I headed for the door. When my hand hit the knob, Belarius called, “Raynella?”
I turned back to him. “Yeah?”
“Have a nice day.”
I gave him a wide smile then left, feeling lighter than I had in a while. It was nice to have a grandfather, someone who liked me for me. I wasn’t the savior with him, I was just his granddaughter.
It was all so… nice.
“RAYNELLA!”
I heard the loud roar as I neared the exit of the rose maze where I'd ultimately decided to spend the afternoon wasting hours searching for my lost purse. Well, I wasted maybe one hour searching and another hour or two trying to find my way out.
Although, I was tempted to disappear back inside now. My father was back, and from the sound of it, someone told him that I had released Cam and Ram. Squaring my shoulders, I strode toward the castle with my head held high, prepared to make him see reason.
I found my father in front of the portcullis surrounded by guards and a cluster of horse-like creatures, all anxiously stomping their hooves.
As I got closer, I could see what Ram meant earlier about 'close enough' when he referred to the creatures. Unguisen were like battle horses—as beautiful as they were fierce. Despite being slightly larger, they were roughly the shape of a horse, but instead of a flowing mane they had ridges of spikes running from their head down their back and even more along their tail which ended in a cluster of three wickedly sharp foot-long spines. Short coarse hair covered their massive bodies with colors ranging from black to shades of brown, though I noted one was almost like a deep blue. Across the chest, shoulders, and underbelly thick slabs of armor scales glittered in the later afternoon sun like dragonhide. Great ridged crests of bone sprouted from the base of their skull wrapping around from ear to ear. They looked like the result of a wild weekend between a triceratops, a stegosaurus, and a very brave or very drunk stallion.
My father spotted me and stomped over, leaving his entourage to wrangle the creatures back to wherever the stables were located. Despite their vicious appearance, they trotted after the guards without fuss.
“Raynella,” he gritted out with barely contained rage. “Is it true that you coerced a guard into releasing Camden and Ramset?”
I affected my best regal posture and met his gaze, refusing to flinch at the anger burning there. So much rage in thosepale blue eyes, but also something else, something I couldn’t decipher.
“Yes, I did,” I said firmly. “You had no right to punish them.”
“I had every right to punish them!” he exploded. “They are generals in the king's guard which means I command their every action. They had one job, to keep you safe while educating you about Rivella. Instead of following orders, they took you into Civi Adasa and nearly got you killed. How could I do anything but punish those brainless fools?”
Fear. That’s what I saw hiding in his eyes. He wasn’t just angry, he also was afraid. What could he possibly be scared of?
“The attack wasn’t their fault,” I said calmly, refusing to let my own anger rise to the surface for once. I didn't think a shouting match would help keep the twins out of the Sonaria. “I wanted to go into the city. I knew it could be dangerous, and they did tell me that I needed to make sure no one saw my bare arms. I messed up. Not them.”
“None of that matters because you should never have been there in the first place. I cannot imagine what they were thinking. Is there nothing between their ears?”
“Hey,” I said, feeling defensive for my new friends. “Did you give them a direct order to keep me out of the city?”
“Not a direct order, no,” he admitted. “Although they knew how dangerous the city would be for one who appeared to be an abicario. They risked your life, Raynella. I would come across as weak to my people if I didn’t punish them adequately.”
“Ah! Don’t you see? You didn’t specifically tell them not to take me. They honestly thought I would be safe with them and could learn more about Rivella by getting to experience it. Maybe going into the city was a mistake, but not one that deserves torture. And I’m just as much to blame, so if you want to send them back to the Sonaria, then you have to send me too.”
He flinched. “You are my daughter, Raynella. I will die before I let you be put in the Sonaria.”
“Then let this go,” I pleaded. “If you care about me at all, can’t you just call it good? Hasn’t their suffering been enough?”
I could see the war raging inside him as he stared at me, and I didn’t know who would win, the king or the father. His eyes flickered to a spot just over my shoulder then back to me, his internal battle ended.
To my complete surprise, it was my father who won.
“All right, Raynella. Only this once, I will allow their time served to be punishment enough.”
“Thank you.” I breathed out a sigh of relief.
“I have one condition, though,” he said firmly, and I tensed back up. “You must attend the court dinner this evening. In proper attire. For your sake, I will keep the number of attendees small, a few courtiers and advisors only.”
Damn.
I briefly chewed on my lip, debating, then felt disgusted with myself that I had even considered saying no. Cam and Ram were my friends. I could endure a single stuffy meal in an uncomfortable gown for them.
