The boy still stumbled after her. “But—”
“If you are going to follow me, Ben, I’d prefer it if you did so without protest.” A few seconds of silence followed, and Rosilee sighed. Had she been too harsh? She didn’t mean to be, but she couldn’t afford to soften her resolve or listen to dissent.
I must get to London.
Even if her feet blistered and bled.
Nothing else mattered.
She fixed her eyes on the road ahead, refusing to look away.
Just when she settled into a comfortable stride, Ben burst out, “Horses!”
Rosilee jolted and whipped her head around, her gaze darting back to where Ben pointed at the two pairs of horses attached to her carriage.
Of course!
Why walk when they had four perfectly healthy horses to ride? She slowed to a stop, her heart somersaulting. How could she not have thought of that? “Ben, how smart you are!”
Giddiness overtook her.
They didn’t have any saddles, but saddles be damned. She wouldn’t let that stop her. A horse was faster than a human.
The sudden gallop of hooves echoed from somewhere beyond the carriage, back the way they’d come, and all Rosilee’s senses went on alert.
A rider?
Sure enough, a rider on a monstrous black horse rounded the bend and was practically on top of them before she could blink. She lifted her arms and waved, determined to make herself seen. “Stop! Please, stop!” she called out, her voice carrying through the air like a whip.
“My lady!” Ben shouted. “Get out of the way!”
Rosilee froze. Dear God. The rider was at a full, dead run, and she stood directly in his path. Her breath seized, her feet refusing to obey the sharp command she sent their way.
A curse ripped the air as the man yanked at the reins of his horse.
She should run.
She should leap out of the way.
She shouldmove.
But her body remained locked in place. She swore the entire world took on a life of its own. The hooves roared. The ground shook. The skies crackled.
All her senses distorted at once.
Some things, however, remained remarkably clear. The rider’s widening eyes, the powerful, rippling muscles of the horse, and the pounding beat of her own pulse in her ears. She could see it, feel it—the looming threat of collision, the trampling might of the horse. There wasn’t even time to scream. There wasn’t time for anything.
Something yanked her backward.
Rosilee yelped as she toppled to the ground, the breath knocked from her lungs, Ben landing next to her. It all unfolded in a maddening blur—slow, yet unbearably fast. The rider’s horse reared up just inches from where she’d been standing.
Time snapped back into its normal rhythm.
Rosilee gasped, the sharp intake of air filling her lungs, but it did nothing to quell the racing of her heart. The horse snorted, its front legs crashing down with a startling crunch mere feet from where they sprawled, its big body heaving as the rider hauled it to a stop.
She flinched as the shadow of a man fell over her.
Tall and broad-shouldered, his posture seethed with authority. Emerald eyes blazed down at her, and Rosilee felt as though she might burst into flames.