“Don’t you have a lesson to be attending right now?” Jax turned quickly, giving her a stern look.
Vi stopped mid-step, freezing in place. The severity of his tone hardly fit him. It was the tone he usually used when they weren’t among friends.
“Martis agreed to a half lesson so that we cold properly account for new news from the capital.” Vi’s eyes drifted from Jayme to Jax, and finally to the man still seated high on his horse—the new presence and undeniable source of the tension.
He had cerulean eyes, a square-cut jaw lined with pale stubble, and a mess of wavy golden hair. Vi supposed most women would find him handsome. She also supposed she wasn’t like most women… because his appeal did little to interest her.
She only cared about one thing: he was certainlynother brother. Vi knew it from the portraits of Romulin she’d been sent and she knew it from the way he looked at her—eyes shifting, constant glances askance—awkward. Nothing like what she would expect of her brother’s gaze.
“Greetings, your highness.” He finally swung one dusty trouser leg over the saddle, dismounting and dipping into a low bow with the same motion. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Lord Andru Rarren, son to Head of Senate, Lord Tomson Rarren.”
Son to Head of Senate… Vi merely blinked at the man for a long minute as the words sank in. She took long enough that her uncle elbowed her side. Vi coughed softly, trying to ignore her lapse in etiquette.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Lord Andru.” Vi held out her hand expectantly.
Andru stared at it for a long moment as if confused. Long enough that Vi wondered if somehow she was remembering what her tutors had told her about Southern introductions incorrectly. But he finally, almost too hastily, grabbed her palm and brought the back of her hand to his lips for a light kiss.
“And you as well, your highness. I’ve heard much about you. Your brother talks much of you. It’s good to finally put a face to a name.” He straightened and Vi shifted, drawing her height as well. They were nearly the same measurement and she relished the fact. She was tall for a woman and would leverage her height as often as possible against men who thought they could look down on her by stature alone.
“I believe there have been portrait artists sent before to capture my likeness. Have you not seen their renditions?” Vi asked, part coy, part cautious.
“There is nothing like laying eyes on you in the flesh. The artists do not do you justice.”
“Indeed, they are far too generous,” Vi remarked dryly. “Why have you come, Lord Andru?” Vi folded her hands before her. “I know it is not to merely set eyes on me. Otherwise you came very far, for very little.”
She could feel her uncle shift uncomfortably next to her. He wanted to scold her for her boldness. But Vi didn’t feel the least bit sorry for her remarks. The Senate had done her no favors in life and she had no interest in bowing before them or their appointed messenger.
“You are correct, princess. This is not a mere social call. I am here to assess you.”
“Assess me?” Vi repeated, shock seeping into the question. He would seek to assess her? More than her tutors already had? More than her parents every time they came? Every inch of her had been inspected and measured since birth. What more was there to assess?
“Yes, on behalf of the Senate.”
“What does the Senate want to assess me on?” Vi asked cautiously. More like, what did they think they had therightto assess her on? At least her tutors and parents had ground to stand on for placing her under scrutiny. The Senate was an extension of the people, but far below the crown.
“Your fitness to rule.” He had the audacity to smile as he said it. “The people and Senate question if one raised in the arms of our enemies could be fit to be a leader ofallthe Empire’s peoples. Especially before she returns home next spring.”
Vi didn’t know where to start. Correcting the idea that she had been raised in the arms of enemies? The notion that she needed to be tested at all? Ruling was her birthright—the one unquestioned element of her life.
Or perhaps she should start with the last and most important thing of all…
The fact that she wouldfinallyhead South in the spring.
Chapter Four
Home,a place she never thought she’d see. A place she had given up on ever finding. Now dangled before her by the words of a stranger.
“Can you say that again?” Her voice had fallen to a whisper. She didn’t think she could muster anything louder if she tried. Everything felt fragile, as though the world itself might shatter if she spoke too loudly. The world likely wouldn’t, but the thin veneer of hope that now coated her heart certainly would.
“Come spring, or as soon as the passes thaw enough to get the military parade through, the Senate has declared for you to be returned to Solarin.”
It couldn’t be real. It wasn’t real. Without warning, suddenly, she would be reunited with her family.
“I…” Words completely failed her. Thoughts failed her. She’d fantasized so often about this moment that she should know exactly what her reaction was, and yet Vi froze completely.
Andru’s mouth quirked up into a smile that Vi couldn’t quite read. It was self-satisfied certainly, bordering on arrogant, slightly condescending perhaps. He must be relishing in rendering the princess speechless. Somehow, though, his blue eyes were kind. Leaving her conflicted about how she should react.
“Yes, princess?” Jax brought her back to the present.
