He pursed his lips for a moment, and his head tilted from side to side as he considered my proposal, but he eventually gave a curt nod. “Before the sun stands at its highest, I’ll bring him up to your hut. You better still have the stone then, or I’ll keep the mule and all your—” His attention shifted to something behind me. “And then I’ll sell the mule straight to them.”

I turned.

The blood stilled in my veins.

A robed priest led a black donkey toward the courthouse, while another sat on its back with a bell in his hand, letting its ca-lank-ca-lank resonate through Elderfalls. Everyone came together in earnest, torn between the gossip about the odd corpse and the shouts of the magistrate calling for order and silence.

Not good.

“Are you quite alright, Elisa?” Thorsten asked. I didn’t notice the sway in my legs until he gripped my elbow and steadied me. “You’ve gone ashen.”

“I’m fine.” The scratch in my voice betrayed too much fear. “You know what? I changed my mind. Toss a saddle on the mule and bring him here. I’ll do rest on my own.”

His brows knitted, but he turned away and disappeared into the stable, leaving me with my heart clanking against my esophagus. Damn it to hell and back, I’d waited too long. One wrong move, one flicker of suspicion, and they would be on my tail.

“Good people of—” The priest leading the mule turned to the other, exchanging mumbles before he returned his attention to the gathered crowd. “Yes, Elderfalls. High Priest Dekalon issued the capture of a woman. Fifty pieces of gold—” At the communal gasp, the priest raised his arms in an appeasing manner. “Yes, yes, fifty gold pieces shall be rewarded to whoever arrests her and brings her to the nearest temple, a priest, or any loyal servant of Helfa. Preferably alive.”

My throat narrowed to the width of a hair. Dead or alive, I had no intention of being handed over to the high priest.

I turned toward the stables, only to bump straight into Thorsten. “What about my mule?”

“Shh. I want to hear this.” He leaned against a wooden post and flicked a finger at the priests, then let his baritone shatter through the village. “Who is this woman?”

Dozens of eyes shot to us, slowing the beat of my heart as if the organ didn’t dare another beat. What was I supposed to do? Wait? Tell Thorsten I had changed my mind yet again and to bring the mule? If I walked away now, everyone would stare at me even harder. Some might even grow suspicious. Who didn’t want fifty gold pieces?

“The woman’s name is Adelaide.” The priest’s shout hurtled my pulse into helpless panic. “Blue eyes and of bearing age, with crooked legs.”

A sigh of relief parted my lips, but only until a voice asked, “What color is her hair?”

“She is light of hair,” the priest said. “The woman comes from Hemdale, is a knowledgeable midwife, and likely travels with her elderly father.”

I stared down at the mud.

Still, I felt them, the few eyes that wandered over me as mumbles rippled through the rows of people like the foreboding whispers of a storm. No, I was just imagining those nervous pricks needling my skin, urging me to run. My legs were straight, and I was a fisher. A poor one, to be certain, but my hair was as black as tar.

Without consent, my eyes flicked to Rose.

She stared right back at me.

I offered a smile.

She didn’t smile back.

Instead, she rounded the merchant stand and leaned into her brother, Henry, letting whispers hush between them. He straightened his spine, shifting his balance from one leg to the other.

Don’t look at me.

Don’t look at me.

Don’t look—

His eyes captured mine.

My muscles tensed, and I turned toward Thorsten. “You know what? I’ve changed my mind. Bring the mule to my hut. Hurry, and I’ll give you the stone, along with all the coins in my purse.”

I didn’t hurry away.

I walked, slowly enough as not to seem in a hurry, but fast enough that the cold air brought tears to my eyes. Or perhaps it wasn’t the wind after all, but the pressure that pounded inside my skull. I wasn’t safe here anymore. My baby wasn’t safe.

Just then, the priest’s voice chased behind me. “This woman has wed the devil, the King of Flesh and Bone.” Groans of disgust resonated through the crowd, but it turned into the roar of chaos when he added, “It is believed that she carries the devil’s spawn in her belly. Find her, good people of Elderfalls. Find her or this woman will cast the world into eternal darkness.”

OceanofPDF.com

Chapter 25

OceanofPDF.com

Ada

My heart slammed against my ribs.

I pressed a hand onto my belly, letting sheets of ice that had formed in the furrows crack beneath my steps as I hurried toward the hut. A sudden gust tore the scarf from my shoulders and when I turned to grab it, I saw them.

My heart stopped.

Henry followed me, staring at me from beneath the brim of his felt hat. Another man walked beside him, and Rose waddled not far behind. There was no way I could outrun two men—or fight them off should it come to that—but I wouldn’t let them harm my baby…

Oh god, my baby… my—

Why did everything spin?

Calm.

Breathe.

Despite the panic surging in my chest, I forced my expression to remain blank and turned my gaze back to the hut. Not far now. And once I reached it, what then? Ignoring them would do me no favor. I had to get them to leave. Damnit, how long until Thorsten brought the mule?

I hastened my steps.

Too fast!

I slowed them.

Forced my breath into an even rhythm.

The moment I reached for the door, still many steps away from it, Henry said, “Elisa. A word?”

His low rumble stilled my heart, but I turned and battled a slight curve to my lips. “My father is ill, and I need to look after him. What is it?”

He flashed the smile of a wolf as he pushed the brim of his hat up, giving me a good look at his narrowed brown eyes. “Well, Rose and I reckon you sound just like that woman the priests are looking for. This… Adelaide.”

“Me?” I tried myself at a chortle, saliva pooling beneath my tongue, but I didn’t risk swallowing it. “She sounds nothing like me. My father’s just a fisher, as am I.”

“A lousy one,” Rose said, casting her eyes over my belly. I needed to stop touching it. “She helped me with the baby pain. Knew just where to push and how. Sounds like something a midwife would do.”

The other man sidestepped and slowly walked around me, circling me like prey chased into a trap. “Legs look nice and straight to me.”

Rose snorted a laugh. “Maybe she broke them and they healed. Might’ve twisted an ankle. Her hair isn’t black, either. I saw it. Saw the false color rub off in her wimple.”

The stranger ripped my wimple off faster than I could dodge it, glanced down at it with a faint whistle, then gave Henry a single nod. “Looks like soot rubbed off on the inside.”

“I’m not the woman they want.” My voice trembled. “Now leave me be so I can look after my father.”

“Why hide your hair then, huh?” Rose asked. “You’re a stranger who suddenly showed up here with your elderly father, right after they caught the King.”

Enosh. Internally, I screamed his name, pleaded for him to help me, to protect my baby… to kill them all! Damn them. Damn all of them and how they shoveled their own graves. But they wouldn’t shovel mine!

I lifted my chin and straightened my spine. “I am not that woman!”

 “Maybe you are, maybe you’re not.” Henry sighed. “Either way, fifty gold coins buys us better land upstream where there’s still fish. You’ll come with us without a fuss, and we’ll let those priests decide.”