my plan to stay until the wedding seems riddled with holes now. Liam’s seconds from discovering the prisoners are gone, and too many people saw me enter the house. Not to mention speaking to the clan leaders means confronting Gerald again. Perhaps there’s another way.

“Come on,” Henshaw hisses, his horse dancing with agitation. “We need to go.”

Tristan won’t take his eyes off me. “I’m not leaving without you.” His resolve resonates in my chest.

Fates.

“Isadora!” It’s Liam, and this time he’s too loud, too close to ignore. I glance back and find him rounding the house, mouth agape.

My decision to leave is suddenly made. I’ll have to find another way to expose Father’s lies.

I step into the stirrup and climb into the space in front of Tristan as he leans back. The slit of my dress rides high up my leg. Then Itake the reins, and our horse speeds off. Liam calls my name one more time, and I can’t resist another look over my shoulder. He’s running back the way he came.

“Don’t worry about him,” Tristan says into my ear.

But I do. This was not how I wanted Liam to find out that I haven’t been honest with him.

We ride harder than we should down the trail, drawing the attention of a few women and children outside. If soldiers haven’t seen us, they’ve surely heard us. We need to get away from the houses and make it to the forest, where we’ll be better able to hide.

I take a side path, which sends us crashing through brush. The edge of the forest comes into view, then I spot a couple soldiers standing near the perimeter. We’ll never make it past them unnoticed. I slow, then come to a stop. “We need to go a different way.” Though I can’t think of one. There will be soldiers patrolling all the boundaries of clan land.

Tristan leans around me, straining to see the problem. “We’ll have to make a run for it. They’re off their horses; we have a head start.”

“We’ll never make it.”

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