The Cursed Heir

Chapter Twenty-Two

It would have taken Cassie two days on foot to reach her father's castle from Telyre. Traveling on horseback, they would not even have to stop for the night before the Guard reached it. They had reached the forest road in less than two hours and would stay on it for the rest of the journey.

Yet somehow, even in that short time, James had managed to charm his guards into unclipping the lead on his horse. She could hear them from time to time, talking and laughing somewhere near the back of the group, each lighthearted noise making her teeth grind. It was James' fault she was here, stuck with a massive, deadly escort, ensuring she reached her father's doorstep without delay. Yet he remained chipper, joking with his Esren captors as though they were all out here to have a good time.

He would not be laughing by the time they put him in Marius' infamous dungeons. But then, neither would Cassie.

Not that she was laughing now. Indeed, the trip had been notoriously silent atop Avery's horse.

"I never thanked you for saving my life," Cassie said, the words stilted.

Avery adjusted his grip on the reins. "Gratitude is not something I've come to expect from you."

What was he saying, that she was ungrateful? She had not been glad to be saved at the time, it was true, but Telyre had given her the chance to rediscover joy in life. The hope.

"I am sorry about your sister."

Cassie stared at the horses ahead of them, not really seeing the riders as she tried to think of how to respond to him.

"I did not know she was there until then," Avery said. "When it was—it was too late."

"She wasn't supposed to be," Cassie whispered, the words scraping her throat raw. "She was looking for me."

"She loved you a great deal." Avery gazed at the trees lining the smooth dirt road, his thoughts forming slowly. "She figured out about the training years ago. Tracked me down to threaten me in person."

"That figures," Cassie said. Elisabet had always known her better than anyone else. She should not be surprised that Elisabet had known she was training with Avery. It was a surprise that she had not told anyone, however.

"She said I'd placed my loyalties with you. And if I ever did something to betray those loyalties, she would do something so unspeakable to me, I'd never live to give testimony against her."

A shaky, startled laugh popped out of Cassie. Elisabet had been protecting her, even then.

"It's a dictate I've lived by ever since," Avery said. "Heir or not, you are the Mackay to whom I answer."

A seed of warmth unfurled a single fragile leaf. The loyalty of a man such as Avery was a gift Cassie did not deserve.

"And when we were caught, by the time I reached the front there was already a letter waiting for me, ordering my safety. She had had Princess Charlotte put her seal to it."

Elisabet had asked so many favors of her royal friend, all on her troublesome little sister's account. And this latest gift, Avery's life...how could she survive having this much gratitude, when she could never release any of it, could never thank Elisabet?

"She'd probably had the letter drawn up the day she caught on to us," Cassie said hoarsely, her head bowing under the sorrow. "She knew we'd slip up and get caught eventually." Her sister had always been a planner; her schedules and plots would put a general to shame. It was one of many reasons she had been their father's perfect heir.