Adrian Silvercrest's Arc

Chapter 15 of 23

The rhythm held for four more nights. Then, on the fifth, Hope woke crying at the window. Adrian reached the cradle too late. Her palm was already open, blue light pouring against the glass like a lamp turned outward to the lane. He pulled her against his chest and dropped to the floor below the sill. Aldric came in barefoot. "Someone saw," Adrian said. "How long was she up?" "A minute. Maybe less." "Long enough," Aldric said. He did not soften it. Elara came from the hall with Eric on her hip. She looked at the window, then at Adrian, then at Hope. Her face went flat the way it did when she was thinking fast. "Pack the small trunk," she said. "Clothes. The rings. Nothing heavy." Adrian was already moving when the knock came at the door. It was not a knock. It was a fist. "Dan," the voice said. "Open up. Now." Adrian opened it. Dan stood on the step with two lit torches in his hands, the flames pulling sideways in the wind. Behind him, further down the lane, more torches had gathered near the well. Six, maybe eight. Voices rose from that direction, not yet a mob, but climbing toward one. "They saw the light," Dan said. "Miller's wife did. She ran for the others. I told them I'd check the house first. That bought you ten minutes." "Dan—" "Don't. Move." Elara had Hope against her bare collarbone under her shawl. The glow died. Eric was crying into her neck. Aldric threw the last of the bread and a wrapped cheese into the trunk and closed the lid. "Where?" Adrian said. "North track through my back field," Dan said. "Past the second fence. There's a cottage in the woods my brother built and never finished. Nobody's been out there in twelve years. Roof holds. Well works. I stocked it last winter for a reason I couldn't name at the time." He pushed one of the torches into Adrian's hand. "You go first with the boy. I'll follow with the trunk. Wizard takes the woman and the baby in the middle. Don't run. Running is what they hear." They went out the back. Adrian held Eric under his cloak and the torch low. Aldric walked behind him with a hand at Elara's back. Elara kept Hope pressed skin to skin, humming a note so thin Adrian only knew it by the vibration in the air. Dan came last with the trunk on his shoulder and the second torch held high, wrong direction, drawing any eye toward the fields and away from the tree line. They reached the cottage before the sky began to gray. It was low and square, wound with ivy, the door swollen but sound. Inside there was a hearth already laid, two beds, and a cradle carved with clumsy roses. Dan set the trunk down. "You live here now," he said. "Nobody knows this place but me. Keep her away from the windows." Adrian nodded. He could not speak yet. Hope glowed faintly against Elara's throat, safe, hidden, and no longer the family's to hide in plain sight.