“Maybe we could help the tailor sew. My dress really isn’t nice enough for a castle feast. Do you think we could get a dress done by tomorrow night?” 319/431

I wasn’t planning on going to the castle at all, but it wasn’t the time to mention it. “I think we should be here when . . .” My throat clenched and I had to force the rest of the sentence out, “When the guys get back.” She shrugged in agreement. “I suppose they might worry if we’re not here.”

She looked so relaxed now, so happy. I thought of how she’d clung to Hunter when they said their good-byes, and how she’d nearly fallen apart up on the roof while we waited for the dragon. If Hunter didn’t come home, if all her worries formed into a hard, relentless reality, how would she cope? How would we tell his parents when we went back home?

My throat clenched again. I wanted Hunter to be okay so badly, but I wanted it for her sake, not mine. She looked at me questioningly. Instead of saying anything I walked over and hugged her. We would do this again, I knew, when one horse returned.

She hugged me back. “I really am sorry about everything. I never meant to hurt you about Hunter.” As though offering me proof she added, “We both came when we found out you were here. We both wanted to get you back.”

“I know,” I said. “It’s all right. Sometimes things happen when we don’t mean them to.” 320/431

She laughed, and it turned into tears—tears of relief that I’d forgiven her. Then I was crying too, but for a different reason.

Finally she stepped away from me. “Look at us—we’re a mess. What will the guys think when they get back?” I wiped my face and didn’t answer.

She said, “I think I’m going to go lie down while we wait for them. I hardly slept at all last night, what with the time change and the worry. Now suddenly I’m exhausted.”

“You should sleep,” I said. “I think I’ll walk down the trail a little ways to meet them when they come.” Tristan would have told me it wasn’t safe to go off on a trail by myself, but Jane just watched me for a moment, then gave me a half smile. “You like Tristan, don’t you?”

“Yeah.”

She nodded, still smiling. “I thought so. He’s gotten really cute, hasn’t he?”

“Yeah,” I repeated, then watched her turn and walk into the inn with the smile still on her face.

• • •

As I walked down the trail, I kept thinking about the dragon. In my mind I saw it fly through the sky with the 321/431

horse in its mouth, again and again. The more I walked, the more I realized I couldn’t be sure the dragon had eaten the darker horse. It was so far away, anything would look dark, wouldn’t it?

Which meant I didn’t know which rider had been attacked.

It was Tristan’s quest; he would have insisted on going first. He would have made Hunter stay behind and wait someplace safe. All along I’d wondered how to comfort Jane, but I was the one who needed to be comforted.

My pace turned from walk to jog. It wasn’t fair. I’d already lost Hunter and now I’d lost Tristan too. I pushed myself to go faster. I needed to know for sure. I ran as fast as I could, my feet pounding into the ground, each step bringing me to a future I didn’t want to face.

Cold air rushed by my face, the trees hurried by. But before long my lungs burned and my feet slowed even though I didn’t want to let them, and still there was nothing on the path in front of me but emptiness.

I kept going, now sure I knew the answer to the question I’d asked myself earlier—between the Black Knight and Tristan, I cared about Tristan more. Much more.

Otherwise it wouldn’t hurt so much knowing I wouldn’t see him again.

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It shouldn’t have been Tristan, I thought. And then I hated myself for wishing death on Hunter. Even after he’d just broken up with me I hadn’t wanted him dead.

And now that he’d come back to the Middle Ages to help me, I was hoping it was his death and not Tristan’s that I’d seen.

I couldn’t run any farther. My legs were giving out. I sat down on the edge of the trail, breathless, my clothes clinging to me with sweat, and I waited for someone to come.

None of this was Jane’s fault, it was mine, and I was a horrible person because I wanted to see Tristan’s horse come down the path. I wanted Tristan to live. I wanted to run my fingers through his blond hair and feel his blue-eyed gaze on me. I wanted to kiss him.

I sat there for more than an hour. I called Chrissy, hoping there was something she could do. She never came. Finally I quit trying and just put my head on my knees and cried.

Then I heard horse hooves. One set. It might be someone else, I told myself, but I knew it wasn’t. I stood up and walked to the path, waiting to see which horse would appear around the bend in the road. I kept my gaze down so I would see horse hooves first, not a face.

The rider came on a dark brown horse. Hunter’s horse. I lifted my eyes and saw Hunter holding the reins.

Chapter 22

I stared at Hunter and couldn’t speak. Surprise flitted across his face and then concern. He doesn’t want to tell me, I thought.

“What are you doing here?” Hunter asked. “What’s wrong?”

I staggered toward him, my hands balled into fists.

“Where’s Tristan?”

And then I saw him. He sat behind Hunter on the horse. He leaned around to look at me, and although his face looked pale and drawn, he gave me a smile. “I’m okay, Savannah.”

If he had been on the ground I would have hugged him. I was tempted to pull him off the horse and do just that. Instead I just stood there, trembling and staring at him.

“What’s wrong?” Hunter asked again. “Where’s Jane?”

I tried to pull myself together. I let the fear and the worry drain away from me. “She’s fine. She’s back at the inn sleeping. I just came because we were watching from the church roof and when I saw the dragon eat a horse—”

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Hunter’s voice took on an incredulous tone. “So you were worried and came out to meet us, but Jane went to sleep?”

“She thought it was the pig. I didn’t have the heart to tell her differently.”

Hunter laughed and turned toward Tristan. “See, I told you it was pointless to make me sit in front.” Then to me he said, “Tristan wanted to make sure that Jane saw me first, so she wouldn’t think I’d been eaten. He thought she’d be worried sick by the time we reached the village.”

I looked at Tristan and he returned my gaze with serious eyes. Right then I understood that it hadn’t been Jane he was worried about, but me. He thought I’d want to make sure that Hunter was alive.

I took a step toward them and shook my head. “I knew it was Tristan’s horse.” I kept looking at his eyes, trying to see if Tristan realized what I was saying, but I couldn’t tell. His gaze remained serious.

“How did the dragon get a horse?” I asked. “What happened to the pig?”

Hunter shrugged. “You’ll be happy to hear that Mr.

Ogden is running free somewhere.” Tristan nodded. “It was harder to get to the lair than we’d thought. It’s all rocks and undergrowth once you get close. Not a good place to drag a cart.” 325/431

“We made too much noise,” Hunter said. “Before we’d even gotten to a place where we could tie the black powder to the pig, the dragon was roaring and bearing down on us. It went straight for Tristan, and nearly got him, too. He dove off his horse at the last second. Hurt his arm on the way down.”

For the first time I noticed that Tristan held his left arm close to his body. “I don’t think it’s broken,” he said.

“Just jammed.”

“When the dragon grabbed the horse, the cart snapped right off,” Hunter said. “And last we saw him, Mr. Ogden was hightailing it through the forest.”

“I’m mad it got my horse but I’m happy we had enough black powder in my saddlebag to do the job,” Tristan said. “Two quests down, and one to go. We’ve got the paw of the dragon inside Hunter’s saddlebag.