“It would be my pleasure. And might I be so bold as to say, I look forward to getting to know you and your lovely daughter better.” He shot Liane a smoldering look that Mother couldn’t have missed. Liane’s face burned. The wheels were in motion, and they couldn’t be stopped.
11
Liane inhaled the smell of pine and the crisp mountain air blowing through the trees. It reminded her of those precious summer days, before her fevers started, that they spent at the hunting lodge. Their mother had taught her how to shoot, and Father taught her to ride. That’s where the fevers started as well, the first time had been at the lodge. They’d found her burning up and gripped by hallucinations, wandering the lodge halls, rambling about talking animals and other such nonsense. Liane frowned to remember it; those memories were painful and better left in the past, unexamined.
The baying of hounds brought her back to the present. A kennel master’s apprentice struggled to keep his charges under control as they tugged on their leashes, lunging at the cool and impassive Prince Erich, who rode beside Mother and Father. They chatted together like old friends. Liane scowled at the back of his head. He wasn’t any different than the others before him; they all thought the same way: win the heart of the mother and get the girl. But unlike most monarchs, Mother had given Liane the right to choose. And much to Mother’s chagrin, none had met her standards. As tempting as it was to expose him, and be rid of him, she held back. It was better if Mother’s matchmaking had a target; otherwise, her next one might be another Duke Licht.
Liane couldn’t risk distractions. There was a pattern to Heinrich’s cheating, he knew Aristea despised hunting, and he used that for clandestine meetings. If Liane knew who the mistress was, then she could hopefully find the child and proof of Heinrich’s plotting.
Behind her, someone chortled, and Liane pivoted in her saddle to see a gaggle of Heinrich’s favorites, including Duke Licht, casting sidelong glances in her direction.
“You see what I mean?” Duke Licht proclaimed.
They were likely making some joke at her expense, but she wouldn’t give them the satisfaction and instead smiled in their direction. But it only seemed to fuel their amusement because they laughed harder.
“I told you she was an attention-seeking harlot,” Duke Licht said with a leering grin.
A flush burned her cheeks, and she was tempted to snap back a cutting remark, but their laughter had caught another’s attention. Mother looked back at her with a small nod of warning. It wasn’t princess-like behavior to engage; better to rise above. She clenched her reins tighter in her hand, and her horse tossed its head in agitation.
“They’re not worth the trouble,” Ludwig said sagely. Of course, he would agree with Mother.
Without warning, Erich’s horse reared, turned, and charged toward her. Ludwig grabbed onto her reins, pulling her out of the way, but it wouldn’t have mattered because he swerved past her before straightening again to crash through her tormentors and startling their horses. In their panic to regain control of their mounts, Duke Licht was thrown from his saddle and into a thorny bush. Servants rushed over to rescue him, but he tottered unsteadily and fell back down, howling in pain at the thorns stabbing his rear. By the time they got him onto his feet, there was a hole torn in his breeches that exposed his pale, pasty flesh.
Laughter burst out of Liane, and she clamped her hand over her mouth, but the entire hunting party was snickering behind their hands at the spectacle. Erich, seemingly having gotten control of his horse, looped back around and stopped in front of Duke Licht. He held out a hand to him.
“Pardon me, I lost control of my horse for some reason. You weren’t hurt, were you?” Erich asked while looking down at him.
“Don’t you know how to ride!” Duke Licht seethed.
Erich shrugged. “Forgive me; I am a foreigner who doesn’t understand your Neolyrian horses.”
Duke Licht’s face turned purple as he sputtered something unintelligible before stomping off; servants scuttled behind him, trying to stop him from exposing himself to the entire group and failing.
“Princess,” Erich said as he trotted past her.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Liane said.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I merely lost control of my horse.” The corner of his mouth twitched into a smile, and he cantered ahead.
Despite her better judgment, her stomach fluttered.
Their procession moved forward and arrived at a tented area set up by servants earlier that morning. Beneath shaded awnings, servants arrayed platters of sandwiches and chilled wine. Some came to the hunt, others for the festivities. The former, mostly women, drifted over to cushioned seats and accepted glasses of wine and refreshment.The hounds had lost interest in Erich and were howling excitedly, eager to be let loose. Then on Mother’s signal, the kennel master blew his whistle, and they shot off into the forest, startling birds from their roosts and rabbits from their dens. Eager hunters raced after them. Between dogs, courtiers, their servants, and guards, they’d be lucky to catch anything at all. Smart hunters moved toward the fringes of the hunting ground, deeper into the forest where the bigger prey waited and watched.
Smaller groups broke off, heading in different directions.Mathias went to the left, as did Mother and Father. Liane expected Heinrich to lounge about with his goons and let someone else do the hunting for him while he flirted with the court ladies, but instead, he rode off to the right into the forest. She could stay behind and try talking to the ladies and see if any of them would yield the information she needed, or she could try and follow him and try to spy.
“Which way?” Ludwig asked.
She hadn’t thought he’d be here today, but there’d been a sudden change in guards, and she couldn’t protest without drawing suspicion. Her secret burned in her chest, threatening to burst out of her. They shared everything about stardust. But while he shadowed her every move, she couldn’t investigate without arousing suspicion. She had to follow Heinrich and hope for the best.
“To the right.”
A stag’santlers brushed the tree’s canopy, and as Erich met its noble gaze, something ancient and feral stirred inside him. Hunger gnawed at his insides, like an itch he couldn’t scratch. At this phase of the moon, he could tame the dragon, but during the full moon, the seals broke, and he was a monster consumed by hunger, impulse, and need. Before he’d learned to control it, he’d often wake up covered in dried blood, regardless of the moon phase. If Lord Endland hadn’t recognized his affliction, the hunger would have destroyed him. Most would’ve killed him on sight, but Endland taught him to fight, gave him the discipline to control the dragon, even during the full moon, though nothing could prevent the change. It came sure as the changes of the monthly moon cycle.
The stag’s ears flicked as he stamped the ground, issuing a challenge to him as a trespasser in his kingdom. He had no intention of ending his rule. For Erich killing was a means of survival, not sport. He was only there to get close enough to Empress Eveline and steal the sword, but she’d disappointed him by not bringing it. She didn’t have it that morning at the temple either, though he was certain she’d bring it for ceremonial purposes. He didn’t have time to waste. He needed to get the sword and get out of Artria.
Sinister laughter startled the stag, and it bounded away. Erich turned slowly in the saddle to Prince Consort Heinrich and his cronies slinking out of the forest to surround him. Grasping the hilt of his dagger, he did not draw it. Even though he was outnumbered six to one, he wasn’t afraid. With his dragon strength, they were no match, but victory came at a price. If he won that fight, he was an anomaly, something to fear, one of the corrupted. Dropping the reins of his horse, he relaxed his shoulders as to not appear as a threat. If they didn’t engage him, then he didn’t need to defend himself.
“Well, look who we found,” Heinrich said.
