She was relieved to know they would soon be safe in Sihannas. But she’d never for an instant intended to leave the town herself. She didn’t understand why anyone had supposed she would flee. Even if she wanted to—and she was willing to admit to herself that maybe she did—she couldn’t. How could she? She was sorry Bertaud would worry when he heard she had refused to leave Tiefenauer, but he would understand. She thought he would. She was fairly certain. Anyway, by the time her cousin heard about Linularinum’s boldness, she hoped that Tan’s enemies would have learned that he had escaped them. Then the Linularinan force would go away again and she could send her cousin that word, which would be much better than having him just hear that Tiefenauer was under attack. Anyway, Bertaud must be in the mountains now, as hard as he and the king had intended to ride. He might be looking down at the Wall right now. Then he would have other things to worry about than herself or even the Delta.
