“What I want?” The man laughed a harsh laugh. “I would like to see—”
With a thump, the man’s body was thrown away from me and into the road. I screamed, unable to help myself, as I turned to see the driver—the same man who had driven us to Silverhelm directly after our wedding—grappling with my attacker.
The two men rolled, and Branford regained his sword just as I heard the carriage driver gasp. For a moment, our gazes met—the driver’s eyes as wide as mine. His mouth dropped open, and he gasped before his head dropped back to the ground.
The bandit had just begun to rise when Branford’s sword cleaved through half of his neck, spurting blood over the ground and the side of the carriage. I felt bile rise to my throat at the sight; my vision blurred, and it sounded like my head was under water. I could not breathe, and I slumped to the ground.
As the darkness faded from my vision, I felt a warm hand against my cheek. I slowly opened my eyes to Branford’s panicked gaze.
“Alexandra! Please, say something!”
“Branford…” It seemed all I could manage.
“Thank you, God in heaven,” Branford mumbled. “Are you hurt?”
“I do not think so,” I replied. I tried to sit up, but Branford held me down.
“Do not try to move, Alexandra,” he said. “Just stay here. I want to check on the carriage driver.”
Images flooded back into my head, and I ignored Branford’s words and pulled myself from the ground. Only a few feet away, I could see Branford crouched near one side of the carriage driver—his hand wrapped around the handle of the knife, its blade buried in the driver’s chest.
“Is she all right?” The poor man coughed as he tried to speak.
“She is unharmed,” Branford told him. “You likely saved her life.”
I moved to them and dropped to the ground. I kneel
ed close to the driver’s shoulders and gently placed his head on my skirts.
“I am fine.” I tried to speak calmly, but my voice betrayed me. He nodded and tried to draw breath, but it was ragged and uneven. Branford placed his other hand on the man’s chest, around the entry point of the blade.
“If I remove it, death will only come faster,” Branford said softly.
“We can do nothing?” Tears flowed freely down my cheeks. Branford merely shook his head slowly from side to side before leaning close to the man on the ground.
“What is your name?” Branford asked. His voice was soft and earnest and reminded me of how he spoke to me when he was trying to ease my fears.
“Thomas, sire.”
“Do you have a family, Thomas?”
“Yes…sire. My…my wife. Our daughter is grown now...moved to Wynton.” He coughed again, and I turned my head as blood sprayed from his mouth.
“What is your wife’s name?”
“Samantha…sire.” He gasped and his muscles tensed. “She worked in the fields, but she is lame now…What will happen to her?”
“Do not fear for her,” Branford said. “You have saved my wife from certain harm, and I am forever in your debt, Thomas. Samantha shall come to live with us in the castle.”
“Thank you, sire.” The man reached up and grasped Branford’s forearm, but he looked into my eyes. “You will be a…a good king…with her at your side.”
His hand fell and his head slumped at the same time, and he did not take another breath. Branford pulled me up from the ground, insisting we get back to the castle as soon as possible.
“We cannot just leave him!” I cried as tears continued down my cheeks.
“I have to keep you safe!” Branford took my face in his hands. “I will send for his body—I promise you—but I will make you safe first. If you are harmed, he died for nothing.”
Branford took the harness attached to the carriage horses and placed me near the withers before he climbed on behind me. He wrapped his arm around me and his fingers gripped the reins. A moment later, we were galloping back up the road to Castle Silverhelm.