Chapter 141: She Left
After breakfast, Lara met Odin in the mayor’s study. Lara handed the prescription to General Odin, her fingers lingering briefly on the parchment before stepping back. She met the general’s gaze one last time and bid him farewell, her voice steady but quiet. "The time for me to return to the Norse Family has not yet come."
Odin and his sons exchanged solemn glances. She was right. Whoever had orchestrated her abduction two years ago would surely be alerted once they learned Lara had escaped — and worse, that she hadn’t been sold. Her return now would only stir the people hiding in the dark.
That same morning, Lara slipped out of Carles under a pale sky, the air cool and sharp. The rocky slopes of Mount Roca loomed ahead, jagged and unwelcoming. She picked her way across the uneven ground with practiced ease, each step calculated. The mountain’s silence pressed down on her, but soon she felt it — a prickling at the back of her neck. Someone was following her.
Her grip tightened around the hilt of her knife. Quickening her pace, she darted behind a big tree, pressing her back against its rough bark. She pretended to rest, her eyes scanning the terrain, searching for the unseen presence. The mountain wind whispered through the pines, rustling leaves, and stirring shadows. Lara held her breath, listening intently.
Silence. There was only the soft rustle of the leaves being blown by a gentle breeze.
She frowned, her instincts screaming that she wasn’t alone. Still, no sound betrayed a pursuer, no movement flickered in the undergrowth.
Lara did not intend to follow the longer path. Wasting no more time, she reached for the rope coiled around her waist and fitted it with a four-pronged grappling hook. Her eyes flicked upward to the steep, craggy slope towering two stories high. She swung the rope in a fluid arc, the hook catching solidly on the rock face. Testing its hold, she hoisted herself upward, muscles straining but movements graceful, almost effortless.
She was about to pull up the rope when a hurried voice called from below.
"Kane, wait! Don’t pull it up. I want to climb using that too."