Risk

Chapter XVIII

Jasta pretty much ignored the surroundings as they flashed past. Star was going faster than normal, maybe due to the downhill slope.

She wasn't just ignoring them for the hell of it, though. She was thinking. If Rowan had lied so easily about so many other things, then he was most likely faking his fatigue too. It was a good lie, she had to admit. It took a real expert to fake the bleariness she'd seen in his eyes, and even now, his shoulders were sagging, and he sat slumped in the saddle. He was keeping it up, even when he didn't know if she was noticing it or not. A very skilled liar, indeed.

She hated that she knew she would have fallen for it had she not discovered his façade.

She just wished he wasn't lying about taking her home. For all she knew about the time she spent on the back of that horse, she could never even hope to tell if he was lying about that. They might even be going in the complete opposite direction and she wouldn't be able to tell.

Maybe it was all some elaborate plot. Rowan had talked to his "brothers" before she'd woken up, and it was his plan to get her to trust him, and then he would lead her even farther away from her home, so there was never any hope of getting back, and then they would do whatever unspeakable thing they had in mind for her.

She shook her head. If she was ever going to get home, she had to think positive thoughts. Even if she was going to die, she had to at least believe that she was on her way to her family.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when Starlight suddenly skidded to a jarring halt, kicking up bits of gravel as she reared up. Jasta tried to calm her rapidly beating heart, clutching to the sides of the saddle to keep from sliding off.

Then she realized that she was sitting in the saddle now, rather than so far back that she was hardly sitting on it anymore. Which meant one thing and one thing only.

Rowan wasn't in the saddle anymore. Her blood turned to ice when her mind finally gripped that fact. Had he fallen out some time while she was still deep in thought, and now she would have to backtrack to find him?

She frantically scanned the sides of the roads as Star slowly calmed down. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw that Rowan was very close behind. He was sitting a few paces away from the horse, a dumbfounded look on his face. She started to wonder if his façade of fatigue was true. Why would he risk his life by falling form the horse just to convince her of a stupid lie?

She slid carefully from Starlight's back, taking the reins to lead her back to where Rowan was.

"Are you okay?" she asked coldly, glancing over him quickly to scan for any injuries. He seemed fine.

"Yeah." The word was barely more than a mumble. He pushed himself unsteadily onto his feet, but he remained crouching as if he was afraid he wouldn't be able to actually stand without some form of support.

"What do you think you're doing?" she demanded, pushing him back harshly. She wasn't about to let him back on the horse if he was that tired.

"We gotta keep going." His eyes locked on hers despite the fog in them, clearly showing confusion.

"That's stupid. You fell from the horse, you need sleep."

"But, what about your family, and—" she covered his mouth with one hand, stopping him from finishing.

"Since when have you cared about that?" she asked, keeping her anger out of her voice. But she also kept everything else out of her voice, as she had been trying to do all day.