The King's Eye

Chapter 45

Elodie

   The sound of hooves thundering on cobblestones rattled through my bones, as I bit out the chill air of the night. My hair had come unbound minutes into our gallop and now lifted in the wind behind me. The whipping of it across my face every so often was a reminder of the tangled mess I would face once I could brush it out. Cringing, I clenched my teeth together, the grinding of them filling my ears.

Once I got my eyes on her and knew she was alive, I would most definitely be yelling at Sophie for being so reckless. Deep down I could understand her drive to get away. This, though, This was completely idiotic.

In the hour we had been riding for the city, Jacques would not even glance at me. I was not sorry for allowing Sophie a moment alone when she asked, nor was I regretful. He knew that and I could see it across his narrowed eyebrows. Damned fool, I thought. He had no idea what his wife was truly capable of. Spending so much time focusing on not losing her, he couldn't open his eyes to how to keep her.

The moment I met Sophie in the palace hall all those months ago, panic in her eyes, I knew she was going to be better than all of us. It just took battling for her life in fever dreams to wake up what was always there. She was irrational and her emotions were délicat, but she was braver than we could ever be. She had started to prove herself.

I think Tomas would have loved having her for a sister. The thought made my chest tighten along with my hands on the reins.

Straddling the horse below me, I was receiving looks from passerbyers as we made our way through the streets toward the docks. It was not proper for a woman to ride as a man, but I would be damned to ride a side saddle for the journey we just made. I was no noble lady and did not intend to start acting as one. Jacques had not even batted an eye when I mounted. The strangers that we passed, though, looked at me as if I was the coming of christ.

Slowing his horse to a canter and then a walk, Jacques turned to me with arching brows. "This is the street?"

I nodded. "It looks familiar."

"Familiar?" Jacques rolled his eyes.

"We were both there, Jacques." You could try to remember, I thought mockingly. Glancing around at the buildings,I hoped anything would stand out. "It has to be here. This is the street his majesty—" My eyes widened at the sight of billowing black smoke, but Jacques was already off his horse and running toward the flames before I could muster up the words.

Dismounting as quickly as I could, I slid off my horse and ran after him. The smoke already suffocating the view of the street was reaching for the heavens. Long tendrils curled through the air and around lungs. Men running out coughed into the bends of elbows and wet handkerchiefs. Covered in soot, their wide eyed expressions were thankful to have made it out alive.

"Sophie!" Jacques's voice yelled over the screams and shouts that boomed from around us. Running towards the flames, he stopped short when a shadow appeared against the flickering oranges and reds. "Sophie," he choked on the smoke.

"She's going to be fine," I reassured myself in a hushed tone. "She's going to walk out any second."

As we watched two men stumble out of the inferno that was now spreading to other businesses on either side, my stomach sank. Where was she? I could not handle Jacques through this kind of loss. He barely survived the death of his brothers.

Becoming more clear as they approached, the men stopped at the sight of Jacques. "Delacroix?" Martin stood dragging a nobleman, his arm wrapped under him keeping him up.