One by one, they backed away and mounted their horses, leaving him alone with Princess Liane.
“Thank you,” Erich said.
“We’re even now,” she said, without any hint of kindness in her expression.
Somewhere along the way, she’d gotten the wrong impression of him, but that didn’t matter. It was her mother he needed, not her. With a polite incline of his head, he turned away from her. When he reached for his horse’s reins, it skittered away, nostrils flaring and tossing its head. Animals could sense what the human eye could not. The dragon remained too close to the surface, rolling under his skin. It took some coaxing, but he got back astride. But by the time he did, Princess Liane was gone.
Before he rejoined the hunt, he needed to collect his thoughts and calm his nerves. He wouldn’t charm anyone in this state of mind. The forest soothed him, and he headed deeper into it, away from humanity. Wind blew against his face and cooled his flushed skin, and the musky scent of plant decay and mountain air soothed his rattled nerves. The dragon calmed, and he tightened the chains around it, but its shadow lingered, a reminder of what lay beneath his human facade. Six days until his next change.
Discouraged and frustrated,Liane headed deeper into the forest, trying and failing to find Heinrich and his goons again. By intervening, she’d given herself away and lost her chance to spy on him, but at least she could hunt to try and cool her head and plan for next time. Debris crunched under their horses’ hooves, and birds called to one another from treetops. She loved the stillness and silence of the forest. When she listened closely, she swore she heard the beating pulse of magic in the woods. Before The Corruption, magic had flowed in the wild places, and creatures of myth ruled. How glorious it would have been to see a dragon take flight or a unicorn prance in the autumnal leaves.
“Why were you spying on Prince Consort Heinrich?” Ludwig asked.
“I wasn’t spying; he was beating up poor Prince Erich. If I hadn’t intervened, they would have left him bruised and bloody,” Liane replied without looking at Ludwig. If he met her eye, he’d know she was lying.
“You were following him long before that, or did you think I wouldn’t notice?”
She didn’t have an answer for him, so she didn’t speak at all. And instead nudged her horse to follow an animal track that led to a creek. Horse hooves plopped in the soft, muddy banks filling the lengthening silence.
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” Ludwig asked.
“You’re worrying over nothing again.”
“You’ve been acting strange since the night of the masquerade.”
“I’ve been distracted. Mother is very keen on Prince Erich.”
“As she’s been with many men before him, what makes him different?”
“Well, I think she’s serious this time.”
“And you didn’t tell her he was trying to buy stardust?”
Liane flinched. She’d hoped Ludwig wouldn’t notice or remember.
“After all she lets Heinrich get away with, do you think she’d care? He’s a prince and that’s all she cares about.”
“Empress Eveline, I can understand. You’ve been seen together, multiple times.”
“Courtiers love to talk.” Liane forced a laugh and hoped Ludwig would drop it, but his frown deepened instead.
“I have a bad feeling about him. I don’t trust him.”
“You don’t even know him.”
“Why are you defending him?” Ludwig’s voice rose and echoed back at them.
A bird startled and squawked indignantly as it took to the sky.
“What’s gotten into you?” she asked.It wasn’t like him to raise his voice with her, but he’d done it twice in the past few days.
Ludwig ran a hand across his face and wouldn’t meet her gaze. “It’s nothing…”
“Clearly, it’s not, if you’re upset.” Liane reached to touch his hand, but he jerked it away.
“Are you seriously letting Prince Erich court you?” Ludwig asked.
The question startled her, and on impulse, she replied in a joking tone, “I can’t put my life on hold for a dead man. We couldn’t be together, anyway,” Liane said.
