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“But I do,” I said, my voice low with deadly warning.
“And so do I,” added the warden.
All three of us turned to look at him where he stood with his arms crossed near the door.
“Darcy is married to one of my men,” he said. “She is under the protection of the Zabrian Empire. Protection I am lawfully bound to uphold.”
“What are you saying? You’d arrest me for, what, abducting my own daughter?” She gave an incredulous laugh.
“Precisely.”
“This is preposterous,” she finally spluttered. She ignored me, ignored the warden, focusing in on Darcy. “This is your last chance to do what’s right. This is your last chance to make something of yourself. Your last chance to make this all up to me!”
I was about to rush in to defend Darcy again, but she subtly squeezed my hand. I glanced at her, and realized that, in this moment, she did not need my help.
“I am staying with Fallon,” Darcy said. “So you can take that chance, and you know what you can do with it?” A sweet smile spread across my wife’s perfect face. “You can shove it right up your ass.”
32
DARCY
Fallon and I didn’t speak much on the ride home. I’d never considered myself an excellent conversationalist, and I was too emotionally drained to chit-chat right now. Fallon, for his part, seemed lost in his own thoughts. Or maybe he was just trying to respect my need for quiet.
But I knew I’d have to talk to him, and soon. To apologize for everything. For not telling him about my mom, Massimo, my past. And for what he’d no doubt heard before he’d come crashing in. That thing about me saying I’d never wanted to get married. No matter what I’d said afterwards to my mom about staying with him, I knew that had to have hurt him. It would have hurt me, more badly than I even wanted to think about, if I’d heard him say something like that.
Though we did move faster than we had with the wagon on our wedding day, the sun had long since set by the time we passed Silar’s property. All was quiet there.
But things weren’t so quiet as we continued on our way. The closer we got to Fallon’s – our – ranch, the louder and louder something became.
Barking.
“Something’s wrong,” Fallon said from behind me. His tail whipped around my waist, like a shuttle seat harness, as he urged Kolt into a sudden run. I sucked back a yelp of surprise. I would have bounced right out of the saddle if not for Fallon’s hold on me. Yeah. I will definitely need lessons if I’m going to try to ride.
“What is it?” I said, strangled by the buffeting wind caused by our new speed. My hat nearly flew off of my head, and I scrambled to hold it down.
“I don’t know,” Fallon said, his voice tight with urgency. “The gates are still closed. The fence looked good this morning. Sora might smell a predator. I need to get you inside the fencing and-”
His words cut off. The whole world tipped.
I slammed backwards into Fallon’s chest. He gave a heavy-sounding grunt, grasping me tightly with his tail and one arm, the other holding fast to the reins as he urged Kolt to calm. The shuldu was bucking, and Fallon’s thighs turned to fucking steel as he struggled to keep us both in position.
Just as quickly as Kolt had bucked, he slammed his front hooves down on the ground and was running. Running way faster than before. Fallon and I were still on his back, but barely.
“There’s a genka,” Fallon bellowed.
I didn’t dare trying to look around to see where the predator in question was. I was barely able to keep up with the bumping and thumping of Kolt’s chaotic pace.
“I’m going to try to steer us to the nearest gate,” Fallon shouted over the rapid-fire beat of Kolt’s hooves and Sora’s frantic barking from inside the fence. “As we pass it, I’m going to lower you down as best I can so you can get in.”
“Not without you!” I choked out.
“Kolt can’t run fast enough with both of us. We can’t outrun the genka like this. I’ll get you inside and then I’ll take care of the rest.”
Well, I just about hated the sound of that plan, thank you very much. But what the hell did I know about genka, or even shuldu, for that matter? Fallon was the expert here. I’d trusted him until now.
I’d have to just keep on trusting him.
“OK!” I shouted.
