Dead Tempted - BOOK 1 - Pomegranate Seeds

PART TWO - EXODUS - I

PROICITE QUICQUID FEMINEI RESERVATE...

{Whatsoever of the female, ye shall save alive}

The journey from Winchester to Guildford was long and arduous. It took most of the day to ride there with the luggage, horses and servants Lord Guild had brought with him to Winchester. Bronwen wondered how long he had been planning to stay. Surely one man did not need so much luggage?

It was difficult for Lady Bronwen to argue with Kole's plan to take her back to Guildford with him while he conducted some business. After the attack in the woods, Kole had thought it best to remove Bronwen from the gossip of the city, especially while the authorities tried to discover why they had been attacked.

Lord Guild had answered all of the police questions so Bronwen did not have to and he had tried to shield her from any detailed information, not wishing to upset her. The little Bronwen had discovered was that Haydon Stone had been the name of their lead attacker. He was a stonemason from the outskirts of Winchester, had no known family and had paid the other three men to help him with money that was clearly not his own.

So, Thanatos had been correct, her murderers knew she was alive again and they wanted her gone.

Now, more than ever, Bronwen realised the need for protection and thought that perhaps the trip to Guildford was a wise plan after all. She needed to get away to collect her thoughts and at least she would soon see Josette.

The journey to Guildford, however, would have taken less than half the time if they had travelled by train and would have been far more comfortable than the jolting and bumpy carriage. Bronwen's hips and lower back ached from the hard-wooden chairs that gave no tolerance. She would even have preferred riding, then at least she would be able to see when a dip in the road was waiting for her spine.

Kole's argument for travelling this way was so that they might enjoy the countryside, but Bronwen would have been able to see it from a train just as easily and the countryside held little appeal to her when it was so unforgiving to a traveller's trespassing.

She pulled the curtain slightly back on the carriage window. Lord Guild had decided to ride for a while so that Bronwen could rest. Even if it were possible for her to do so, the shunting of the carriage would not have allowed her to sleep.

A dark shape blocked her view of the trees they were travelling past. It was Adam Whyms.

Bronwen had seen the barely contained rage in Adam's eyes when he had heard about the attack. So much so that she feared he would have hunted Haydon down himself if the man was not already dead.

Bronwen had yet to thank Adam for helping her with Lowell and doubted she ever would, despite realising that she had been treating him very poorly after he saved her life.

Mr Whyms turned in his saddle and Bronwen quickly dropped the curtain before he could catch her watching him. He had a certain way of looking into her eyes or giving her a small, rare smile that made her feel exposed. She remembered how his fists had curled tightly when he saw the marks and swelling to her throat from Haydon's hands. When she had tried to tell him she was fine, her voice had come out as a rasped whisper and his eyes had flashed darkly. He had disappeared from the room for a few hours, returning later with bloodied knuckles, like he had been punching stone.

Bronwen rearranged her bodice and skirts to a semi comfortable position. She was alone in the carriage, Alda had chosen not to make the journey with her.

The maid was still a little icy with Bronwen after she found out that she and Kole had left the carriage alone the night they were attacked. Alda had been especially tetchy when Bronwen had refused to see a doctor about her throat and Kole had refused to delay the trip to Guildford until Bronwen was healed.