Blackmane stood, water running off him. ‘No, you shouldn’t.’ He reached for a towel and wrapped it around himself before going to collect his uniform and boots. ‘I think I’ll go train, get my hours in.’

Hadewaye’s eyebrows shot up. ‘What are you talking about? You just got back. Not even the warden’s expecting you to train today.’

Without saying another word, Blackmane headed for his room.

Chapter 31

CHAPTER 31

The scar had reduced to a coin-sized bump just above her heart. Isabel’s hand went to it whenever she paused throughout the day, eyes going south to the road that connected Maddock House to the rest of the world. It was in these moments that she thought of him. Not the man who had shot her but the one she had taken an arrow for. And she would have done it again without hesitation, despite all the pain it caused. Both physical and mental.

It was incomprehensible that she could miss a person whom she barely knew this much. They had only gotten days together. A few weeks at a stretch. A handful of meaningful conversations. And one afternoon to sample what could have been. The emptiness left by him was not rational, and months later, she was struggling to fill it.

It was during one of these moments that Ita rode up the very road she had been watching, holding a letter in the air.

‘It’s from your mother,’ she called.

Isabel ran out to meet her. It had been two months since any mail had gotten past the marcher lords. In the process of shutting out the world, they had found themselves cut off from it. Funny, that. Isabel’s biggest fear was that Lord Hodge would intercept correspondence to her family and use it to gain information. She did not want him knowing where her mother and brother were. The sooner her family made it to Carmarthenshire the better.

‘Is it sealed?’ Isabel asked as Ita stopped the horse in front of her.

‘It was, until it reached the border.’

The wastelanders were not taking any chances.

Isabel took the letter from her friend and opened it to read.

Ita dismounted and waited exactly three seconds before asking, ‘Well? Are they coming?’

Isabel’s hand went over her mouth, and then she emitted a relieved breath. ‘They are going to wait a few more months for things to settle, and then they will relocate to Maddock House in the spring.’

A smile spread across Ita’s face. ‘That’s perfect. We’ll have a house for them to live in by then.’