Lex looked up from his novel. “I am helping.”
“Are you, though?”
“I already told you I don’t hunt.”
“Have you any skill with weapons?”
Lex put a hand to his chest, affronted. “Are you questioning my integrity now too?”
Teryn shrugged. “Just curious how much of this alliance benefits me at all.”
Lex turned a page in his book. “You’ll get your beloved princess.”
His stomach turned at the wordbeloved. Planting his spear tip in the dirt, he slouched to the side and propped an arm on the end of the shaft. “Oh? And how do you suggest we do that? So far, our plan is to return with a tie.”
“Don’t know,” Lex said absently. “Maybe we can slit Helios’ throat in his sleep.”
“Are you offering to do the throat slitting?”
Lex quirked a brow. “Of course not. I’m skilled with a sword, not a dagger. Besides, I’m not going to war with Norun. My kingdom has been avoiding that for a decade.”
Teryn frowned. He remembered when the Kingdom of Norun conquered Haldor and Sparda, two smaller kingdoms that had been south of Norun’s borders. The other Risan kingdoms, including Teryn’s own, feared Norun would seek to conquer other neighboring lands. Thankfully, the conquest never went any further. Menah had the benefit of having two other kingdoms standing between them and Norun. Lex’s kingdom, however, shared a border. “Don’t you have a wall?”
Lex shifted awkwardly in his seat as if the question annoyed him. “Yes, we have a wall. Don’t you have traps to check?”
Teryn held up his palms. “I didn’t realize a wall was such a touchy subject.” Even as he said it, though, he remembered Lex’s rant about his brother stealing the wall-building project from him.
“Yes, well, I’m starving. I get cranky when I haven’t eaten.”
“You know, you could check the traps yourself.”
He turned another page in his book. “And get blood on my shirt? No, thank you.”
Teryn rolled his eyes, but there was only amusement in the gesture. Lex was probably the least helpful ally he could ever want, but he was entertaining in his own way. Best of all, he wasn’t Helios.
“What are you reading, anyway?”
Lex glanced at the cover. “Some naughty romance. It’s about an earl who falls for his sister’s lady’s maid.”
Teryn’s grin split his face. “You read naughty romance?” He wasn’t even sure Larylis read such fare, and he tended to devour almost anything of the written word.
Lex lifted a shoulder. “I do now. Stole it from the library at Verlot before I left.”
“You stole that. From Verlot Palace.”
“Figured I’d want some reading material for the journey.”
“You do realize you’re a prince, right? You could walk into any bookstore and probably take any book for free.”
Lex continued as if he hadn’t heard a word Teryn said. “I didn’t realize it was the naughty variety, but I daresay, I’m finding it rather informative.” He waggled his brows at that.
Teryn shook his head with a chuckle. Then, spear in hand, he left the small clearing and entered the cover of trees. He peered overhead for any sign of Berol, but the falcon was nowhere to be seen. She’d left to hunt half an hour ago. Which was what Teryn now set out to do himself. Well, perhaps not hunt, but fetch lunch just the same. He’d set a few traps nearby for small game and one in a stream for fish. Unfortunately, the first three traps proved empty. Damn. That left the fish trap. He shifted course to the east where he’d found the stream earlier that morning. Walking along the bank, he sought signs of where he’d left the trap. He remembered a boulder that reached about waist high. And a cherry tree standing just above it, pink blossoms clinging to its boughs. It was rare to find trees with that many blossoms still intact this late in the spring, but there was one hardy variety—the Rosa Solara—that carried pink petals almost until summer. That should make it easy to find. Sure enough, a hint of pink caught his eye upstream. He took a step?—
And froze.
A flash of movement snagged his attention. He turned, seeking what had fled the opposite side of the stream. There was nothing there, just ripples amongst the rushing current. He held still for several moments, keeping his breaths slow and steady. When he witnessed no further signs of movement, he continued along the bank, slower this time. He kept a more mindful grip on his spear, used his front foot to test the ground ahead before fully taking a step. Teryn should have been doing so all along. Regardless of whether his traps proved successful, any found prey would do for lunch.
The foliage grew denser around the stream the closer he came to the tree. He navigated around it with silent steps, creeping up a slight hill until he found a slim trail that led back to the stream. As he drew close to the cherry tree, it became clear it was not the one he’d been looking for. There was no boulder. No trap. Still, there was something in the music of his surroundings that kept him moving forward. A light cadence punctuated by birdsong. It was the sound of hooves. A deer, perhaps. Too graceful to be a boar. His mouth watered at the thought of venison. He’d fed the rest of the dried strips of meat to Berol last night.
