Chapter 11.

Rude Awakening

I woke up in Logan's arms. Life had never been so good.

As I turned to face him, his eyes blinked open and he looked at me.

"Good morning," he whispered gently.

I just smiled, snuggling in closer to him.

His arms tightened around me, and he rested his chin on my head. "I was thinking about something you said last night."

After our fight last night—and the make up that, I had to admit, gave new meaning to the term 'kiss and make up'—we returned to the clearing and ate the fish that Cale had roasted. Logan kept looking at me throughout dinner, making me blush uncontrollably. Our secret smiles kept Cale oblivious, which, I decided, was a good thing. After eating, Logan and I made our way back to the river and sat in the grass. We spent the rest of the day telling the other what seemed our entire life stories. I told him about my father and my life as a general's daughter, and Logan told me of his father and then of his time with Cale. His life seemed to be an adventure every day. He told me about a time they went to Frell and ran into a band of ogres. Ogres terrified me, though I had only heard stories—Fenton was renowned for having eradicated the ogre population from within our borders. Logan told me they were lucky and got away, but I had an inkling he left out the worst parts.

When I told Logan about my father, he was so understanding. He told me of when his own father died, and how he thought he'd never get over it. But one day he realized that punishing himself for his father's death was not what his dad would've wanted. He reminded me that my father was still with me, and that he was watching me and wouldn't want to be the cause of my sadness. Logan thought of his father everyday, and it put a smile on his face, not a frown. I was touched. I never thought of it that way. Thinking about my mom never made me sad because I never knew her. I always imagined what she must've looked like and how her voice would sound. I never thought of her as dead but an enduring presence in my heart. And now my father was there too. I would always miss him, but now I realized he wasn't as far away as I once thought.

I came back to the present, wondering what I'd said last night that Logan had found interesting. I looked up at him. "Yes?"

But before he could answer, a strange sense of unease swept through me, only seconds before the sound of hoofbeats filled my ears.

We both sat up, looking around for the source of the noise. It seemed to be coming from every direction, echoing off the riverbank. Then I spotted soldiers riding through the trees on the opposite bank. We stood, Logan gripping my hand protectively, his instinct to run. I looked at him, trying to let him know it would be okay, but he didn't look at me.

They splashed through the shallows and were surrounding us before we knew it. I became dizzy with their hostility as voices beat the morning air.

"Step away from the girl!"

"Move back!"

"Take your hands off her!"

"Move now!"

"Now!"

I stepped away from Logan, for he seemed frozen to the spot. As his hand slipped from mine, his gaze finally turned to me. My stomach dropped at the expression on his face. Why did he look so scared? I had never seen him look so uncertain. I stared helplessly at him until he looked away. Before I knew it, the men had dismounted their horses and surrounded him. I watch in shock as they grabbed him roughly and tied rope around his wrists. He didn't put up a fight.

"What are you doing!" I screamed at them over the tremor of angry voices. I rushed toward Logan, but another group of soldiers moved in between us. "Wait—Stop! Don't hurt him!" Though I could barely hear myself over their yelling. I tried to push through the crowd of men, but one of them grabbed me, holding me back.

"Hold on miss—"

I tried to jerk away. "Wait, where are you taking—"

"It's okay miss. Come with us." They herded me away as I searched frantically for Logan in the sea of faces, but he was nowhere to be found. Fear gripped me as the reality of the situation finally sunk in.

Logan was a thief, and would probably be thrown in jail for it. And then another thought struck me. Would I ever see him again?

Life had never been so bad.

Someone lifted me onto a horse behind another faceless someone and we took off through the woods. Once we reached the road, a coach rushed around the corner and came to a sudden halt in front of us. I was lifted inside. "You're safe now miss," someone else said before the door was slammed in my face. They seemed to be in quite a hurry. It was getting on my nerves. Or maybe it was the nerves of the men surrounding me. Every single one of them seemed tense, on-edge, as if they were the ones being pushed and pulled against their will. We took off down the road at a swift pace. I was so concerned with Logan that it took me a minute to realize I was finally going home. It was not the relief I thought it would be.