Rowan Nightshade's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Rowan Nightshade was cleaning a deer knife at the kitchen table when the cottage door slammed open. His father stood in the frame, chest heaving, one hand braced on the wood. Marcus Thorne was fifty and strong, but right now he looked like a man who had run until his legs gave out. Rowan set the knife down. He had spent six months planning a wedding to a girl who once told him no and then, slowly, told him yes. That plan was about to end. "They took her," Marcus said. He shut the door behind him and leaned on it. Gray hair stuck to his forehead. "The nobleman's men. This morning. Her father signed the contract before dawn." Rowan stood. The chair scraped back and hit the wall. "Signed what." "A marriage. To the king's son." Marcus wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "It's done, boy. She's already gone from the village." Rowan's mother came in from the back room. Elara Nightshade moved fast for someone who never hurried. She looked at Marcus, then at her son, and her green eyes went hard. She had the same eyes as Rowan. Right now they held the same thing. "Where," Rowan said. "I don't know," Marcus said. "North road. That's all I saw. Four riders and a covered cart. I couldn't stop four riders, Rowan. I tried." He held up his hands. One knuckle was split. "I tried." Rowan crossed the room and gripped his father's shoulder once, hard, then let go. He pulled his sword belt from the peg by the door. The orange tabby that lived under the table watched him buckle it, tail twitching. "She refused him," Elara said quietly. "You told me she refused him twice." "She did." "Then she was taken. Not married." "I know what she was." Rowan pulled his cloak down. His hands were steady, which surprised him. "I know what she is." Marcus straightened off the door. "The king's son keeps a hunting lodge two days north. If they went that way, that's where they'll stop first. After that it's the capital, and after that you'll never see her again." "Two days," Rowan said. "If you ride tonight. One, maybe." Elara went to the shelf and took down a small purse. She pressed it into Rowan's hand without a word. Her fingers were cold. She held on a second longer than she needed to. "Bring her back," she said. "I'm going to kill him," Rowan said. "Bring her back first." Rowan kissed his mother's forehead. He gripped his father's arm. Then he stepped out of the cottage into the blue evening and started for the stable. Behind him the door stayed open. Neither of his parents moved to close it.