"That's how it has always been done," he says to Amaya, and her heart sinks.
After much effort, the people are finally huddled by the guards. Amaya swallows hard when her eyes meet with one of the men who bled due to how badly he was struck by the guards. He is the most stubborn of all. This causes Amaya to wonder what the royal family has done to this man for him to despise them so much. As she gazes around, she notices how some people have fear in their eyes, while some anger.
"People of Santol" Lucan begins, still seated on his horse. "It has been brought to my attention that some of you aren't happy with the way things are going in this kingdom" he pauses, looks at Amaya with smoldered eyes, then continues. "I, Lucan Whitlock, your king isn't happy with it too. This used to be a happy place, a vibrant place that held the smiles of people, but my father" he pauses and heaves a sigh. "My father changed things and I'm here to fix things...."
He hasn't finished speaking when he is cut short by the same man who was roughly handled by the guards. "Bloody liars!" he yells.
Lucan grits his teeth, but doesn't say anything.
The man continues. "Why don't you bring back my dead wife? Then you can speak of change. We have all lost something to your father's brutality and you speak of change after all these years?'' The moment these words left his lips, the people began to murmur.
It goes from faint murmurs to loud chants and in a twinkle of an eye, the people are fully agitated, screaming. "Liars, liars!"
The guards resort to force again, but it only makes the people angrier as they charge toward them. Although the guards try their best to ensure they are safe, it doesn't stop the adrenaline boost the people had.
Fear consumes Amaya's heart when she watches the majority of them tug on her horse. They don't attack Lucan, instead, they all charge for her. Amaya doesn't understand why she is the main target. Probably they despise her for breaking the unwritten code of conduct that forbids women from riding horses.
Amaya tries to back away from them, but as one of them grabs her hand and almost pulls her off the horse, she knows she has to flee. Her legs kick the horse and in a split second, she begins to ride to God knows where. Although her injury sting, it doesn't deter her from riding as fast as she can.
"Amaya!" Lucan's voice is heard. She tries to stop, but she can't. She hits the horse with her legs, but that only makes him faster. The horses here are different. Way different from the ones in Alandon.
She manages to look back. Lucan is right behind her, riding his horse toward her, but her horse is much faster. "Stop!" She pulls its straps as hard as she can, but that doesn't stop it. Even as they get inside the woods, he doesn't stop. At this point Amaya is scared. Her eyes can barely open due to the wind that gushed inside of them.
As soon as she realizes Lucan isn't behind her anymore, tears well up in her eyes. She thinks of jumping off it, but that will be drastic, due to her injured leg. Seeing there is no other way of getting out, she prepares to shift, but before she can, the horse hurls her off its back and runs away.
Amaya winces in pain the moment she hits the floor. "Hey!" she yells at the horse as if he can hear her.
"Oh dear" she looks at her legs. It is bleeding again. There is no hope of leaving here. No horse, no nothing. Her leg is injured so even though she tries to shift, she can't get far. She doesn't even know her way around. Maybe talking with the people of the Kingdom was a bad idea, she deduces inwardly.
After gathering the last energy in her, she stands up, resting her weight on the good leg. One, two, three steps and she is back on the floor again. She doesn't give up, she tries to get up again, but before she can get up, someone grasps her hands and helps her up.
Amaya snatches her hands from the person's grip and turns to look at the person. The moment her eyes land on him, she scowls and slaps him as hard as she can.
Standing before her is the same person who robbed her on her way to the palace. He has a hard glare on his face as he holds his cheek which Amaya slapped.
Amaya doesn't stop there. She charges for him again, hitting him on the chest as hard as she can. She prepares her fist to punch him, but her legs stop her. She winces in pain and drops to the floor once more. Out of frustration, Amaya punches the floor instead. She hates being weak and her leg is making her seem weak.
"Relax princess" he tries to help her up again, but she hits his hand. "Ok you are still angry" he nods, settling beside her.
"Of course I am, you thief!" She yells at him, but he acts unaffected.
"Point of correction. I'm not a thief. I didn't steal your stuff. I only borrowed them to aid my journey"
"Then where's my arrow?" she asks between gritted teeth.
"I sold it" he shrugs and Amaya boils in anger. If her leg wasn't aching, she would have rendered him enough punches to reset his brain.
"Don't look at me like that. That arrow is worth a fortune" he tilts his head as he gazes at her. "Why do I always have to meet you in such handicapped situations? "
"Maybe because your bad luck just rubs off on me"
*Lucan where are you* She tries to speak to Lucan through the mind link so he can trace her, but what she doesn't know is. As long as Cornwell is there, she can't communicate through her mind link to Lucan. His presence alone blocks every channel even without him knowing. It has to do with his aura.
Cornwell takes a long time to speak. "You know, when the trap caught you, I thought you were going to be killed" no he didn't think that way. "what I didn't know was, you are going to be the king's mate"
Amaya gasps, taken by surprise. She didn't mention that to him, but he still knew. She brings her hand to her neck and rubs her mating mark. There is no way he can know all that information just by the mark on her neck. "Who told you this?"
He keeps her quiet and gets up from where he sat. Then he stretches his hand for her to take it. Amaya hesitates, but she eventually does. Cornwell notices how much she struggles with the injury and without warning, sweeps her off her feet bridal style. At first, Amaya was alarmed, but she soon calms down, wrapping her hand around his neck, but not failing to give him an annoyed scowl.
"You are stubborn" he chuckles as he walks with her in his hands.
"How do you expect me to act after what you did to me?"
"I would have helped, but I couldn't tamper with destiny," he says, glancing down at Amaya who furrows her eyebrow in confusion.
"What destiny?"
"Don't worry about it," he says softly.
Initially, Amaya didn't trust him, but with time, she begins to get more used to him. There is something about his green eyes that is just so comforting and his hands wrapped around her for some reason make her feel protected.
After walking for some time, she asks. "Where are we going?"
"Where Lucan can find you," he says. Amaya wonders why he is so nice to her all of a sudden when he was unbearable when they first met.
"Thank you" she mumbles. "But if you try and take me anywhere else. I will rip your heart out of your chest.
He snickers. "You can barely walk and you think you can bring me down?"
"Try me" she shoots at him.
"Later in the future, yes, but now no" he shrugs and she can't help but scoff.
They walk for a while and Amaya is marveled at his strength. He showed not an ounce of discomfort right from where he carried her, till now. They get to a part of the woods and he sets her down.
"I think Lucan will find you here,"
Amaya panics. "How do you know that?" The last thing she wants is for the kingdom people to find her and lynch her.
"Don't worry. He will be out shortly" he looks in a direction and then looks back at her. "I have to go," he says. Before Amaya can complain, he is already running in the same direction they took while coming. Amaya is marveled.
All of sudden, she glimpses a figure running out of the woods. She panics for a split second as soon she realizes it is someone's wolf. It takes her a while to discover it is Lucan.