“She won’t escape this time; stop worrying,” said one of them, “but three of us can guard her; we don’t mind.” They roared with laughter.
“You want her all to yourself, is that it?” another jeered. Alina cringed, tears filling her eyes.
“IT. WILL. NOT. HAPPEN!” Gerard hollered, silencing them at once. “Not by me. Not by any of you. She is to tell me if any of you disobey, which I’m sure she will. You’ll be thrown out of this company and dead in minutes. Do I make myself clear?”
Alina’s mouth dropped, then she smirked as the men stammered their consent. Some glared at her as if this was her doing, and she glared back. Why would I allow them to do whatever they want with me?
“We’ll walk as far as the stream and camp there,” Gerard ordered. “I’ll guard her first. Mick and Pete will be with me.”
Gerard yanked her arms together and began tying her wrists. She rolled her eyes.
“Come on, we’ve been through this. You know ropes can’t hold me. I agreed to come and I’m not going to run away. Let me keep my hands free.” Gerard glowered at her, then put the rope back in his pack and grabbed her arm so tightly, she was grateful she couldn’t feel pain.
Mick and Pete walked behind them, and the Sad Cases followed, their eyes not straying from Gerard. They stopped when he stopped and moved when he moved. They listened when he spoke, but whether or not they understood, she couldn’t tell. It appeared Sampson had mastered the immortal mind. He put it through such torture that when the brain became mortal, no functioning part was left.
Gerard hissed in her ear. “No funny business this time. We won’t bother going after you. We’ll head straight for Millflower and kill everything that breathes.”
“I know, I heard you the first time,” she snapped. “But just so we’re clear, if you break your side of the deal and hurt anyone from Millflower, I’ll be gone faster than you can blink.”
His lip curled. “I’m glad we understand each other.”
“Yes. And I’m not complaining, but I’m curious about this sudden vow of chastity you’ve required from your men.”
He stopped moving and yanked her arm, so she faced him. She had gone too far.
“Don’t ever ask that again, or I might change my mind,” he threatened. She suspected he was bluffing but didn’t push it.
“Are we going to the Blue Forest?” she asked.
He hesitated. “Eventually, yes. You’ll come along and ask no questions. You’re forbidden from talking to anyone, especially the lunatics from Pria. Not that they’d understand you, anyway.”
What could she learn from the Sad Cases that Gerard didn’t want her to know?
She accepted the terms willingly. She’d obey, be silent, and learn a lot that way.
After three days of traveling with no hint of being rescued, Alina began to despair. She doubted if she read Baylor’s lips correctly when he mouthed Stan’s name because she’d seen no sign of him. Baylor heard an account of Stan from Rex, but was the description enough to recognize him?
Although the men kept their distance, their company was far from pleasant. Resentful of Gerard’s decree, they harassed her with their words rather than their hands, and their comments became so explicit and personal, she felt almost as violated.
The Sad Cases were not as frightening in the daylight, but like the man from the prairie, they looked sick and malnourished. Their clothes hung in tatters, and their pasty skin was stark against the wounds and bruises on their bodies. Alina worried they were being mistreated until she saw how strictly they obeyed Gerard. They scaled large boulders and plowed through thick brambles if it was the straightest course to his orders. They’d walk off a cliff if he asked them to.
She looked for Miss Vivian among them but didn’t see her. Sampson said he might never release her. The memory of Miss Vivian, locked up and hysterical, haunted Alina, but she was grateful not to see her beloved teacher in this dismal group. The way their eyes clung to Gerard chilled her. They watched and waited for his next command, all of them.
Except one.
The woman’s sunken eyes disturbed Alina because they stalked her instead of Gerard. Whenever their eyes met, Alina shivered and look away. This woman looked as wild as the others, yet something in her face seemed lucid and terrible.
What had Sampson done to these wretched beings? Was this the result of isolation in his dungeons, or something more? So far, Sampson’s experiments produced all his weapons of war—creatures, disease, and assassins. Now they produced an army.
Alina shuddered, and turned her thoughts back to their usual place—to Rex, Jade, and Oliver in Millflower, to Zaiden in Stormport, and if he was still alive.
Before long, Alina knew every man in Gerard’s company by name and face, so when the new figure appeared, she noticed at once.
He kept his head and face covered, a peculiar thing in the heat of the day, and traveled several paces from them in the woods. Alina hadn’t seen him before because he kept himself hidden.
Stan.
She tried to meet his eyes, but he never looked at her. Three guards surrounded her at all times, but he never took a turn.
Gerard didn’t want her to notice him.
She stared at the ground, her mind racing, then peeked at the guards around her. It wouldn’t be easy, but she must speak with Stan. She had a plan. Now she needed the right moment.
The next day, Gerard took them straight up a mountain, and as the path became more strenuous, the group stopped frequently to rest. By the time darkness fell and they made camp, the
