I was afraid, yes, but the promise of adventure eclipsed my fear. This time, I wouldn’t be stuck discussing faraway events; I’d be experiencing them myself. Though…that would only be true if Emrys didn’t toss me over his shoulder and take me back to the castle himself, which he seemed ready to do at any moment.
The tension in his shoulders never eased. At first, he rode ahead of the column, silent except for clipped commands, his red cloak serving as a warning to all behind him. But after only a few miles, he gave a hand signal to one of his men and dropped back to ride beside me.
I tried to hide the pain streaking through my thighs with each jarring jolt, the protesting aches in my back with every creak of the saddle. Perhaps I’d been too quick to pat myself on the back for riding proudly with the soldiers. I sat straighter, gritting my teeth against the awkward rhythm of the beast beneath me. This was not the docile mare I’d ridden out of Caervorn. This was a war stallion. And it clearly thought my riding skills were unimpressive.
The horse wasn’t alone in his sentiment.
“Do you always ride like the saddle offended you?” Emrys asked, voice maddeningly dry.
“What?”
He was smiling now. “Like the horse insulted your honor and you’re too proud to tell anyone.”
I narrowed my eyes at the side of his face. The urge to laugh at myself was nearly impossible to resist. “This is how one sits on a horse.”
He tilted his head and squinted at me. “Is it?”
I’d seen this side of him so rarely. I’d forgotten how disarming it could be. Forgotten how achingly good it felt to see him grin.
“It’s my second time riding one, if you must know. The first was in coming to Darreth—and on a much gentler beast!”
That made him turn. The surprise in his expression was almost comical. His brows lifted, mouth parted, like he wasn’t sure whether to laugh or dismount and inspect me for injuries.
“You’ve lived over twenty years,” he said slowly, “and never ridden?”
“I lived in Caervorn,” I grumbled. “Streets and staircases. Only merchants and people who travel needed horses.”
“Why did you never request to ride at the Tir? We have a stable you could have used at any time.”
“I probably should have…but there were other, more significant, changes I needed to adapt to inside the castle first.” I sent him a meaningful look.
His expression changed to one of dawning understanding.
As if the memory of me in rags caused him pain, he shook his head and offered no further comment.
When I glanced behind, I caught Catrin smirking from her saddle, with an eyebrow raised. I didn’t know what she was thinking, but I had a guess.
“This is the most I’ve heard you speak in years, Lord Prince,” she said archly. “It’s a welcome change.”
Emrys visibly tensed. His jaw tensed, and he looked like he might bite through his own tongue. The scar at his temple flexed with the movement.
“I prefer silence,” he growled.
“You just prefer avoiding people,” Catrin replied cheerfully, completely unbothered by his grumpiness.
When we stopped for a water break by a wide bend in the river, Emrys jumped from his horse and stalked toward me. His dark hair was unruly from the wind, and something close to concern flickered in his eyes.
“We’ll start your training now.” That sounded more like an order than a suggestion, though his voice was even, free from the slight warping that warned of the curse’s pressure.
He reached for my hand without a word. Despite the nervous flutter rising in my belly, I allowed him to take it—to simplify dismounting, of course. But my body knew better. Warmth spread where our fingers touched.
I followed him to the river’s edge. The reeds rattled against each other in the breeze with a sound like the clatter of the traveler woman’s fortune bones from so long ago.
I still doubted her prophecy, but my life was now closer to that strange prophecy than I’d ever believed it could be. Perhaps she was slightly off,perhaps the crown she foresaw belonged to one of the princes whose lives I’d become entangled with.
“How should I start?” I asked, keen to learn, keen not to think about that foretelling. We stood facing each other among the cattails and whizzing dragonflies.
“Close your eyes,” Emrys said. “Feel along the edges of your magic.”
