“And a man can be trusted?”
“We have our honor.”
“Which few of you live up to,” she said.
“Your barbs leave scars that do not always heal.”
“I do not care if my words offend you,” she said. “I speak my mind, and I tell you clearly that I will not wed you.”
“It is what your father wanted.”
“Mordrac was not my father, and I will no longer follow his dictates,” she said firmly.
“You have no choice.”
She grinned. “You truly believe that?”
Her confidence unsettled him, and he shifted where he sat. “I’ve had enough. I could take you here and now and settle this matter once and for all.”
“Then you will never know if I carry your child or another’s.”
Cregan shrugged. “Then I will wait and see if you are with child.” He grinned. “What do you think your father would have done in this situation?”
Her stomach turned, for she knew full well what her father would have done. He would have waited for the child to be born and killed him. She silently chastised herself for her own stupidity, though it gave her more of an impetus to escape. If she did carry Ronan’s babe, she would not see anything happen to him.
She found the courage to respond. “The same cruel thing you would do. The only difference is that I’m not a weak sniveling woman who would sit by and allow that to happen. I would see you dead first.”
Cregan laughed and rubbed his hands together in front of the flames. “We will make a good pair, you and I.”
“We need to slow them down,” Carissa whispered to Addie the next morning, as they rode at a good pace.
“How?” Addie murmured.
“An attempted escape.”
“We’ve tried that once already. I don’t think it will work again.”
“Not with the both of us,” Carissa said. “While the one leads them on a chase, the other can make a mad dash into the woods and hide there. Cregan will not linger long to look for her. He will want to put as much distance between him and his enemies as quickly as possible.”
“You’re talking about me,” Addie murmured.
“He will search forever for me. You are no longer useful, other than leverage when your sons arrive. He will not waste time on retrieving you. And you can alert Ronan and the others to what they face.”
“What do they face?’
“I imagine Cregan has a large contingent of troops waiting for him somewhere up ahead, which explains why he’s rushing us forward. The more warriors he has, the better chance of outrunning or outfighting your sons should that become necessary. He will probably leave with me, and perhaps a handful of his men, while leaving the others to delay our rescuers.”
“But he leaves them to face a certain death or surrender,” Addie argued.
“He does, but he does not care. He copies what my father often did.”
“But why would his men obey knowing they would meet death or worse?”
“The ‘or worse’ was facing my father’s wrath,” Carissa said. “And believe me when I tell you that death was preferable, though perhaps a slim chance at freedom made them obey.”
“I don’t like leaving you,” Addie said.
“It is the only choice we have if we both hope to survive.”
“You are wise for one so young,” Addie said.
“Wisdom knows no particular age, but it does know suffering and, with that, comes many lessons. I have grown wise by no choice of my own, but since I am, I choose to use that knowledge to my benefit and others’ when possible.”
“I am proud to have you as my daughter,” Addie said, choked by tears.
“And I am so grateful finally to have a mother,” Carissa said. Although she knew this was a time for joyful tears, she could not cry.
“What do you want me to do?” Addie asked.
“I will tell Cregan we need to stop and have a moment of privacy,” Carissa said. “Once in the woods, I will run. There will be chaos, and Cregan will direct his men to follow after me. No doubt there will be a moment when no one watches over you. It is then you must run and not look back. Find a place to hide, even if it is not far from here. Cregan will not bother to spare his men to search for you.”
“And you?”
“I will be caught eventually.”
“Are you so sure?’ Addie asked.
“Cregan would never stop searching. He believes that I am signed and sealed by the agreement he made with my father. He intends to have me. My only chance is you.”
“I will not fail you, my dear daughter,” Addie said.
“I believe you won’t, and I will wait impatiently for your return.”