The Hijacked Bride

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 5

HAYES HAD NEVER seen anyone quite so determined to appear unafraid. If he weren't so skilled at reading people, as one had to be in his particular line of business, he might have fallen for her façade. But he could tell that she was putting on a mask and trying to hide her frailty and jitteriness beneath it.

Who could blame her? He didn't much trust himself either. Not that there was a possibility she'd trust him after he'd abducted her.

She tucked herself into the smallest position her body could manage, which was quite small indeed, and nestled her head into her arms. Within moments, he knew by the slow, steady rise and fall of her shoulders and chest that she was asleep.

He knew she would be upset about it when she came to. Most likely, she had been planning on abandoning their little camp as he slept instead of falling asleep herself.

Little did she know, Hayes of Troid always slept with one eye open. Always. It was partly that he had too many enemies to ever rest easy, and it was partly out of habit from his days as a shepherd back home.

Home.

His gut twisted, as it always did, when he thought of home. Of his father and his brothers and his sheep. But that was somewhere out of his reach forever now. He could go back to Troid, and he full well intended to, but he knew that there was no longer a home for him there. He was a wanderer. A lone wolf on the run, chased by his ghosts.

He shook his head to clear it, and glanced at the girl again.

Monika was her name, Delano had said. Hayes couldn't help a scowl from forming on his face at the thought of the man. Delano was shamelessly greedy, and the payment the king had offered for carrying out his dirty work had had him drooling. Then again, Hayes was also being handsomely rewarded. But there was something about Delano that disgusted him. It was almost as if Delano found pleasure in doing dark deeds, as if he enjoyed them thoroughly.

Hayes was not enjoying this, not in the least. The maid, or princess, or whatever she was supposed to be, seemed so vulnerable, so harmless. He did understand, in a way, why the king wouldn't want his son, his precious prince, marrying a maid. But to ruin her life, to ruin her world like this? He hated it, he hated himself for going along with it.

But then, what choice did he have, anyway?

Should you refuse to accept, understand that I will not hesitate to rid this world of one more scoundrel, King Odran had said. I will not be so merciful as to behead you. Your death will be one much more painful and slow.

Painful. Slow. The snake of a king's words had wrapped themselves around Hayes, constricting him.

There is always a choice, his father used to say. But was death a choice, truly? He wanted to live. There had been a time, years back, when he was living in darkness and would not have cared one way or the other, if he lived or if he died. Now, he felt a greed for life. He wanted to see a few more sunrises, he wanted to travel further than he'd travelled before. He wanted to settle the storm in his soul before he left this world.

He wanted to make peace with all the wrong he had done, somehow. And how? He was clueless as to that, but he had to find out.

He had accepted the job in the end, and the gold coins that were offered along with it. He had accepted the terms. And he had made it out of the dungeons of Ceol for once and for all, where he had been sitting for five long months.

Oh, how he longed to be on Troid soil again. But not yet. He had to carry this task out, he had to see it through. Make sure that no one in Ceol ever sees her or hears of her again, the king had ordered.