Chapter 12
“You are going to.”
“No.”
The hired man reached for me again.
Elias raised his hand.
Then he looked toward the cabin.
“Cora!”
Nothing.
He smiled.
“I have your husband.”
Still nothing.
“He is bleeding.”
I knew Cora was watching.
Somewhere behind those black windows, she was watching.
I hoped she was also thinking.
Because I had made a mistake.
I had gone outside alone.
Pride had helped make the decision.
I knew the land.
I knew the snow.
I was the man of the house.
All the stupid thoughts men use when they want to pretend vulnerability is an insult.
Now I was on my knees, tied like a calf, while the woman I believed needed protecting held our best chance of survival inside the cabin.
Elias drew a pistol.
He pressed it against the side of my head.
“Cora.”
The front door remained closed.
Something changed in his face.
He had expected obedience.
He had probably spent his whole life expecting it.
“Come outside,” he called. “Or he dies.”
I listened.
Nothing.
The hired man shifted nervously.
Then, from inside the cabin, Cora shouted.
“If you wanted him dead, he would already be dead.”
I almost smiled.
Elias did not.
“You think you know me?” he called.
“I know you need me frightened.”
“And are you?”
A pause.
“Yes.”
That surprised all three of us.
Cora continued.
“But I am tired of believing fear is the same thing as obedience.”
The words landed differently than shouting would have.
Elias stood.
“You have nowhere to go.”
“I have a rifle.”
“You will not use it.”
A shot cracked from the cabin.
The bullet struck the snow inches from his boot.
Elias jumped backward.
I laughed.
My ribs regretted it.
“Seems uncertain.”
His hired man raised his weapon toward the window.
“Don’t,” Elias snapped.
There it was.
He wanted Cora alive.
That gave us something.
Elias grabbed my coat and hauled me upright.
My damaged leg collapsed.
He cursed as my weight dragged him down.
I drove my shoulder into his chest.
We both fell.
The hired man struck me again.
Stars flashed across my vision.
Then another rifle shot cracked.
The hired man cried out.
His hat spun into the snow.
Cora had deliberately missed his head by less than an inch.
He froze.
Her voice came from inside.
“Next one goes lower.”
I had not known anyone could sound so calm while terrified.