Pariah (The New Covenant Series) (13 page)

“I’m not going to hurt you, Solara
. Please turn around,” he tried again, more softly. I complied with his softer request. He grabbed my hair in his fist, and with one jerk had cut more than half of my hair off. I gasped, and turned around, my mouth opened as wide as my eyes. Seeing the long tresses that he still clenched, I screamed, “What? Why? Why did you cut my hair?”

“You need to blend if you want to get out of here alive. I need
to get you some plain clothes, but this is a start.” I felt numb and tried to reach back to feel my hair, my security. It was gone. Faric motioned at Wes. “You need to lie down before drinking the mixture. Its effects take hold quickly.”

Wes grabbed my hand and led me
to the bedroom, pulled back the deep brown quilt and climbed in. I covered him with the quilt, bent down, and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. “I will come for you.”

I nodded. “I know you will.”
Don’t cry. Don’t cry. You barely know him.

“I swear it, Solara.”

I nodded again, and a warm tear fell from my cheek onto the blanket below, expanding into a small deep brown circle. “Hey,” he said, brushing away my tears. “It’s going to be all right. Faric will get you to safety, and I’ll meet you at the second well in a few days if you aren’t back. I promise. I will come for you.” He nodded exaggeratedly with his head. All the while his eyes pleaded with me to stop crying, and I believed him.
He will find me
.

I nodded
quickly and bent down to kiss him again and then stood, wiping my tear-streaked face. He looked at me, raised the glass to his lips, and quickly drank the crimson poison, holding my hand until it fell limp with his deep sleep. It really had worked fast. The only comfort I had left was the deep, calm rise and fall of his chest in sleep. I prayed it would be peaceful.

I stood over Wes and
closed my eyes, offering a silent prayer to plead for his life and for our quick reunion. Faric fidgeted with his fingers, rubbed his palms on his trousers, and bounced from foot to foot as he waited for me. He’d waited as long as his patience allowed. “We really need to go.”

I didn’t want to leave with him at all. I wanted to stay with
Wes. I had no mother, no father, no siblings and no extended family. I had friends, but they had also just gotten married. I had no one. No one but Wes—my husband. I felt horrible leaving him lying there alone on our wedding night, of all nights, while

I ran off with Faric based upon some weird dream and change
in my eye color. I told myself to calm down. I would simply leave, and when no magic mark appeared on my back by midnight tomorrow, I would be free to return before Wes even woke up.

I followed Faric out the back door nearest the kitchen, across
the grass lawn, over a small creek and into the woods. The sound of cicadas rang out through the still night. Down a small pathway that wound like a serpent through trees and undergrowth, I could see a small light twinkle in the distance. I followed Faric, trying to keep up with him despite my shoes and gown. Unfortunately, he’d been right about them not being ideal for travel, although I would never admit it to him. I could just imagine the smirk on his face and the “I told you so” smile in his teal gaze.

The light was a candle in a glass lantern hanging from a rickety
wooden wagon. Faric stepped out in front and untied a beautiful chocolate-colored stallion. The glassy eyes and shiny mane shone in the moonlight as she whined hello. Faric took an apple from the wagon and held it up, a treat that the mighty horse obviously enjoyed. He pulled me around to the back and untied the dark brown fabric that stretched over its side and roof. After climbing up, he reached his hand out to me and helped me maneuver in as gracefully as I could despite the lace restricting my movements.

I was suddenly very conscious of the deep plunge of the dress’s
back and blushed at the thought that Faric had seen me with Wes earlier in the evening. I offered a silent prayer that he hadn’t seen more than he or I had bargained for.

“I need you to lie on your side
as close to the side shelves as you can,” he said, clearing some wooden crates and clay and glass containers from the area. I complied without saying a word, still sort of angry that he’d ruined my wedding night. “I have to cover you up and pile this stuff in front of you. We should be able to slip out without any problem from the guards at the wall. They should be good and drunk by now with all the booze I gave them earlier.” He smiled.

Now that’s what I call preparat
ion. He really had prepared for our getaway
.

“Fine. Let’s just get going.”
After all
, I thought,
the sooner we leave, the sooner he could bring me back home
. He covered me with a
black blanket and pushed the crates over in front of me and piled
some more fabric in the crook of my waist and another stack on
my calves. I felt claustrophobic.

“Remember, if anyone st
ops us. Remain still and quiet. They’ll think that I am the trader and will refer to me as such. We may run into people outside the perimeter who want to make exchanges and whom I may have to trade with to keep up appearances.” I peeked my head out of the fabric as he wound a long piece of gauzy black fabric around his head, leaving only his eyes uncovered. I supposed that the trader must do the same.
Oh, Goodness. What if we are caught? Will I be lashed or worse? What about Faric?

He jumped from the wagon, tightly gathering and securing
the fabric once again. I was left alone in the womblike structure that smelled of damp molded wood and some sort of spicy incense. The horse whinnied, and the strained wood squeaked in retaliation as it was forced into motion. As the wagon carved its way through the winding path, my stomach rolled, and I knew my face was green. The shaking floor beneath me and the curves and valleys of the terrain conspired against the strength of my stomach and the contents the wine and food enjoyed earlier in the evening threatened to make an encore appearance.

Suddenly, the rig squeaked to a stop, and the heavy falls of the
stallion’s hooves were all that I could hear.
Clang!
A chain rattled loudly, and I heard the gate being raised. We moved forward again and then it loudly slammed closed behind us. We’d made it outside the perimeter wall. I signed in relief. My stomach settled as the road straightened. The vibrations of the wagon wheels lulled me to sleep.

I’
m standing in a dark wood. The sharp shrill of a screech owl sounds just above me, and I jerk in response, looking up at the majestic animal.

Where is everyone? Where is Faric?
Where is Wes? Lil? Rachel? Why am I out here alone? My body clenches. I hear the rattle of the serpent’s tail as it slithers toward me. I try to back away, but the persistent animal continues its pursuit. I stumble backward and fall into a large hole in the earth, knocking the breath from my lungs. After finding the life-giving oxygen again, I realize that I am in a cave or cavern, up at the forest above me. How am I ever getting out of here? I try to climb the walls, but they are slick with water and slim. Their cracks filled with the writhing antennae and legs of its tenants.

I shout for help. No one answers. N
o one is there. I am all alone. Alone in the dark. Alone I will die. I will die. Then, I hear it. The low primal growl of an animal stalking its prey. Two yellow eyes emerge from the dark depths of the cave. I back myself against the wall and continue to look for a way to climb to safety. There is none.

The animal continues to stalk forward.
I expect to see a large feline, but instead I see a beautiful man emerge, his greenish yellow gaze trained on me. Rage seeps from the pores of his flawless skin. His entire person is perfect. Chiseled male perfection. Straight nose. Bottom lip just plump enough. Dark, short hair. Muscles rippling under his caramel tanned skin. Then I see them, a pair of black wings follow him out of the darkness, black as a raven’s. Obsidian perfection. They shimmer like the stone in my mother’s ring.

He’s an angel, I think. Angels are
supposed to be nice, right? But as he stalks toward me, I question everything I thought I knew about angels. He mirrors my every move and blocks the pathway from which he just emerged. A smile emerges, revealing his perfect teeth, betraying the hatred in his eyes or maybe just accentuating it. My heartbeat resounds in my ears. I feel something crawling on my shoulder and look down to brush the large centipede away, but I should have kept my eyes trained on him. When I turn my head to find him again, his toes hit mine and his sweet breath mixes with my own. His feline eyes stare daggers at mine. “Did you really think I wouldn’t find you, Solara?” he asks in a melodious bass voice. I gasp as he lunges at me.

I jerked awake and tried to sit up but was covered with some kind of blanket.
Oh, the wagon
, I remembered. I peeked out from under the dark covering and saw that it was early morning. The horse was chomping on something.
Where is Faric?
I sat up and grasped my chest in a feeble effort to regain control of my rapid heartbeat.

My head felt like it was spinning,
so I closed my eyes to make it stop. “Hey, you’re alive!” Faric said, poking his head through the fabric covering the wagon. The smile faded from his face when he took me in. “What’s wrong, Solara? Are you sick?”

“No, I’m fine,” I lied.
“Where are we? How long have we been traveling?”

“We traveled all night. We’re in
the forest. I thought we could take a break and have some breakfast and rest the horse before carrying on.” He kept eyeballing me. “Seriously, what’s wrong? You look like you just saw a ghost.”

“I’m fine. Really. Is it safe for me to come out and stretch?”

He nodded, and I removed the piles of cloth and the blanket that was covering my body and languidly stretched my arms over my head, easing the tension caught in my back and neck. The early morning air was chilly but refreshing. I could hear the birds singing through the canopy above me. Its fresh bright-green leaves unfurled from the awakening trees. My eyes adjusted to the remnants of the sunrise—majestic hues of purple, pink and orange. Faric handed me a green apple, bread roll, and metal cup full of water. “Thanks.”

“Welcome.”

“Hey, are we near the second well?” I prayed we were getting close. I couldn’t wait to see Wes.

“No. It’s still a ways off.” He st
ared through the trees ahead of us. “Anxious to get back to Wesley?” I ignored him.

“So are you happy to be married
to Lillian?” I asked, trying to break the awkward silence. He looked at me and quirked a brow.

His lips curved upward in a small s
mile. “I take that as a yes.” I smiled. “She’s great. She’s my best friend in the world.”

“She’s very sweet,” he ad
mitted with a small smile. “She actually talked about
you
a lot last night even before I explained everything. And after I did, she didn’t hesitate to drink the sleeping elixir for you. She must really love you.”

“I can’t believe she talked about me. What did she say?”

“She just talked about life in the tower and how you and her were close and presented a strong united front against Aria’s constant assaults.” He smiled. “I would ask you if you and Wesley discussed
us
, but it was very apparent that there wasn’t much conversation going on last night.” His smile faded and his demeanor tightened as he crossed his arms over his chest. Anger flashed in his eyes.

What the? Was he jealous of Wesley?
No. No way. Lil is amazing and beautiful. Maybe he just hates Wes for some reason. He was probably still uncomfortable from catching us in such an intimate position.

I kept my eyes on him, taking my top lip hostage with my
bottom teeth. “Look, Faric, I don’t know what you...I didn’t mean for you to see us like that last night. I’m really sorry and embarrassed and...” I felt ridiculous, stammering out a pseudo apology that faded into silence. I wasn’t really sorry that I had been enjoying my time with Wes. He was my husband after all.