The King's Lover-Chapter 283: Fear

Rose blinked, tears were spilling down her face, and her words didn’t leave her lips. Her nose was bloody, and the cut on her lip was worse. The blood had slipped into her mouth, and all she could taste and smell was blood.

Ryder was a man in his early thirties with a scar running from the side of his forehead across his left eye and stopping just over his lips. It was a nasty ragged scar—the eye was clearly blind.

While the other side of his face was without any scarring, it didn’t look better than the other. Ryder had a constant snarl. His huge nose was lifted, and his working eye glared at everything. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Ryder raised his hand as if to strike her again, but Rose knew there was no way she could survive another slap, so she forced herself to speak through the pain.

"Rose," she said. "Rose Vallyn." She coughed, spitting out blood, and her head rolled to the back.

"Who sent you?" Ryder asked.

"No one. I am just trying to leave Futherfield. Please let me go."

Ryder sneered. "You ran when you saw us."

Rose couldn’t even find the irony in his sentence, she was too much in pain. It was expected that she would run—they were bandits.

"I was scared."

"Why would that be?" His sneer grew bigger. "We are trying to leave Futherfield too." He pulled her closer, grabbing her chest tightly and deliberately pressing on her bosom. "We could use the company."

Rose felt panic through the pain, and her eyes widened in horror. She shook her head. "I am fine by myself. Please let me go."

Ryder stopped smiling that creepy smile and looked at her as though disappointed.

"Isn’t it rude to refuse my kind offer? However," he said as his eyes looked her up and down, "since you’re so pretty, I’ll let this go once."

Ryder tossed her over his shoulder. Rose didn’t even have the energy to fight him as her stomach landed on the edge of his shoulder, causing her to scream again in pain. Her voice was hoarse, and it hurt to scream.

"Shut up!" he said and slapped her rear.

"Ryder," the same person who had stopped him from kicking her spoke, "Are you sure this is a good idea? She could be a noble, for all we know."

He scoffed. "Maybe, but we’ll be out of Futherfield today and out of Velmount in a few days. I doubt they would chase us all the way to Wresthal, and with the snow, we have nothing to worry about. Move! We’ve wasted too much time on this bitch."

Rose jerked in pain as his hand contacted her buttocks again, but that wasn’t even as terrifying as the words she just heard. They were leaving Velmount. Forget what she had to do—Rose might not get out of this alive.

She started to struggle. She didn’t care about the pain. There was no point—if she let them take her, it would be all over. She couldn’t let that happen. No matter what, she had to see her mother.

"Stay still!" he yelled.

Rose wasn’t listening. She struggled until she fell off his shoulder, landing on tiny stones that pierced all over her body. Not enough to break skin, but it hurt.

Rose tried to push herself off the ground, but she didn’t even get to move before another kick connected with her side. This one sent her flying quite some distance, and her side slammed against a nearby rock. She screamed. Rose was certain she broke more than a few bones.

"Stupid bitch! When I have been so nice." He stomped off after her.

"Ryder!" the same voice called again.

Ryder ignored him, stopping in front of Rose. He easily lifted her off the ground, ready to strike her again. Rose tried to protect her face. She was surprised her hands still listened to her with the pain coursing through her.

"Ryder!" the man called again, but it wasn’t his name that drew Ryder’s attention—it was the man’s stance. He had pulled out his dagger and stood legs apart, looking behind them.

Ryder’s grip on the front of her dress weakened, and Rose fell to the ground.

"What?" he asked as he looked back.

"Someone is coming! Can’t you hear the hooves coming in our direction?" The man sounded panicked.

Ryder paused, and a slight look of fear passed across his features as he turned his attention in the direction of the sound. Just through the trees, Ryder could make out the small figure of a lone rider coming towards them.

"Relax," Ryder said. "It’s just one horse." He cracked his knuckles. "Let’s take care of this and be out of here, no more delays."

The woods were where her trail led. It wasn’t hard to follow. She hadn’t even been careful. He couldn’t wrap his head around how no one had stopped her. Lord Leopold had to have better security. No wonder it was so easy for bandits to roam.

According to what he had heard, this wasn’t an unknown path, and people who didn’t have legal reasons to be in Futherfield tended to use it to avoid the guards at the front gate. And even if anyone was caught, they weren’t punished as long as they weren’t carrying anything harmful.

Futherfield was also an easy town to get into, so nobody really used this route until the bandits appeared. Since major roads were getting attacked, only obscure ones were safe.

Caius couldn’t even start to figure out how she had found out about this. She had only been in Futherfield two days. Yet she already knew her way out of here.

He hadn’t thought about this scenario. Too many things were going through his mind—he didn’t want to think. Right now, finding her and bringing her back was far more important.

Caius heard it pierce through the trees—Rose screaming. He would recognize it anywhere. A feeling he almost didn’t recognize engulfed him.

Fear.

It had been a long time since he’d felt fear, but Caius felt it all the way to his bones.