“We leave tonight,” the duke announced.

They were seated around a large table in his office. Since Selen was the only one able to see Rose’s location, they had tried to map out an itinerary. Having decidedly no say in the matter, Selen quickly packed her bag and headed toward the stables.

“You will remain between the two of us during the journey. Just because I agreed to trust you regarding the tracking spell doesn’t mean you can do as you please.”

Selen rolled her eyes in irritation.

“As Your Grace wishes,” she replied sarcastically, positioning her horse between theirs.

The duke nodded at Sir Howard, and off they went.

They rode for a good part of the night before Selen abruptly pulled her horse to a stop. She was exhausted, and no matter how stubborn the duke was, she needed sleep if she was to stay in the saddle. By the time the duke and Sir Howard noticed she had stopped, Selen already had her sleeping bag out. The duke dismounted, fuming with anger.

“May I know what you think you’re doing?” he demanded, tugging at the sleeping bag Selen had already wrapped herself in.

“I’m trying to sleep. It’s what normal people do after spending most of the day on the back of an animal,” Selen replied, turning her back to him.

“You have five minutes to get up and back on that horse, or else—”

“Or else what? You’ll kill me? Oh right, you can’t, since I’m the only one who can locate your beloved sister,” Selen shot back sarcastically.

She could hear the duke’s breathing quicken—most likely with anger.

Before she could even close her eyes, she felt herself being lifted—sleeping bag and all.

“Have you lost your mind? Put me down.”

“Only on the horse,” the duke replied.

She struggled so much that he failed to get her onto the saddle and had to set her back down.

“Do you intend to gallop day and night without sleeping? Because both I and the horses need rest.”

“We must reach the next village before tomorrow morning. Only then will you be allowed to rest.”

“I think you’re forgetting something, Your Grace. I am not your servant like I was at the beginning of our acquaintance. Today, you are the one depending on my goodwill. And if you opened your eyes, you’d see that even Sir Howard is about to fall asleep.”

The duke turned toward Sir Howard and examined him closely. The moonlight illuminated the night well enough, and Selen was certain she saw a faint blush creep onto Sir Howard’s face.

“You’re trying to use Sir Howard now? Do you think a seasoned knight like him would fall asleep so easily?”

“Seasoned knight or not, he’s human first and foremost. And exhausting ourselves won’t help us save Lady Rose.”

“I forbid you to—”

“Your Grace, she’s right. The horses are tired. They need a few hours. We can set out again at dawn. What do you say?” Sir Howard proposed.

The duke cast him a stunned look.

“Very well, let’s do as Sir Howard suggests,” Selen said, already walking back to where she had initially laid down her sleeping bag.

After a few minutes, she concluded that the duke had finally acknowledged their need for rest. Yet just as she was drifting into deep sleep, she felt someone fiddling with her sleeping bag.

“What now?” Selen exclaimed, turning around.

“I refuse to sleep—even for a few hours—without being certain you won’t take the opportunity to run.”

Selen could feel what little patience she had left about to evaporate.

Just as she was about to respond, she noticed he was holding a glinting object in the moonlight—one she would recognize anywhere. Her skin turned to marble as anxiety and fear, long buried within her, surged to the surface. A dull pain gripped her chest so tightly that she nearly reached for it. She tried to recover quickly, but it was too late—the duke had already seen her reaction.

“I’ll go fetch a rope instead,” he said, slipping the handcuffs back into his pocket.

He returned quickly with the rope. He laid his sleeping bag beside hers and tied their hands together before turning his back to her.

Selen thanked the heavens for her aching body, because she fell asleep quickly despite the mixture of shame and embarrassment pricking her heart like tiny thorns. The cherry on top was that the duke snored—yes, snored—even though he had been so fiercely opposed to resting for a few hours.

The sun had barely risen when Selen woke up. She avoided meeting the duke’s gaze as she lit a small fire to warm her breakfast. Their meal was quick, and they soon resumed their journey. Before mounting her horse, Selen had checked Rose’s location and was truly astonished by the heretics’ speed. According to the map, they were already at the duchy’s border, while they themselves hadn’t even covered half the distance.

A few hours later, they reached the nearest village. It had never been touched by the war against the heretics, so it was thriving and full of merchants. The closer one got to the duchy’s exit, the more crowded the villages became, thanks to the neighboring port city’s trade.

“We’ll stop at a pub to gather information and warm up a bit,” the duke announced.

When they arrived at the pub, Selen took the opportunity to go upstairs for a hot bath while the duke and Sir Howard made inquiries. When she came back down to the main hall, she noticed the duke and Sir Howard seated apart in a dark corner. She sat across from them and began eating the soup the waitress placed before her. She could feel the duke’s insistent gaze on her—clearly, he had something to say, and it was burning on his lips.

“Did you find anything useful?” Selen finally asked to break the heavy silence.

“As a matter of fact, no. No one saw a band of heretics pass through here accompanied by a woman they might have kidnapped.”

Selen set her spoon down beside her plate with exaggerated slowness. She needed to keep her hands busy, or she might not resist the strong urge to strangle the duke.

“And what am I supposed to conclude from that?” she asked.

“Don’t you find it strange? According to your tracking spell, the heretics must have passed through this village. Yet no one saw them. And we both know they’re not exactly the type to go unnoticed.”

“Did you interrogate the entire village to reach that conclusion, or are you just looking for a way to vent your frustration on me?”

“Pubs are where everything is discussed. If a group of heretics had passed through this village, at least one person would have seen them,” the duke insisted.

“Oh really? And in your opinion, would they have paraded through the entire village in plain sight? Think about it. If even you, after all these years, have been unable to trace their source, then they clearly have more than one way to go unnoticed.”

“You’ve barely been here a month, and you want to lecture me?” the duke asked, rising to his feet.

“Your Grace, Sir Anna, please calm down. Getting lost in arguments will only slow us down,” Sir Howard said, stepping between them.

The duke let out a sarcastic laugh.

“How gracious of you, Sir Howard, to continue calling this impostor by that name. Who knows how she managed to steal another’s identity, and we’re supposed to trust her? A person whose real name we don’t even know?”

“There we have it. Admit it—the reason for all this drama is that you can’t bring yourself to trust me. But I’m not asking you to trust me. The choice is yours. As for my real name, I might have told you if you had bothered to ask. But no—Your Grace only concerns himself with matters that involve his own person or his beloved family.”

Selen stood and grabbed her bag.

“If it’s to argue at every turn, I’d rather go my own way. I don’t need a selfish, egocentric, paranoid duke who thinks the world revolves around him.”

Selen stormed out of the pub and headed for the stables. She was leading the horse out of its stall when the duke and Sir Howard entered.

“And you plan to leave us riding the horse that belongs to me?”

Selen rolled her eyes. Listening to him, one would truly believe the world revolved around him, she thought.

As she mounted her horse, the duke grabbed its reins.

“Sir Howard is right. Arguing will only slow us down. I won’t set aside my suspicions regarding you, but I will try to keep them to myself. After all, you are the only one capable of locating Rose.”

Selen nearly burst out laughing. Could this man not apologize like a normal human being instead of being so proud?

“If you say so, Your Grace. I understand that your sister’s disappearance troubles you. But understand this—we all have an objective to reach, and in my eyes, my objective is just as important as yours is to you.”

Selen spurred her horse into a gallop, soon followed by the duke and Sir Howard.

This journey promises to be a long one, she thought as they crossed the village’s boundary.