Page 26 of Hollow Court
No, I would not go back.Could not.
Pushing down the last lingering bits of apprehension, I squared my shoulders before leaving the carriage. The Lochlannian soldiers split to let me pass, alone, to the Socairans stationed at the tunnels.
This was one of the tenets of our plan, to make sure it couldn’t come back on Lochlann or Rowan that Davin had absconded with Socair’s highest ranking eligible lady, and that it couldn’t come back on my family or clan that I had fled from my betrothal.
Davin insisted on remaining close enough to intercede if necessary, though.
There were men stationed evenly all along the border leading to the tunnels, but only two directly at the mouth. They shuffled as I neared, their eyes widening.
“My Lady,” the closest officer said, stepping forth. “How can we help you?”
“I’m here to enter the tunnels,” I said as flatly as I could muster.
The soldier looked uncertainly at the carriage behind me. “Are those your escorts?”
“The queen has mandated that a lady does not need an escort to travel,” I responded, my tone far steadier than my insides. “But the Lochlannian party has graciously agreed to share resources and protection in the tunnels.”
He exchanged a look with his partner.
“Do you have consent from your father or your husband?”
Though I was allowed to travel alone, the law had not yet extended to my being able to do so without authorization.
“I have the permission of my betrothed. His insistence, actually.” I was absolutely not letting my father take the fall for this, and it was true.
Technically, Davin was now my betrothed.
The man turned to his logbook, a quill already poised over the open page. “What’s your name?”
“Galina Zhakarov.”
His blond eyebrows climbed into his hairline. “Sir Mikhail is sending his niece to Lochlann?”
I gave him an unassuming smile. “As I said, it’s at the behest of my betrothed.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Davin pause in the middle of moving from the carriage to one of the narrow wagons suited for travel in the tunnels. I gave him a subtle gesture to show that everything was fine, and he continued after only a moment’s hesitation.
The soldier looked from the Lochlannians to me, his brow furrowed. I registered the exact moment he decided this was not his problem. After all, if I was lying, they would fetch me back and it could hardly come back on them when I claimed to have permission.
If I was telling the truth, and he stopped a duke’s niece and insulted the queen’s family in one go, that was another story.
“You’ll need to sign,” he said, gesturing toward the logbook.
“Of course.”
I stared at the words he had written just above a small black x.
Galina Zhakarov, traveling to Lochlann at the behest of her betrothed.
Dipping the quill in an ink pot, I fought to keep my hands from shaking as I sealed my fate with a single signature.
Then I stepped into the tunnels to wait for Davin, letting the darkness swallow me whole.
TEN
Davin
This wasmy third trek through the tunnels since Rowan and I were trapped in them for days on end with no light or water, and each subsequent journey was only marginally more fun than that one had been.