Heir of Thunder (Stormbourne Chronicles Book 1) (29 page)

“Oh, yes, it is. In a few more hours it will
be too late, and I don’t plan to stay around long enough to give you another
try.”

Gideon crossed the room while I spoke, keeping
Sephonie aimed at his odious uncle as he moved. Several of the Lord’s men, who
had survived my lightning blast, moaned and cursed as they righted themselves.
Gideon glanced at me before setting his sights back on Aodan. “Get to the
stables, Evie. I’ll meet you there.”

I didn’t argue since his instructions matched
my own intentions, but he was wrong if he thought I planned to wait for him, or
include him in my escape. With one last look at the defeated Daeg and his
whimpering son, I turned and ran, still clutching the dark knife in case I
encountered any more of Daeg’s guards.

In Daeg’s stables, I found the gray mare that
had helped me make my earlier escape. Her reins held ready for me in the hands
of Gideon’s silent sister.

“What are you doing here, Marlis?”

She offered me the leads, and I took them
after quickly inspecting the stirrups and girth strap. She disappeared to the
back of the barn while I fiddled with the stirrups but returned a moment later
with a brown mare and Gideon’s horse, Wallah, both fully prepared for riding.

“Oh no,” I said, understanding her intentions.
“Gideon’s on his own, and so am I.”

Marlis narrowed her eyes and set her jaw. She
pulled herself into her horse’s saddle and crossed her hands over the pommel in
silent argument.

I hauled myself up into my own saddle. “You
think you’re coming, too, do you?”

“I can’t leave her here,” Gideon said behind
me. He stepped into the barn and loomed as a dark obstacle in the doorway. “We
have to move out. Daeg’s men are regrouping. They’ll be after us shortly.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you.” I gave my
horse a swift kick in her side. She leaped forward and charged the doorway.
Gideon stared me down as I approached. I reined her aside and squeezed past
him. Then I nudged my mount again and clicked my tongue. “Come on girl. Let’s
fly.”

The mare rolled into a graceful canter. This
time, I fled toward the main gate and the road leading to Steinerland, with no
one standing in my way. I didn’t know where I was going, but it felt so good to
leave.

The wind tugged at my hair and swept past my
cheeks in a current that ignited a wave of memories. Flashes of my father’s
broken body melded into images of my broken home the day Daeg’s men came to
demolish it. Memories of Gideon competing in Father’s archery contest
transitioned into images of him shooting at Terrill and his men on the road to
Thropshire. The beastly scent of the horse under me reminded me so much of
Nonnie. I glimpsed a vision of an innocent girl who looked like me, wandering
her father’s estate with no other care than to worry about whether Gerda would
fuss over her dirty clothes.

“
Evie
!” Gideon called
behind me, his voice bringing up another slew of memori
es—ones
I wanted to forget—but my mind insisted on berating me with nostalgia.
The soft light on his broken body at The Silver Goose.... The way he held me
while I mourned for Nonnie on the outskirts of Braddock.... The look on his
face when I woke next
to him
on board the Tippany’s
airship.... The taste of him when he kissed me in the Omeg foothills.

I growled, shook my head, and leaned forward
into the biting wind. I refused to give any additional consideration to the one
who had betrayed me in so many ways. I kicked my horse again—how I wished I
knew her name—and she pushed into a gallop. It was a mistake. We wouldn’t last
long this way, and Wallah would overtake us. Gideon would never choose a horse
that didn’t possess a great deal of endurance and speed. I had told him on our
way through Steinerland that I was smaller and could hide. If I couldn’t outrun
him, then I would have to take cover.

I guided my horse off the road. The uneven
terrain forced her to slow down, but the forest lay only a few yards away.
Wallah’s hoof beats pounded behind me, or maybe I mistook them for the pounding
of my pulse. It didn’t matter how much Gideon had gained on me. We had reached
the shadows of the forest, and I dropped my reins, slipped from the saddle, and
ran.

In the darkness, I couldn’t see my own feet,
much less the rocky, root sewn ground, and my ridiculous slippers inhibited my
progress. I slowed to a careful jog, listening for sounds of pursuit. Gideon
had given up Wallah and called for me in the shadows. A branch snapped, and the
sound echoed around the forest. I stopped to catch my breath. Gideon called my
name again from only a few feet away, and I ducked behind a nearby tree, crouching
near its base, at the thickest part of its trunk.

“Evie, I know you can hear me.” Desperation was
clear in his tone. “I told you I wouldn’t let you go—that I would hunt you.”

“You also said you would keep me safe, but you
didn’t.” I cursed myself for giving away my position. I dashed for another
nearby tree and spun around behind it. No doubt Gideon heard my footsteps, the
same as I heard his.

“That’s what I’m trying to do,
now
.” The vastness of the woods made his words sound hollow... empty.

“Ha!” I shouted and ran again. “You gave me to
Daeg. You know what he wanted to do to me.”

“I was wrong, Evie. Stop running and give me a
chance to explain.”

“I’ve given you everything you’re ever going
to get from me.”

“But I saved you tonight. Does that mean
nothing?”

“I was saving myself.”

“You’re right. You were. But you don’t have to
do it alone anymore. Daeg’s men are on their way. Let me help you.”

“I don’t trust you.” I found another tree and
ducked behind it. I had to rest, had to catch my breath. I was so
tired
of running.

“Why would I have helped you back there if I
was going to turn around and hand you over to Daeg?

“Too little, too late,” I said.

“I know, but I’m begging you for a chance to
make it up to you.”

I drew my knees to my chest and hugged them.
Cool night air licked at the perspiration on my skin. I tucked my face into my
lap and squeezed my eyes shut. “Why did you do it, Gideon? I trusted you. My
father trusted you. You betrayed us both.”

The leaves crackled under his feet as Gideon
stepped again, but I couldn’t tell if he was coming close or moving farther
away. “Daeg raised me as his son, Evie. My father was a violent drunk who took
out his grief on me too many times to count, but I had to take it so he wouldn’t
hurt Marlis. Daeg was the one who took us away from that. He educated me,
raised me, trained me to fight. I would have done anything for him. You
understand—you would have betrayed someone if your father asked you, too. You
know what it’s like to love someone that much.”

His words made more sense than I wanted to
accept. I didn’t want to empathize with him. “Then why did you change your
mind? Are your convictions so fickle?”

Dried leaves crunched beside me. I drew in my
breath, holding it tight in my chest, praying for Gideon to pass without
noticing me. No luck. His hand whipped out and latched onto my wrist. He
dragged me to my feet and pushed me hard against the same tree I had been
hiding behind. He pressed himself against me so I couldn’t run away. Thunder
rumbled overhead.

“Don’t Evie,” he said, low and soothing—the
voice a horse trainer uses on a skittish colt. “Don’t bring a storm down on me.”

“I can’t help it. I’m afraid and angry. The
storms bow to my emotions. Talk fast if you don’t want to get struck.”

“Don’t be afraid of me. I won’t hurt you. Not
anymore.”

I scoffed. “I don’t believe you.”

“Give me a chance to prove it. It’s ripping me
apart, knowing what I did.”

I stamped a foot. “It’s ripping
you
apart? What about what Daeg was going to do to me? Steal my thunder.
Take the only part of my father I have left. And you were the one who delivered
me into his hands
. Why did you do it, Gideon?”

His heat leeched through my gown’s think silk.
I didn’t want to take his comfort, but
my
greedy body
soaked it up anyway. He sighed and dropped his forehead into the crook of my
neck and shoulder. His warm breath washed over me. “Daeg constantly told me the
Stormbourne’s had stolen his birthright. He forced me to read that damned
scroll every day for a year when I turned thirteen. He made it my punishment
anytime I did something that displeased him. Daeg made me hate your family
almost as much as
he
did, but then I met your father and worked for him,
and I came to know him and see how his people loved him. It filled me with
contradictions.”

Gideon paused and took a deep breath. He
raised his head
and his warm breath tickled my cheek
. “
You
filled me with contradictions, Evie. You made me doubt everything
about myself. When Daeg took you away, after you ran from me, when I told you
the truth, I thought I could walk away. I
tried
to
walk away. I tried
to let you go
.”

“Why did you come back?” I whispered.

His thumb, the one at my waist, stroked back
and forth over my ribs. A part of me wanted to tell him to stop. A bigger part
of me wanted his comfort, despite the damage he had wrought.

“I broke a promise,” his said. “I’ve never
done that before.”

“I had assumed you meant you made a promise to
Daeg.”

“I did promise Daeg, but I promised your
father, too. And I promised
you
.”

“You don’t think my father ever suspected your
intentions for me?”

“I don’t know. The day he hired me, he asked
me to swear to protect you if anything ever happened to him. I thought he
wouldn’t give me the job if I didn’t.”

“So you lied to him.”

Gideon shoved me again, but gently. “I’m not
lying, now. I’m here to do what I swore I would.”

“I don’t care if you are lying, or if you aren’t.
I don’t trust you.” I tried to say the words with conviction, but they came out
choked and weak. “I don’t
want
you.”

He snorted
. “Now,
I
don’t believe
you
. Stop fighting me, Evie.”

“You broke my heart.”

“I know. Let me try to make it up to you. Please.”

“The only way you can make it up to me is to
let me go. Walk away and let me go.”

He grunted. “Anything but that.”

“I don’t know if I can forgive you.”

“I’m not asking you to. I’m just asking you to
let me keep my promise.”

“You’ll protect me even while it’s still
possible that I hate you?”

He sighed, and it sounded as cold and hollow
as a winter breeze. “Yes. Hate me if you must. I can’t blame you.”

I slumped against the tree and rubbed my face.
I was tired, and my heart felt as though it had been dragged through broken
glass. Thunder rumbled overhead and a warm, gentle rain spilled over us.

“Is that you?” he asked.

“I can’t help it. It’s tied to my—”

“Emotions,” he said, finishing my thought. “I
guess I should be thankful you didn’t hit me with a bolt of lightning.” He lowered
his voice. “Does this mean you’re going to give me a second chance?”

“I’m confused, Gideon. I’m not sure what it
means.”

“Either way, we have to get moving. And I need
to check on my sister.”

I
had
forgotten about Marlis
in my rush to evade Gideon. “Where is she now?”

“She’s supposed to be waiting for us at the
edge of the woods. She doesn’t ride as well as you, but she should be able to
keep up. I have to bring her along. Daeg will use her to get to me if I don’t.”

“What about your father?”

He swallowed before answering. “There’s
nothing more I can do for him, but I made sure he would spend his final days in
as much comfort as possible.”

His pain for his father, and his devotion for
his sister, unraveled my resolve. A vulnerable Gideon was difficult to resist,
and my uncertainty swayed toward a decision. “Come on, let’s go make sure she’s
all right.” I tugged him in what I hoped was the direction of the road.

He
chuckled. “I take that as a
yes
, then.”

I stopped short and
he
bumped into me. I glared at him, not knowing if he could see my
expression in the darkness. “You can come with me, if only for Marlis’s sake,
but I’ll sleep with one eye open. I still don’t trust you.”

He nodded. “I understand, but I
will
change your mind, Lady Thunder.”

We found Marlis waiting at the edge of the
woods on her little brown mare, standing deep enough in the shadows to avoid
detection from anyone passing by on the road. She held reins for Wallah and for
my gray horse.

“I wish I knew her name,” I said as climbed
into the saddle. The rain had cleared, but the soaked silk of my gown clung
like a second skin. The moon came out between a wisp of clouds, and I crossed
my arms over my chest self-consciously.

Gideon noticed my gesture and yanked something
from his saddlebags.

“My Thunder Cloak,” I said, delighted.

“Marlis remembered it. She snuck to your room
during the ceremony and grabbed it.”

“Thank you, Marlis.”

She ducked her head and said, “Your horse’s
name is
Adaleiz. I overheard the stable boys while I was waiting for
you.”

Gideon inhaled sharply, and I wondered what had startled him.
Then I realized he had never heard his sister speak before. He leaned over and
hugged her. She slapped at his shoulder and pushed him away, but she smiled and
giggled.