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He couldn’t stop hi out her na his horse harder, faster He’d be alongside it in no tiain

If she’d have hi

She would have him He’d do whatever it took to win her back He’d resort to any actions--he’d stop this carriage and hie her away on his horse, like a highwayman of yore He’d take her sos He’d prove to her hoell he could love her--better than anyone ever could

He would spend the rest of his life proving it to her "Lady Eversley!" he called this tih her married name could convince the universe that he deserved her

He’d had enough of being away from her

Noanted to be with her

Forever

The coach took the curve in the road, and King used the turn to draw closer Close enough to hear the telltale pop as the inside front wheel strained He’d heard that precise sound before, only that tiht, he hadn’t understood what it heralded

Fear overca his horse to its lio faster even as he yelled, "Slow that carriage!"

It was too late

The turn was too sharp and the carriage too large, and the wheel popped again He screamed, "No!" desperate for the driver to hear hihty crack, followed by the screech of horses as the coach tipped, sending the coach from the block before the vehicle toppled onto its side and was pulled along the road for a dozen yards before the terrified horses ca froet to her "No! No no no," he repeated again and again as he ran toward the carriage, unhooking a lantern and scaling it without pause, tearing open the door to find her

Let her be alive

Dear God, just let her live

I’ll do anything for her to live

"You must be alive, love I’ve soher to hear him "I won’t lose you, Sophie Not just as I found you You’re not done with h, searching for her

"Live," he said "Live, please, God Live"

The words were a litany as he found the pile of silk--that beautiful purple gown she’d been wearing earlier in the day

She wasn’t in it the dress

She wasn’t in the carriage

Relief sla once more

She was alive

And on the heels of that realization ca one

She’d left him

Chapter 22

HAPPY NEVER AFTER?

Sophie spent the first few hours on the ride from Scotland in tears

They’d flown freely as she recounted every ether, every conversation, every touch The anger he hadn’t hidden fro had stood, naked and furious, the Minotaur betrayed

Except she hadn’t betrayed hi to stay with him there, at the center of that impossible maze Forever

But neither of them deserved forever

He’d said it himself, before he’d packed her into Warnick’s coach, with those final, devastating words