Page 49 of A Land So Wide
Wanting to cry as she moved, stretching stiffened muscles and numb limbs, Greer took a quick peek out the tree’s slit.
More clouds had rolled in while she’d slept, making it seem as though it was already twilight. Greer shook her head, scanning the sky for even a speck of the sun. There was no way she’d slept away the entire Hunt. She couldn’t have.
It wouldn’t have taken Ellis that long to find her. He knew she was going to be in the clearing. He knew exactly what tree Greer had planned to hide in.
He should have been here by now.
He should have come.
Unless…
I know that when the time comes Ellis Beaufort will make the right choice.
Her father’s words echoed in her head, and Greer wanted to howl.
Suddenly it all made terrible sense.
Louise’s absence earlier.
Ellis’s now.
Her father had done something. Done something to Louise. Done something to make Ellis choose.
“No!”
She covered her mouth with horrified alarm. The word had slipped from her so quickly, and, given the strange way that sound played in the hollow of the tree, she had no way of knowing who might have heard her.
Cautiously, she rose until her eyes were just over the edge of the opening. It was hard to make out much of anything.
The sky was even darker now.
Sunset had to be only minutes away.
She’d somehow slept an entire day, andwhy hadn’t Ellis woken her?
Why hadn’t he found her?
What had Hessel done?
Greer nearly wept as a figure, tall and lanky, made his way out from the tree line.
It was him.
That was Ellis.
Her heart thudded as she waited for him to reach her. Greer wanted to push her way free of the tree and run to him. She wanted to throw her arms around Ellis and claim him for herself, rules be damned.
But she stayed where she was, frozen in the depths of the hollowed Redcap. She had to remember that this was Ellis’s moment as much as it was hers. He, too, had waited seven extra years for it. She would not rob him of his opportunity to find her.
She pinched her cheeks, making sure she’d look flushed and rosy, a bride awaiting her groom.
She waited.
And waited.
Where was he?
She nearly rose up again, wanting to see exactly where he was, but she knew, sheknew,that if she did that he’d be right below her, and she’d startle him and ruin the moment.
