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I knew what she meant, though. I didn’t like being judged by my family, my looks, or my wealth either. Then I chuckled. That was one good thing about the clergy — no one cared about all that. Plus, the people I met — locals like Bess or Robynne and the Merry Men — only cared about my deeds.
So, there. I’d finally found one upside to joining the clergy.
Then my heart sank. One measly upside stacked against dozens of minuses that would deny me my mate forever.
After that, it was Marian eyeing me as I ran in silence, staring sullenly ahead.
We ran all night, fueled by the urgency of our mission. After a while, the landscape blurred, though that could have been from the handful of rogue tears I shed. I barely even noticed dawn breaking over the horizon or how the settlements we passed steadily grew more dense. It was only when we crested a rise that we stopped and gazed ahead.
“Winthrop,” Marian breathed.
I studied the hilltop town a few miles away. A ring of stout walls guarded the base, and a jagged line of roofs climbed the natural slope. At the summit stood a castle — the kind built for war, not show, though the flags flapping above each tower softened the impression a bit.
I squinted, studying the flags. Most showed a red field guarded by three golden lions — the royal standard used by both King Richard and Prince John. But the tallest tower flew a second flag beneath that one. The red-and-white cross of Saint George — the flag King Richard fought under in the Crusades.
Those flags had been flown everywhere when the king had first departed for the Holy Land. But the more power Prince John snatched, the rarer that sight had become, more out of fear than lack of support. But Lord Winthrop didn’t appear to have any qualms about making his position clear. He might as well have positioned a dozen trumpeters on the castle walls to blast “God Save the King” — with an extra stanza that said, Yes, the king, not his usurping brother.
Almost there, Marian murmured.
Her voice was wary, as was I. Traitors lurked everywhere — maybe even here.
Never had I had such a sense of fate looming over me. Never had I wondered so intensely if I would live to see the next day.
Our eyes locked, and there was so much I yearned to say, from I love you to You don’t have to do this and even a slightly lame, Wow, you’re a unicorn, because I still wasn’t completely over the shock.
But all I managed was a throaty growl. This may be friendly territory, but I still don’t like the feel of this.
Marian pranced in place. What’s to like?
Still, we started down the hill a moment later, headed for that castle — and our destiny, whatever that would prove to be.
Chapter Thirteen
MARIAN
“Tea, sir? Miss?”
I glanced up from the map I’d been poring over with Lord and Lady Winthrop.
I blinked at Jacobs, their butler. Hadn’t we just had tea?
A glance out the window revealed a rapidly dimming landscape. Was it already sunset?
I’d spent the day strategizing, sending messages, and plotting with the Winthrops. Well, maybe not plotting, because that was aimed at deposing a king. I aimed to keep him on the throne — and I wouldn’t mind saving my own skin either. Because if Prince John succeeded in snatching the throne, he would also snatch me.
The thought of a forced marriage to that horrible man made me sick. I could hold my own in a fair fight, but Prince John was notorious for dirty. I would have no chance, and it was all too easy to imagine the horrors I would be subjected to.
The worst was knowing that to die fighting him — a fate I preferred to a life under that brute of a man — wouldn’t do anything to improve life for others. Townsfolk everywhere would be subject to the same cruel practices.
Somehow, I had to succeed in my plan.
We must succeed, my unicorn side agreed.
I glanced over to the tiny chapel that opened to the great hall via a sliding wooden door. Tuck was there, doing more pacing than praying, and wow. Even in his friar’s robe, he looked more knightly than ever.
I shot him a tight smile, and his eyes glowed.
My heart thumped, and a voice in the back of my mind whispered, My destined mate.
