“There’s a unicorn,” Mareleau said, pulling up short.
Right. She must be shocked. While Larylis had at least glimpsed Valorre with his own eyes, Mareleau had never seen a unicorn in person.
Cora lifted her gaze from the saddle’s buckle. “Mareleau, please meet Valorre.” Her words were kind yet edged with impatience or fatigue. Then she added, “Yes, Valorre, you look incredibly fashionable.”
Valorre tossed his mane then shifted his head toward Teryn.
Cora rolled her eyes and addressed Teryn. “Valorre wants to know ifyouthink he’s fashionable.”
Teryn extended a hand and patted the side of the creature’s neck. “Oh, I think you look incredibly dashing.”
Valorre whinnied as if Teryn’s praise pleased him, while Berol nipped Teryn’s cheek from her place on his shoulder. He idly scritched her feathers to placate her too.
“You’re saddling him,” Mareleau said. “A unicorn.”
Cora tugged on the buckle, testing that it was secure, then straightened and brushed her hands on her gray wool cloak. Beneath it, she wore a simple wool skirt and matching top. Mareleau too had chosen her plainest nursing gown for her travels, though her fur-lined Aromir wool cloak betrayed her status.
“I figured this would be the easiest way to use my abilities with all of us,” Cora said, retrieving a quiver of arrows from the stable floor and securing it to the saddle. “You will mount Valorre with Noah, Berol will perch on the pommel, and I’ll worldwalk while touching Valorre’s side. That should bring us all to our destination.”
Mareleau scoffed. “Should? That word doesn’t inspire my confidence, Cora. And I’m supposed to mount a…unicorn? Sit in a saddle holding my infant son?”
Larylis shared her reservations. Panic flared sharply inside him, but he reminded himself that Queen Constantina of Rovana had led her army to victory with her newborn son in one arm and her sword in the other, dripping with the blood of her enemies. Not that he wanted Mareleau doing anything as reckless as Queen Constantina. At least Cora had cushioned the saddle in blankets and furs.
Cora grimaced. “It’s sidesaddle. I figured you’d prefer that.”
Mareleau threw her arms in the air. “Yes, well, it doesn’t negate that my lower bits were stretched to oblivion mere days ago.”
“It’s just while I’m using my abilities,” Cora said. “We can walk the rest of the way as soon as we get to our destination. And…if you really don’t want to come, you don’t have to, Mare.”
Larylis’ breath snagged on an ember of hope.
Yet did he truly hope she’d stay behind? Remain in that painful collar for even a second longer than necessary? The ember cooled, and he realized it hadn’t been hope at all, merely selfishness.
Mareleau finally replied, “Fine, I’ll mount the unicorn.”
Valorre snorted and scraped a hoof on the floor. Cora released a long-suffering sigh before turning a pleading look at Mareleau. “He wants to know if you think he looks fashionable too.”
That seemed to drain Mareleau of her ire. Her expression went slack before a slight smile curved her lips. “I think he’s beautiful.”
After Cora finished preparing Valorre’s saddle with all their belongings, Teryn retrieved a mounting block. Mareleau marched up the block and climbed into the saddle with practiced ease, wincing only slightly as she shifted in her seat. Now it was time for Larylis to release the bundle in his arms.
His eyes burned as he approached his wife. He stared down at Noah’s face one last time, studying his eyelids that had fluttered closed, the sweet, furrowed look on his face as he slumbered. Gods, his heart ached. He hated this wordless goodbye. Hated the way his heart was being cleaved in two as he climbed the mounting block and gently transferred Noah into Mareleau’s arms. Tears trailed down his wife’s cheeks. He leaned forward and met her lips with a brush of his own.
“I love you,” he whispered.
“And I you,” she replied, voice trembling.
He slowly stepped down from the mounting block, feeling colder with every inch of space he placed between him and the two people he loved most. From the corner of his eye, he saw Cora step out of Teryn’s arms, caught Teryn swiping a hand over his cheeks. Berol launched from Teryn’s shoulder and landed on the saddle’s pommel.
“There’s one last thing to do,” Cora said, tone wary. “We need to remove the collar. Otherwise, it could interfere with my abilities.”
Larylis’ heart leaped into his throat. “Is that safe?”
Cora angled her head toward him. “The dragons might sense her magic, but we’ll be gone before they can locate her here. And when we get to where we’re going, I can put it back on.”
Mareleau’s expression sagged as if she dreaded both having it removed and replaced. “Do it,” she said through her teeth. “Let’s get this over with.”
Cora climbed the mounting block and reached for the collar with both hands. The cuff opened on its hinge. Larylis’ gaze locked on the twin lines of blood that trailed down his wife’s neck, but Cora wrapped a strip of gauze loosely around where the collar had been. He had to grit his teeth to keep from interfering, to stop himself from begging her to stay.
