Elowen shrugged, urging her horse faster as the road northward widened. “A tower collapse yesterday, and a dam failure today…it might be coincidence.”But if it wasn’t, she added silently,Patrick wouldn’t tell me.
“But you don’t think it is coincidence.” Theo’s words weren’t a question. He looked very thoughtful, then he gave her a nod. “Well, I know nothing of the situation, so I’ll defer to your judgment. If some kind of misfortune is plaguing the region, I’m certainly not averse to discovering what’s happening.”
Elowen felt her cheeks grow pink. He hadn’t dismissed her with polite reassurances not to worry, like Patrick had. And when he’d said he would defer to her judgment, she could detect no hint of mocking, as Bertrand would surely have injected into any such declaration. He didn’t know her at all, and already he took her more seriously than those closest to her.
She was fast losing track of how many times he’d surprised her that morning.
They still hadn’t caught the others by the time they passed through the gates of the city. The guards on duty took note of Elowen—she could feel their eyes following her—but with the visiting prince by her side and both her own pair of guards and Theo’s solitary guard behind her, they didn’t challenge her. Patrick would be none too pleased when she caught up to him, but she didn’t think he’d actually compel her to go back. Not in front of Theo.
Chapter
Four
Theo’s spirits lifted when they cleared the city. Any desire to visit the celebrated floating gardens had evaporated the moment the viscount had weaseled his way onto the outing. Giving his horse its head on an open road was infinitely preferable. Elowen seemed more relaxed as well. She had a good seat, her willowy form in perfect harmony with the bronze-colored mare she was riding.
He found himself stealing looks at her as her hair started to come loose from its bindings, streaming in a golden wave behind her. He was startled by a sudden desire to reach over and run his fingers through it.
Enough, he told himself sternly. He needed to get hold of himself. He thought he’d grown beyond frivolous desires, but they seemed to be flitting through him with alarming frequency since he’d met Elowen. He needed to act like the prince and representative of Siqual that he was, not like some minor noble vying for the princess’s favor.
“There they are.”
Elowen’s call drew Theo’s attention to the road far ahead. He could see the small party that consisted of the prince, the viscount, and four guards. They didn’t seem to have noticedtheir pursuers, and as Theo watched, they followed the road under the shelter of a copse of trees in the distance.
“I wish we had time to stop,” Elowen said brightly. “But this isn’t the time for a hunt.”
Her friend laughed. “I suppose not.”
“A hunt?” Theo asked, mesmerized by how Elowen’s increasingly casual air changed her countenance. She was even prettier when relaxed, if that were possible.
The smile she sent him was only a little self-conscious. “This is the route to Sophia’s family estate, which I visited a number of times as a child. This region is known for wolpertingers and we used to hunt for them in all the wooded areas along the way. Drove our minders mad.”
She sent a cheeky look toward her two guards, whom Theo noticed had an air of long-suffering. His own guard, an easy-going middle-aged man who’d been with Theo for years, met Theo’s eyes with a twinkle that seemed to say,take the opening.
Theo shot him a wry look, not eager to receive romantic advice from his attendants. Although he supposed Paulson should know, given he’d been happily married for some thirty years.
“Did you ever find any?” Theo asked Elowen a short time later, as they passed beneath the first branches of the copse.
She shook her head. “I don’t think so. We thought we caught a glimpse once, but I have a feeling it was just an ordinary squirrel.”
“What do you think, Paulson?” Theo asked his guard. “Do you sense any movement from wolpertingers among these trees?”
“I don’t, Your Highness.”
“Are you a craftsman as well as a guard?” Elowen asked curiously, immediately grasping the implication of Theo’s question.
Wolpertingers weren’t a source of fascination solely for their unusual shape, with the form of a squirrel, the wings of a woodland bird, and surprisingly large antlers. They were also known for the excessive and disproportionate volume of magic generated by their movements. It was why they were protected, and it was illegal to breed, farm, or hunt them. Difficult as they were to spot, someone with a good sense of magic should be able to feel the movements of nearby wolpertingers.
“I’ve recently begun the study, Your Highness,” Paulson told the princess with a respectful smile. “It’s most fascinating, but I’m far from an expert in the field.”
“My sister’s recent experiences have highlighted to my family the value of having guards who are trained in the manipulation of magic,” Theo explained.
Elowen nodded as she murmured reassuringly to her horse, which had shied from a low-hanging branch.
“We heard about the attack on Princess Miriam. I’m relieved she was unharmed.”
“As am I.”
The words came out a little terse. Theo hated reliving the moment his sister had been saved from death from a speeding arrow only by the swift reaction of her magically trained bodyguard. It had certainly been no act of his that had averted disaster. For a moment, his memory swirled, the peaceful copse turning into the chaotic scene beneath the trees the day of the attack. When the memory started to follow its usual course and morph into a horrifying image of his sister’s childlike face, white with terror as she dangled from a cliff in the moonlight, Theo pulled himself back to reality with an iron hand. Mim was home and safe, and no one—at least no humans—had died from his failures on either occasion. Wallowing in memories that scared him would only distract him from his duties, and make it more likely he would harm others with his mistakes.
