"Kill myself?" She asked, her voice incredulous.

He wasn’t going to allow her to make small of the situation as far as he was concerned.

"What do you call riding out in a faulty carriage in the middle of a storm? And in poor health?" He stepped forward menacingly. "It is called begging for a death wish, Lady Stenly, if I must educate you."

Her lips puckered. "Yet here I am."

She still didn’t realize her mistake?

"I see you would fight to the death no matter what I say."

She glared at him. "If I stayed in that castle a second longer and listened to one more person accuse me of killing my own child, I might have as well taken my own life."

He blinked, flustered at her admission.

"That means you have very little value for your own life."

"And you have a gross amount of value for yours." She retorted, a deep frown on her face.

She looked like she would love nothing more than to shove a pile of dirt into his face.

Yeren smoothed a hand through his hair and looked beyond her.

Realizing he was looking at them, everyone gathered there immediately busied themselves with doing something so it wouldn’t look like they were eavesdropping.

Even if they were.

"Come. Let’s talk somewhere private." He reached out to take her arm.

She pulled her hand away, glaring down at his outstretched arm.

"God help me, Claire." He murmured and took her arm forcefully, pulling her away with him.

"Do you have nothing better to do than to follow me down to an inn, Your Grace?" The criticism in her voice made his jaw tense but he kept pulling her along.

When they were far beyond earshot, he stopped and released her arm.

She rubbed her arm and continued to glare at him.

"I didn’t expect you to miss me this much. I was even certain that you were glad I was gone."

He raised a brow at her.

"I’m not here to banter meaningless words with you, Lady Stenly. Someone came looking for the things you left behind."

All the colour in her face drained out in an instant.

"Who? Who would want anything to do with my things?" She touched a pale hand to her chest. "And for what?"

He watched her for a moment before saying, "It seems they wanted to track you down. Already, your carriage was raided and your horses were stolen - so you should already know that you are not safe."

"I know that." She snapped.

He took a step back and watched her. She would rather stare at a crawling ant at her feet than look at him.

Under the warm sunlight, her hair looked more red. He wanted to run his fingers through them. Instead, he mimicked her posture and folded his arms.

"So you came all this way to tell me that?" Her eyes finally met his, searching for something he didn’t know.

Her folded arms fell away and her shoulders slumped.

"Perhaps I was being rash with my decision to leave, Your Grace. Your kindness has been well received, but you have to stop worrying about me."

"Why?" He asked before he could stop himself. "Because of what you did?"

He closed the space between them without realising it.

His hand went around her and cupped her waist, bringing her flush against him.

She winced, reminding him of her tender condition.

But yet, she didn’t try to wiggle out of his grasp.

"I don’t understand you, Yer... Your Grace. You told me to leave... now you’re acting as if my life matters to you..."

"Because it does." He cut her off to say. "But if you must know, I did not come here solely to see you. I brought along you and your sister’s things and will escort you to Penbrook since it isn’t far out of my way." 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"Where are you heading?" She asked. Then she coloured immediately she asked, as if she wished she could take back her words.

"To Glenwood. My house was raided and my steward was killed." He told her, even though it was none of her business.

His eyes searched hers, noticing how her eyes became two round pools of concern.

"I did like him... my condolences." Her breath tickled the skin of his jaw as she looked up at him.

He was satisfied with what he saw for some odd reason.

Then slowly, he released her and backed away.

"More guards would accompany you to your new home. For once in your life, Lady Stenly, I implore that you listen to them. If anything happens to you..." He stopped himself before he could finish.

Then, he spun around and walked away, leaving her staring after him.

As he passed the entrance and headed towards his carriage, her sister was just coming out of the building.

She avoided meeting his gaze as she walked towards where her sister stood.

He had said a lot of things he hadn’t meant to say.

Why was it so hard for him to hold his tongue around her?

Just the memory of her body pressed against his made his blood throb.

He wiped his face with his hands and entered the carriage, taking one of the cushioned benches.

She was still standing where he left her, talking in a very low tone with her sister.

Then, he watched her walk across the distance to where the carriage driver that had driven her stood with the blacksmith.

"Thank you so much for everything you have done for myself and my sister." She was saying.

Then she produced something and handed it to him.

The man took it from her, his eyes wide with surprise at the prize.

"This is real gold!" He heard the man exclaim.

She nodded at him.

Only then did Yeren realize that she had just given away the necklace he had given her.

His face turned cold.

"That’s your payment." She said and turned to start walking towards the house.

But somehow, she glanced at the carriage and met his gaze.

Colour crept up her cheeks and she hurried into the building.

He’d had the necklace specially made for her by one of the best balcksmiths in the kingdom and she had the gall to give it away?

Did she not care for his feelings at all?