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Chapters (76)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Notice
  3. Dedication
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. PART I
  6. ONE
  7. TWO
  8. THREE
  9. FOUR
  10. FIVE
  11. SIX
  12. SEVEN
  13. EIGHT
  14. NINE
  15. PART II
  16. TEN
  17. ELEVEN
  18. TWELVE
  19. THIRTEEN
  20. FOURTEEN
  21. FIFTEEN
  22. SIXTEEN
  23. SEVENTEEN
  24. EIGHTEEN
  25. NINETEEN
  26. PART III
  27. TWENTY
  28. TWENTY-ONE
  29. TWENTY-TWO
  30. TWENTY-THREE
  31. TWENTY-FOUR
  32. TWENTY-FIVE
  33. TWENTY-SIX
  34. INTERLUDE
  35. PART IV
  36. TWENTY-SEVEN
  37. TWENTY-EIGHT
  38. TWENTY-NINE
  39. THIRTY
  40. THIRTY-ONE
  41. THIRTY-TWO
  42. THIRTY-THREE
  43. THIRTY-FOUR
  44. INTERLUDE
  45. PART V
  46. THIRTY-FIVE
  47. THIRTY-SIX
  48. THIRTY-SEVEN
  49. THIRTY-EIGHT
  50. PART VI
  51. THIRTY-NINE
  52. FORTY
  53. FORTY-ONE
  54. FORTY-TWO
  55. FORTY-THREE
  56. FORTY-FOUR
  57. FORTY-FIVE
  58. INTERLUDE
  59. PART VII
  60. FORTY-SIX
  61. FORTY-SEVEN
  62. FORTY-EIGHT
  63. FORTY-NINE
  64. FIFTY
  65. FIFTY-ONE
  66. FIFTY-TWO
  67. PART VIII
  68. FIFTY-THREE
  69. FIFTY-FOUR
  70. FIFTY-FIVE
  71. FIFTY-SIX
  72. EPILOGUE
  73. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  74. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  75. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  76. Newsletter Sign-up

SOMETIME LATER, SHE BECAME aware that the stone floor was grinding into her hip and she repositioned herself. Hours had passed. It was dark, but she had not slept. Despite all the luxuries of the sprawling suite, she curled in a stony crook under a window. There was food about, too, but she didn’t see a point yet in eating.

A knock at the door startled her from the grey haze, and she looked about wildly for a place to hide. She hadn’t touched the door, but maybe Kendrick wasn’t interested in waiting for her to misbehave. The knock repeated and she ran to the bed just to turn away from it again. When the door creaked open, Arable fell to her knees, only to see a pretty face peeking in. A girl’s face.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” the stranger gasped and disappeared, leaving the door ajar.

As slowly as her body could move, Arable inched around the edge of the room, far from the gaping door. There was no indication at all that anyone was there guarding her. No Kendrick. Just a scare, to keep her in line. She crept right up to the doorway and dared to flash her head through it, finding the hallway on the other side entirely empty.

The castle felt different when she had no destination. Time slowed around her, pulling at her legs and numbing her senses. Not William. Not Roger. Not Margery. She had even flirted with the idea that she might attach herself to Prince John’s company, but that was gone now, too. Not the Guard. Not Roana. So she pushed. Her heels plied away from the stones that wanted to absorb her. She leaned into the emptiness. Forward, elsewhere, it didn’t matter. She couldn’t stay here, so there was no point in walking as long as she could still run. If she kept running, something might present itself, it had to. There was something she had missed, some opportunity she had never considered, but would now be a perfect solution.

This was not the most difficult thing she had endured, she reminded herself. She had lost William before. She was, in fact, an expert at losing him. Roger de Lacy had been like a father to her, but she had lost her real father and survived that. And being abandoned by Lady d’Oily was nothing compared to being abandoned by her family. She had fended for herself before, so to think she could not save herself again was a selfish sort of victimism. But she was tired. Starting over again now … it was almost too much to grasp.

There had to be another chance.

There had to be something she hadn’t yet seen.

There simply had to be.