Once Maren felt calmer, she and Alec were able to return to the subject of what to tell his father. She still felt very agitated, but knew she needed to let it go. She had decided to trust Alec, both because he'd earned it and because she had no choice. But she disliked it. Having four people who knew her secret felt like entirely too many. She couldn't stand it if anyone else found out.

"What excuse did you come up with for Court? About why I left early, I mean," Maren said.

"Riding accident," Alec replied. "Donovan intended to make it seem like you were confined to your rooms and hadn't left yet. Probably not the most believable story, but it doesn't have to hold up for much longer."

Just long enough to keep Kieran in the dark until she was safe at Worthingham. The thought made her uneasy again, and she shied away from it. She needed to focus on things she could actually do something about.

"Would your father believe a riding accident?" she asked. She didn't think it was likely, but it was a much better story than the truth.

Alec made a skeptical sound. "Hmmm... I don't think so. I'm not familiar with horses in the slightest, and even I know you'd have different injuries were you thrown from a horse," he said.

She sighed. Alec was right. She would have injuries like a broken arm or leg, scrapes and scratches, or even back injuries. The only way she could think of for a horse to cause massive bruising to her side was if she was standing behind it at an odd angle, and it happened to kick her in the ribs. It was not very likely.

"Some version of the truth is our best option," Alec said. "Firstly, I cannot come up with any compelling reason to drag you a few hundred miles away besides removing you from danger. And second of all, you recall that I'm good at reading people?"

She did. Alec was excellent at reading people. Maren occasionally wondered if he was reading her mind and not her expression.

"Please don't tell me you got that particular skill from your father," she said, wincing.

He cringed. "I did. Only he has a few decades more experience than I do, so he's a lot better at it. He'll spot a lie in a heartbeat," he explained.

She pinched the bridge of her nose. "All right. Is it plausible that Kieran would harm me just because he hates Donovan? I'd rather not bring the subject of witches up if at all possible."

Alec thought for a few moments before answering. "I think so. I've told him plenty about Kieran. I expect he'll be shocked, but not skeptical. And it is, at least in part, the truth."

"And we decided to flee instead of telling the King because...?"

"Hmmm...because he threatened to arrest you if you did, and it seemed safer to send you away quietly," Alec suggested.

She thought for a time, trying to poke holes in the logic. When she couldn't find any, or at least not very large ones, she decided it was a plausible story.

"It's the best we have, I think," she said.

Alec nodded. "I think it will be fine."

Maren wished he sounded more convincing.

"What will happen when we arrive?" she asked.

"Ah... I suppose he'll want to get to know you before the wedding," Alec said, sounding uncomfortable.

"No, I mean literally, will he be in the drive or will we be summoned before him or...something?"

She wanted to know what to expect. Well, what she really wanted to know was whether his father would insist on going to bed with her that very night, but she did not think Alec was the appropriate person to ask that question.

"Oh... I see... I...ah... I'm not certain. He likes to meet people in the drive, but I think he wouldn't want to make you overly nervous by being the first thing you saw upon arriving. So, under normal circumstances, I'd say he'd probably meet you a bit later over a meal or tea or something after you had a chance to settle. But under these circumstances...well, he's likely concerned and may want to see to our arrival personally. Or not. I'm sorry, that isn't helpful at all, but I could predict he would do either," Alec said.

She sighed. "That's all right."

She knew most dukes probably never met their guests in the drive, but it did not surprise her to hear that Alec's father was not a usual duke. (Alec was hardly a usual lord.) In any case, she would just have to improvise when the time came. And hopefully, the Duke would be perceptive enough to know that she was in no condition to go to bed with anyone, much less a complete stranger.

"I do expect that at some point he'll delicately pull me aside and ask me what happened, and I will delicately inform him," Alec said.

"Unless, of course, you'd prefer..." he added as an afterthought.

Maren shook her head abruptly. "No, I don't think so. I really don't think I'm in any condition to have a delicate conversation," she said. "Besides, it isn't very proper for a lady to discuss such things, and I do not want to start out by being unladylike."

Alec responded to her thought and not her comment.

"He'll like you, I'm sure of it," he said.

She wasn't sure that made her feel better. She needed the Duke to like her enough to marry her and stay married to her. But she didn't want him to like her too much. That idea felt...uncomfortable.

"You'll like him too, I think," Alec added.

That made Maren feel even worse. She knew on the whole it was good for spouses to like one another, but she couldn't help but feel as though liking the Duke would be a betrayal of Donovan.

Thinking about Donovan brought instant pain, like touching a bad tooth. She was both grieving his loss and hurt that he made her leave, even if it had been for the best. It felt confusing and made her want to cry, so she shoved it aside. Focusing on her future husband was terrifying, but it didn't make her want to cry until she ran out of tears.

Additionally, if she was focusing on her future husband, she was not thinking about what Kieran had done to her and how much pain she was in and how frightened she was he might somehow get a hold of her again...

So, she decided to think about her future instead. It was certainly terrifying, but not nearly as terrifying as Kieran.

What would it be like to be married? She had never really considered it. It had not been an option for most of her life, and as soon as she had accepted it was happening she was swept into a romance with Donovan, and then had purposefully ignored it.

"What's he like?" she asked Alec.

Alec chuckled. "My father? He's ridiculously kind; so kind it can be irritating or embarrassing. He's the worst person to have an argument with because he's always nodding and saying how he understands and would feel the same way instead of actually arguing back," he said.

Maren couldn't help but snort in laughter at that. It did sound like that would be annoying.

"But I think you'll enjoy his company a great deal. He has a wonderful sense of humor, and he's easy to talk to," Alec added.

"Alec, you think fenceposts are easy to talk to," she said.

He laughed. "All right, well, I should say he's like me in that he can also talk to anyone."

"He sounds nice," she said absently. She completely failed to muster any enthusiasm about having a relationship with the Duke.

"I wouldn't take you somewhere I thought you'd be unhappy," Alec said gently.

Maren pinched the bridge of her nose. "I know. I just..."

"I know. It'll take some time," he said.

She supposed she had a lot of that on her hands.

—

The drive was tedious. They stopped periodically to exchange batteries and refresh themselves, but otherwise they just kept driving. Maren slept a bit, but Alec knew it was difficult for her to get comfortable. She didn't say it, but he thought it likely her ribs ached every time they hit any bump in the road.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her sometime in the afternoon.

She huffed in annoyance. "Will you ever stop asking? Or could we at least keep the asking to no more than two or three times a day?"

He supposed he had been asking her a lot. Donovan said he fussed over people, but Alec couldn't help it, especially if he particularly cared about his patient or if he thought his patient might not be truthful or follow his directions. In Maren's case, it was both.

"I'll keep it to a minimum as long as you promise to tell me if anything gets worse," he offered.

"I can accept that," she said.

"Excellent. Now tell me how you are, and I promise not to ask again for at least two hours."

He didn't look at her, but he swore he could hear her rolling her eyes at him.

"I am the same as I was the last time you asked. I'm fine," she insisted.

Alec doubted very much that was the case, all things considered, but he knew he needed to leave her alone. She had been through a lot in a very short amount of time. He supposed that if he were in her shoes, he'd also want to be left alone.

It was about five o'clock in the afternoon when they exchanged the battery for the last time in a small town that looked the same as every other town they drove through that day.

"Nearly there!" Alec said brightly as they returned to the road. "Just about four hours, maybe a bit less."

Alec was getting tired. He knew he had a tendency to talk more when he was trying to stay awake, but Maren didn't seem to mind, and he didn't expect her to respond. So, he rambled on energetically.

"You are just going to love the ocean. You've never seen it before, right? It's wonderful, really the best. When the weather's nice, you truly must open the windows in your room, so you can hear the waves at night.

"Oh, and the Duchess's Suite has the best window seat I've ever seen looking out over the water. It has the best view, and it just demands that you curl up and read a book.

"Oh, and you'll have to meet Josephine. You'll love Josephine; everyone loves Josephine. She is the best baker in the whole kingdom. I swear I would marry her if I could, even if she is old enough to be my grandmother, just so I could bring her back to Court and have her cake and pastries all the time. She makes my absolute favorite cake. Do you like chocolate with raspberries?"

Maren did not respond.

Alec glanced at her. She appeared to be sleeping. That was for the best, he knew she had had a bad night and got precious little rest during the day.

They kept going and going, and Alec kept up a running commentary in his head to stay alert.

"Oh, what a lovely lake that is. Does Maren know how to swim? I'll have to ask. I'm looking forward to a swim. I think it's still warm enough to have a swim in the lagoon. Lagoon is a funny word."

He knew if he said any of it out loud he'd sound like a madman, but thinking to himself kept his mind from becoming lethargic almost as well as speaking aloud.

They were only about an hour away from Worthingham when Alec rounded a corner and saw the bright lights up ahead. They were stationary.

His heart sank. A checkpoint.

"Maren, wake up," Alec urged. He sounded alarmed even to his own ears.

Maren sat bolt upright.

"There's a checkpoint up ahead," he said. "I can't tell if it's Trackers or the military."

If it was the military, likely they'd be fine. If it wasn't...

To her credit, Maren didn't panic. "All right," she said, sounding determined. "I suppose we'll find out when we get there."

"I'll do my best to put on my 'son of the Duke' impression. We're close enough to Worthingham for that to be impactful," he said. "It'll be ugly, though. Don't judge me."

Maren made a sort of snorting, choking sound. "I won't judge you as long as it works."

Alec did not like to speak to people as a lord. It certainly wasn't something that would have assisted him in his line of work. But he would do it if it would help Maren.

The checkpoint was fairly typical. There was a wooden barricade blocking half the road and the sort of oversized speeder used by both the Trackers and the military blocking the other half. The headlights of the speeder were on, and in the dwindling daylight it was impossible to make out any detail of the men at the checkpoint.

Two men came out of the speeder and walked towards them. Alec still couldn't tell if they were military or Trackers. It was too dark to make out the subtle differences in uniform.

He waited until one of the men knocked on his window before rolling it down.

"Good evening, sir —"

"It's 'my lord,'" Alec snapped in the rudest tone he could manage.

"Ah...yes...apologies, my lord," the man at the window said. "We're looking for a witch."

Alec's stomach dropped. They were Trackers. Maren was going to be arrested.

—

A/N: What did you think? Are you worried about Maren? (Not gonna lie, I'm worried about Maren.)

Hope you enjoyed! Comment and vote pretty please! See you on Tuesday!