Moon Rise (Twilight Shifters Book 2) by Kate Danley Page B

final soft kiss before they got on their way.
    "Thank you," he said, as if she had given him the biggest gift in the world.  He walked to his horse with a whistle on his lips and leapt up into the saddle.  "Ready?" he asked.
    Aein glanced back.  "It will be good to see our old home again," she admitted.  Then images of the past days flashed through her mind and she clarified, "Actually, it doesn't matter where we're off to.  It will be good not to be here.  Let’s go."
    They clicked their heels and the horses headed towards the exit of the swamp.  For whatever reason, the fog left them alone.  Perhaps the carnage had finally sated its appetite. 
    She had a hard time keeping her horse reined in.  He was so excited to be leaving, he kept trying to take his head and run.  Though the swamp was playing nice, she did not want to trigger a chase instinct in some predator they had not spotted.  She was more than a little unnerved to see a hawk sitting on one of the branches watching them with a steady gaze.  She wished Finn was there to let them know if it was bird or shifter.
    They traveled for two weeks pushing their horses to the brink of exhaustion.  Every moment they delayed was a moment which might cost Finn his life.  They only paused when the highest tower of the Arnkell stronghold appeared over the tips of the trees. 
    Lars shivered and tightened his cloak around his body.  "Welcome home."
    Aein realized she was gripping the reins so tight her knuckles had turned white.  It was strange to finally make the journey with Lars.  If she had not accidentally turned him into a werewolf, they would have enjoyed catching this sight together months ago.  Instead, her chest felt tight and it seemed hard to catch her breath.  She was on this road before some of the worst moments of her life - her disgrace in the court after abandoning Lars on the border, her return to find Cook Bolstad dead.  It felt as if she took another step forward, everything would happen again.  Or, more frighteningly, something even worse.
    A peasant passed by dressed in coarse rags.  Upon her back she carried a bundle of switches taller than she was high.  The old woman's misery spoke in her hunched shoulders and shuffling feet.  Aein willed herself to memorize the woman's face.  She told herself that as long as Lord Arnkell was allowed to continue in his war, this ancient grandmother would suffer.  She had taken an oath as a guard of the Arnkell land to protect the people.  She had not known at the time it would mean protecting them from their own master.  To shy away because of her own fears and memories would mean she had failed her duty.  Aein focused back on the tower.  Her friend was trapped inside.  She tried not to think of what they had been doing to Finn these two weeks.  She tried to imagine him safe and whole, kept strong by the knowledge she would come.  Aein and Lars could not fail him.  They could not.
    As if reading her mind, Lars asked quietly, "What do you think Queen Gisla will do if we have to tell her we lost Finn?"
    Aein thought back to the way Queen Gisla looked at Finn.  It was the look she saw on Lars's face.  She thought about what Lars would do if Lord Arnkell ever killed her.  "I believe Queen Gisla will slaughter every man, woman, and child in this land," said Aein with certainty.  "We must make sure that does not happen."
    "I wish we had a better plan."
    "Me, too," Aein said.
    They tapped their horses' sides and guided them into the forest.  They had decided to use the hidden entrance to the stronghold, the same one Aein used once before when she and Finn sneaked in.  It was hidden by the side of a cave.  Most anyone seeking shelter would head for the rocks and not give a second glance to a plain flagstone covered in leaves. 
    The entrance had not changed a bit, which was encouraging.  In silence, they dismounted and ground-hitched the horses.  Aein lifted up the stone.  The staircase