Her Rogue Knight Read Free

there something I can take so that Alys will know to trust me once I have found her?”
    “You’re very sure of yourself,” Gemma said. “Father, I am going now. You do not need to give him anything or make any promises you will be unable to keep.”
    “ I apologize for my daughter, Sir William.” Abraham raised his hand, twisting the ring with the family crest from his finger until he pulled it off. “Take this. She will know it is from me. I have no money to give you, only a few coins, but if it comes to that, you can use the ring to buy her back.”
    William reached out and took the ring, looking it over before pressing it onto his own finger. “This will do. I need no money. I will have her back as soon as I can.”
    “You cannot give him your ring! What if we never see him again?” Gemma broke in.
    “Go to your room, child.”
    “No!”
    “Now!” Abraham demanded, raising his voice in a way he hadn’t in years.
    “I’ll take my leave and prepare for the journey,” Sir William said, ignoring her altogether and bowing his head to Abraham.
    “I thank you, Sir William,” Abraham said.
    Sir William didn’t smile but walked out the door.
    “I can’t believe you just gave him your ring, not to mention what you promised! We don’t even know the man. He is a recluse, a hermit. He could be a criminal, no better than those men who took Alys.”
    “His heart is pure,” Abraham said, watching as the door closed behind Sir William before turning to Gemma. He reached out a hand to take hers. “Open your eyes, child. See what is true. You have your mother’s magic—you simply must open your eyes.” He squeezed her hand. “As well as your heart.”
    “There is no magic, Father,” she spat in familiar anger, walking out the door just in time to catch Sir William as he mounted his horse.
    “Sir William,” she called out, the words sounding bitter.
    He turned.
    She covered the few steps between them. “That ring belongs to my family. It’s the last thing of any value that my father owns,” she said, her voice more an angry hiss than anything else.
    “I understand, and I shall bring your sister and it back to him. Go back inside to your father. He needs you now.”
    “I won’t marry you.”
    He ignored that. “Go inside.”
    “At least let me come with you. You cannot stand against all those men alone.”
    “No, it’s too dangerous for you.” He then spoke more slowly, as if she were hard of understanding. “Go back inside. Your father needs you now.”
    “You’re going to lose the trail if you wait,” she said. “We have to go now.”
    “There is no ‘we’. The men are headed west. I know that as well as their destination. It’s useless to go after them without first preparing. I will be of no use to your sister if I do not do that.”
    Frustrated, she turned away and walked back into the house. She heard him mutter something under his breath but didn’t look back. Instead, she listened to the sound of the horse’s hooves as Sir William rode off.

Chapter Two
     
     
    As soon as night had fallen, Gemma climbed out of her bedroom window. She pulled the hood of her cloak over her head and secured her bow and arrows along with two apples inside Morning Glory’s saddlebag. She then mounted and trotted off into the woods in the direction the men had gone earlier that day.
    The night was cool as it usually was this time of year, and she was grateful for it. The light of the stars guided her through the dense wood, but she worried that it would become thicker and much darker soon.
    Sir William had said they had headed west, so she went in that direction, guided by her own senses for the moment. She had borrowed the last of her father’s coins—well, borrowed without his knowledge or permission. She slid her hand into her pocket and touched them, feeling a pang of guilt before turning to the path ahead of her. Alys’ life was more important than any amount of money and any material