I Am Bree - Book 1

Chapter 32 - Running

Rigid and uncomfortable as I was, I had no space in my brain to think about anything else. I didn't even notice that we had left the fine parts of the city near the palace behind us and plunged into the back alleys and dingy streets of the lower town. The raw stench hit my nostrils, but I was too absorbed in watching the broad, black back in front of me for any sign that he would abandon me to even wrinkle my nose.

The minutes passed like small eternities, and my already sore muscles began to ache with burning fervor. I bit my lip tightly to try to distract myself from the pain, but it was useless. Finally, I took a moment to look at my surroundings and realize how lost I would be if Kotaro decided to abandon me. At the thought, renewed fear pulsed through me at the uncertainty of what he was going to do with me.

"Where are you taking me?" The words escaped my lips unbidden, and at his answering silence, I began to fear I had upset him.

"Did you want to find your father, or would you prefer I take you back to the prince?" His voice rumbled.

I looked up quickly, but I couldn't see his face well enough to judge his expression. Could it be that he was taking me to find my father? An almost petrifying hope welled within me at the thought, and I half leaned forward.

"You know where he is?" My voice was breathless and almost inaudible.

"No, but I know someone who knows how to find him." He said.

"Who?" I whispered, my fingers tightening on the fabric of his shirt.

A warm, calloused hand closed over mine suddenly, and Kotaro carefully loosened my grip, moving my arm down to encircle his waist. Terrified, I attempted to move it to its previous place, but he pulled it back down—this time with a little more power. The force pitched me off my precarious balance, and I fell against him. My nose smashed into the muscles right above his shoulder blades, and tears sparked to life in my eyes. The numb pain was of no consequence, however, as the strong scent of sage invaded my nostrils.

My mind went blank, and I looked up at what I could see of his face with wide, uncertain eyes. I knew that smell intimately well by now, but I had never thought, never guessed...The comforting hand in the dark, the arms that had kept me from discovery that night at the ball—could they have belonged to him?

Impetuously, I reached up and took hold of his hand. Shutting my eyes, I recalled the darkness of my prison cell and the feeling of the hand cradling mine until sleep overtook me. Those fingers, long, calloused, and folding over my small hand—they were unmistakably the same.

"Why?" I didn't realize I'd spoke until the word had already left my lips and was hanging in the air between us.

"What?" I felt Kotaro's voice rumble comfortingly against me.

"Why are you doing this?" I tried to get a better view of his face.

His features were impassive as usual. However, the corner of his mouth quirked slightly—not into a smile or a frown, just a quick tug of his lips. The tiny change to his expression came and went so quickly that if I hadn't been watching him so intently, I wouldn't have seen it at all. He pulled his hand free of mine, and I knew what would follow, then. He would play stupid and leave me with no answers. That's what everyone else had done to me, and I prepared myself to hear some ridiculous excuse or an admonition to mind my own business.

"I couldn't let you become like me." His voice was firm.

I was taken aback by the frankness of his answer. He'd blankly stated the facts instead of dancing around my question in an attempt to distract me. I wished I could see his whole face, wondering if that might give me more information. I lifted slightly in the saddle to try to get a better view, but apparently, I moved more than I thought I did, because his hand closed over mine, making me stop.