“Is the Chieftain’s daughter all right?” The man who had gone over the rules finally ran over. The racers still perched on their noru were finally becoming brave enough to venture forward as well.
“Ellene was dazed, but she seems all right, thank the Mother. I sent her to be looked over by Chieftain Sehra and my personal cleric,” Vi reported, putting on an air of authority.
Suddenly, everyone looked suspicious through Vi’s eyes. Every eye trained on her was one looking for her death. She forced herself to quell the feeling; these were the men and women she’d grown up alongside. She couldn’t see them as lurking enemies now… But she also couldn’t stop herself from wondering how many had access to the castle, to her noru?
The old wars had left deep scars, even on the children of those who had fought, How many of them would want her dead for the crimes her parents committed against theirs? How many knew she was supposed to be the one in the race?
Vi glanced back to Andru. He had known she was intended to ride… and he had pressed for it.
“Praise Yargen.” The man gave a small bow. “And thanks to her that it wasn’t you on that saddle.”
“Yes, well… If you’ll excuse us, I’m going to return and check on your future Chieftain.”
“Take care, your highness.”
Vi gave a small nod, and began to lead the way back toward the main road. She gave a shrill whistle and Gormon trotted over, falling into step behind them. Lumbering along, getting distracted by the birds flitting in the trees, he seemed a gentle giant; Vi felt silly for ever being nervous around him. Especially when she had something far more tangible to worry about.
“Who do you think it could be?” Jayme asked only when they were far out of earshot of anyone else.
“I don’t know.”
“Truly?”
“Why does that surprise you?”
Jayme paused, thinking to herself. “You’re in the North, the granddaughter of the man who conquered this land and put it under the heel of the Empire. There are many, I’m sure, who remember seeing their loved ones die at the hands of a man bearing your name. I would have thought someone might have been exceptionally cruel, enough to be a suspect, at some point.”
“The North has been good to me,” Vi defended. She didn’t know why, however. Hadn’t she followed the same line of thinking in her own mind? But she still wanted to reject the notion that she’d been sleeping alongside enemies all along.
“Certainly… But the North is wide, and full of people. Sehra has been good to you, surprisingly so, all things considered. Ellene is like your sister. And that goes far with many. But…” Jayme paused, picking at the saddle straps. “There are many who cannot forgive the sins of the father. Some would argue that perhaps those sins shouldn’t be forgiven until justice is exacted… regardless if that justice falls to the children to bear.”
Jayme’s voice took on a hard, protective edge—one that nearly surprised Vi. She glanced over, but decided it best to leave the woman to her thoughts for a moment.
“It’s impossible to say for certain it’s a Northerner.” Vi remembered keenly the old, Western woman in the market. “The solstice has brought a flood of strangers to the North.”
“But the East and West see you as their own, given your parents.”
Vi couldn’t argue that. Her mother was born and bred Eastern. Her father was the grandson of the last great king in the West. And given how the woman in the market had claimed she’d come all this way just to lay eyes on Vi…
She shook her head and heaved a heavy sigh. “I don’t know. Everyone seems as likely and unlikely as the next. Perhaps we’re making something from nothing and it was an accident?”
“This—” Jayme held up the straps again. “—isnotan accident. Not knowing who to suspect is one thing. But don’t be ignorant, princess. Someone is out to get you—someone with access to the fortress. I’m going to find out who.”
As if on cue, Andru strolled over to them. He had a small frown on his face, but his overall lack of urgency made any concern he laid on seem insincere.
“Is everything all right?”
“Everything is fine,” Vi answered quickly.
“Those beasts, the riders could not even get them to stop for their future chieftain.” Andru looked back at Gormon. “Wild things.” Vi wanted to argue and explain that it was a deadly combination of momentum, the shroud of a dust cloud, and the overall excitement of the race. But he continued before she could. “If you had been on that saddle, you would have been dead.”
“Yes, I am aware.”
The road dipped down, heading back into the city proper.
They came up to the stables and Vi directed her noru into the pen. Gormon leapt over the fence, heading to a back corner of sun, and stretched out with a massive yawn. He rolled half on his side and promptly forgot about Vi’s existence, distracted by a low-hanging branch he batted at like a kitten with a ball of yarn.
“Vi, thank goodness you’re all right.” Jax’s voice cut through the heavy silence that had been hanging over them like a cloud. He crossed over quickly, resting his hands on her shoulders.
