Chapter 21

Alcina wakes up in the morning alone, as she has grown used to in the nights since she'd begun to sleep in Brendan's bed.

The lord, it would seem, is an incredibly early riser.

She finds out from Mary that it is because Lord Brendan has swordsmanship practice with Commander Lincoln most mornings.

As it is, the piece of information sparks the beginnings of an idea in her mind.

She can't stop remembering what it had felt like to be so utterly helpless. When all she'd found herself able to do, was clutch desperately at the horse's reigns that had carried her away from Brendan, where he stood fending off the bandits on his own.

How even when she'd returned, she'd found herself at their attackers' terrifying mercy (or lack thereof), with nothing to defend herself with.

Alcina had never been permitted the opportunity to take up the sword as her elder brother had.

A runt like her, after all, could not be permitted anywhere near the ba