As Taren rode deeper into the forest, he felt a creeping sensation wash over him.
I'm being followed.
He let out a short breath and smiled to himself. You're just being paranoid, Taren.
He urged Hesper forward until they arrived in a clearing in the forest. A cloud of bats rustled overhead. He dismounted from his horse.
A branch snapped nearby. Taren's hand hovered over the handle of the sword by his side.
There were too many shadows and forms. He wouldn't be able to make out a human form in this tangle. His eyes grazed the surroundings. As the one in the clearing, he was vulnerable, but he was prepared from whichever direction the attack might come from.
"Show yourself."
Two white legs of a horse emerged into the pool of light. And on top of the horse, holding both reins in one hand, was Ginevra.
"Lay all your cards on the table, Maldoni. What are you doing out here?"
"Ginevra, return to the estate now. You shouldn't be here."
"Why? Are you waiting for someone? A secret lover? An illegal encounter?" Ginevra held a tight grip on the reigns. Her posture was erect, her chin raised as the horse took another step forward.
"What are you hiding, di Maldoni? Why do you live in the shadows?"
Taren cast a cursory glance around. "Ginevra, return to the estate now. Please."
"Not until you tell me what's going on."
She was so stubborn.
"You're being unreasonable."
"Then that's a trait I've picked up from your side of the family."
Taren took another step towards Ginevra, lifting his arm to grab Ignis' reigns. The feeling that he was being watched was stronger than ever.
"Ginevra, get off your horse. Get out of the opening. Now."
Ginevra ignored him. He noticed her shoulders tense. "Don't come any closer. For the last time, tell me what's going on."
"I will. As soon as you get off your horse."
"You think you can order –"
Taren lunged forward. There was a tumble of legs and arms and when they stopped, Ginevra was pinned under him on the ground. She was struggling against him and he looked down and realized he was holding her wrist. He released her just as Ginevra went still. Her eyes were frozen on something behind him. He turned his head. An arrow was sticking out from his back.
"You're shot."
Taren ignored her and drew close to her ear. "Don't move from here." He moved over Ginevra and slipped into the thick foliage.
****
Ginevra's chest was drumming wildly against her chest. She was too stunned to move, the branches, the stars were all swirling above her head.
Who was targeting Taren? What was going on here?
He had just been shot in his right shoulder. He couldn't fight anyone like that.
A laugh resounded through the darkness. Its pitch and playful ring were unmistakable – it was Luca.
Ginevra grabbed the small dagger hidden in the folds of her dress.
I'm getting to the bottom of this, once and for all.
Crouching close to the ground, Ginevra started to crawl in the direction that Taren had disappeared. Once she was further away from the clearing and had a couple of bushes behind her, she rose to her feet. In the distance, the sound of metal on metal hacked away at the silence.
The foliage was dense. Branches of trees and bushes grew wildly in all directions and kept catching on the skirt and sleeves of her dress. How far could Taren have gone in these brambles? The ground was uneven, covered in thick, twisting roots that rose up from the ground. In her hurry leaving the estate, Ginevra had forgotten to change her shoes. The thin-soled slippers were wet through and easily slipped on the roots. The clanging would go on for a couple of seconds, then everything would fall into silence again, before the clanging started again.
Ginevra blindly followed this sound. It seemed like every time it stopped and started again, it was coming from a different direction. Finally, she decided on continuing to walk northeast.
A deep silence reigned in the forest again, Ginevra held her breath and waited, but this silence seemed to stretch on longer. Holding on to a trunk of a tree, Ginevra stepped around another root.
Low, gruff voices sounded near her. She stepped forward and tripped over the tip of a root. The ground rose up to meet her as she fell to her knees. When she looked up, she saw she was at the edge of another clearing.
Taren had a man pinned up against a tree, his forearm pressed against the man's throat. A stub of an arrow was sticking out of his back and the dark shirt was soaked wet. He's bleeding.
Something shifted in the corner of her eye. Another man was coming up behind Taren. The grass in the opening glistened with dew.
As if he had heard her, Taren's blue eyes flashed at Ginevra. They were so bright they seemed as if they were glowing. Their eyes locked. And then, he winked at her.
In a flash, Taren side-stepped out of the way as the man came running at him with a sword. The force of his momentum sent him barreling into the tree, his sword plunging into the trunk a mere inch away from the first man's throat.
A large hand slapped over Ginevra's mouth while a thick arm pulled around her waist, trapping her arms to her body. She felt herself being pulled back. She was still holding the dagger in her hand. Without thinking, she moved her wrists as far as she could away from the man, and then thrust. The man's arms instantly dropped away from her as he let out a wild howl. She had no idea where she had stabbed him, but by her estimate, it must have been right above his groin.
His arms swung wildly at her as profuse swears poured out of him. He was in a blind rage, and Ginevra easily ducked out of the way. The man reached around him and Ginevra saw something glisten in the dark. She swerved out of the way as his sword came boring down at her. If she kept this up, his defense would loosen and she could find an opening to attack. She gripped the handle of the sword. Thrust. Swerve. Thrust. Swerve. Ginevra took another step back and looked around. She was in the clearing. Taren was still fighting off the two men.
Her attacker had just finished lunging at her. He had swung too right, and his entire left side was exposed. This was her chance. Ginevra lunged forward and then she felt the ground give way under her. She scrambled to her knees just as she felt a thick, warm hand wrap around her throat.
The man's eyes were bloodshot as he brought her to her feet, lifting her up by her neck. His fingers were digging deeper and deeper into her and she felt her vision growing dark.
"It's time for you to learn your place, bitch."
Ginevra wanted to fight back, but her arms had gone limp and her vision was growing darker.
She started to raise her arm to attack him but it was like moving through water. And then her vision completely faded to black. She felt herself fall to the ground.
The surge of oxygen to her head brought her vision back. She saw Taren throw her attacker across the air into the trunk of a tree. Before the man could react, Taren was standing over him.
"You were harassing my wife. And for that, you will pay with your life."
Something glistened in the air. A flutter in the darkness. An arrow flew into Taren's back, lodging itself next to the stump of the other one. Taren lurched forward, but it was momentary.
He slowly turned around, and his eyes were glowing now, an angry, deep, blazing blue, as he pinned the man with his gaze.
"I thought I told you to stop playing with those arrows."
Taren had the man on the ground under him in the next moment, sword at his neck.
"You worthless –"
A thin line of red had started to appear on the man's throat as the sharp edge dug deeper into the skin.
"Taren, don't!"
Luca appeared by Taren's side, blocking off Ginevra's view. She heard a sickening, gurgling noise and then the forest fell into silence. Over to the side, Ginevra saw Nicco finish off the other men. A rip in his shirt revealed a tattoo on his rib. Ginevra had long suspected that Nicco and Luca were more than just Taren's representative and scribe. They were too strong, too fast on their feet, and too sharp.
Her eyes strayed from Nicco to Luca, at the ink black tattoo on Luca's forearm.
Ginevra stood to her feet. "Luca? Nicco? What are you two doing out here? Wh- what are you doing? What is this?
Both men were stunned into silence as they regarded Ginevra for the first time.
"Your tattoo…it's the same as Nicco's. They're both sigils. I recognize them."
Luca, for the first time, seemed to be at a loss for words. He took a step forward her, his light hair falling over his brows. "Ginevra…we can explain this."
"I knew it. You are involved in this curse."
Luca fell silent. Taren spoke.
"The three of them each gave years of their own life to save me…three years each. A gift which contractually bound them to me. I am living on the time I have borrowed from them."
Three?
"Who's the third?" Ginevra asked.
But no sooner had she asked, she knew who it was. As if on cue, Boni – the gentle doctor of the House of Maldoni – broke through the foliage, his light blue tunic splattered in blood.