He promised himself that when his family was safe, he’d go to her and figure out what was between them. Love for her flowed through him, ending the torment he’d felt in his soul, squelching the anger he’d carried since meeting her, easing the frustration. But with the love came another fear—a fear he’d been carrying but was now magnified until it gripped his heart. Whatever had happened in Lucien’s hall had connected him, made him understand her, as clearly as his own thoughts. She never meant to hurt him. As he came out of the fog, he clutched the satchel Tania gave him to his chest. Though the blue of moonlight, he looked around, unable to see past giant stone walls that ran along both of his sides, trapping him in a narrow valley. Beneath him, two lighter gray lines faded into the darker stone. They arched away from him, as if forming a circle whose sides were hidden beneath the stone walls. Hugh tucked the satchel into his tunic shirt. Slowly, he climbed up one jagged cliff, using the narrow outcropping of rocks for footing.
