Re read chapter eleven before you read this chapter, or it won't make sense- i added something to it...hope you like the ending, if not, oh well, hehe you're not the author! ^__^

Chapter Twelve

Lydia pressed her herself against the carriage's side, as far from her father as she could get, and watched the country pass by her window. She felt too weak to argue further against her removal from Gamez' care, and channeled all her energy to hoping Trevin would catch up with them before they reached Duwon...

Trevin had ridden hard for several hours before he admitted to himself that he had chosen the wrong road. Growling with frustration and impatience, he backtracked and tried to push the thought of wasted hours from his mind. Lydia and her father were travelling in a carriage, while he was on horseback. Surely he could find her in time...

He didn't. Two days later when Trevin arrived at Lord Duwon's castle he found his beautiful Lydia was already gone. Many rumors spread through the kingdom, the most romantic being that the girl had died of a broken heart when she was torn from the man she tried to elope with. The most cynical of stories spread told of her escape and capture by a loose young lord, who seduced her and then abandoned her to her enraged fiance, who shunned her, causing her to succumb to grief and fever. Trevin's belief was that her father and Duwon were the source of the bruises that stained her perfect skin, and that she had suffered abuse at their hands, overwhelming her fever-weakened body.
He rode away that day at less than half his pace coming in, twisting the simple ring on his littlest finger.