Page 58 of Raven's Rise
“What is it?” she asked.
Rafe looped around and came up to match her pace. “Nothing. But it was stupid of me to ride ahead of you when the danger is behind us.” He was once again the soldier, speaking of tactics, keeping all emotion out of his voice. “I won’t do it again.”
“I won’t ask you more about your past,” she said, hoping to soothe him. “It’s not as if I could alter it, so there’s no benefit in my knowing.”
Still, she was curious. What could Rafe possibly have done that angered someone enough to chase down and presumably drag him back to…wherever? Granted, Rafe showed a blatant disregard for the state of his soul when it came to certain sins, namely lust. But he also displayed an incredible amount of bravery and intelligence, and he never once hesitated when he needed to protect Angelet or anyone else in their party. And even his sinful side was actually rather chivalrous—he made his offer and then left it to her to accept it. He flirted and teased, but never took advantage of her. To Angelet, he seemed like a perfect knight.
“May I ask just one thing?” she said hesitantly.
“What?”
“The people who might be following you…do you think they’d hurt me?”
Rafe’s brow furrowed. Then, “No. I’d expect that they’d only want to get me. And not to kill. They’d take me back to—” He broke off, but his point was made. “You would be safe from them.”
“That’s good news, yes?”
“Yes.” Rafe fell silent for a few minutes. Then he said, “I’m sorry. I should have told you about…that complication.”
“You should have,” she agreed. “Though I suppose you knew it would have cost you the job. Otto never would have hired you and the others if he knew.”
“I was confident that whoever was after me would be deterred by the greater numbers of the escort. Overconfident,” he amended.
“Rafe, remember that those men who attacked us did mention taking me. And someone shot at me. So our first guess is still more likely.”
He nodded, but didn’t add anything.
“I truly didn’t mean to anger you,” she said. “Please don’t leave me.”
“Leave you?”
“You could. At the next town, or even here. I know that you’d prefer to be on your own, and now I understand a little better why that is.”
Rafe stared at her. “You think I’dleaveyou somewhere? As if you were a sack of onions?”
“Well, you could. It’s possible.”
“It’s impossible. You asked me to take you to your son, and then Anjou. I’ll do that unless one of us dies on the way.”
“Truly?”
“Yes, Angelet.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s what I’m supposed to do! That’s what a knightis.”
“Oh.” She smiled tremulously. “Then I’m glad I hired you to be my knight.”
He stared at her for a moment more, then laughed. “I hope so.”
They rode on, having restored their alliance.
But their luck with the weather did not hold. A cold wind from the west started to blow in the early afternoon, bringing heavy, blue-grey clouds along. Rafe kept a wary eye on the western horizon, and judged their few periods of rest very carefully. He was too well-trained a soldier to ride their horses to exhaustion, but they also needed to reach some shelter before the rain came.
However, the road was taking them through a particularly desolate patch of countryside. They saw no farms or homes, and the nearest village could be around the next curve in the road…or hours away.
Angelet kept quiet for the most part. Rafe was obviously on edge, and she could offer nothing to help them on the journey. The clouds grew darker and seemed to undulate, as if a huge wind stirred them from above.
