Adeline stood over the boy’s corpse and swallowed down the sobs threatening to overcome her. This was not how she had wanted it to end. Her quelled tears, however, were not for the loss of life, but for her loss of earnings. The damn scoundrel who had put paid to three lives of Dull Blade’s band was now disappearing fast with her hard-fought booty.
“We will bring him back,” said Dull Blade, coming up alongside her as three of his men galloped off into the distance, whooping wildly. “And when we do, we will split open his belly and feed his entrails to the buzzards.”
“While he still lives.”
“While he still lives.” He took her by the shoulders and turned her to face him.
She peered into his strong features, the cruel mouth, and those eyes, so clear and bright, which had first enthralled
