TWENTY
Zurine accepted the bread and cheese Xylander handed to her, though she was more hesitant about the skin of wine. He gulped down some wine, to show her it was safe, before she sipped from that, too.
"What is a lady like you doing in the woods? What are you running from?" he asked.
Zurine took a larger swallow of wine. "My stepmother's assassins."
Xylander choked.
Zurine managed a sickly smile. "I know it sounds silly. I said as much to my cousin, when he said she would try to kill me, but then I heard her. She was talking to someone – a man – and demanding he bring my heart to her to prove he'd done what she asked. I could not stay in my father's house with her after that. Just waiting for the axe to fall. So...I ran."
A foolish thing to do for a girl on her own, who had no
