Andrian scowled. “Ten gold each? They’re sumpters. That seems a little steep.”
The man bristled, folding his hands over his barreled chest. “They’re good stock, boy. I know what I breed. And I’ll sell them with tack. I’m not willing to part with them for anything less.”
They glared at each other, frustration swirling beneath Andrian’s ribs. He knew the man was charging him more than the three horses were worth. While they were well-bred, with solid bones and intelligent eyes, they were small and drab. About as ordinary as a horse could get.
But Andrian needed the horses, and unfortunately, this man knew it.
Andrian blew out a sigh. “Fine.” He dug out the coins from his pocket. They mocked him with the way they cheerfully tinkled. The man took them with a broad grin.
“Pleasure doing business with you,” he said. “My boys will get them all tacked up and get you sent on your way.”
Andrian nodded. He leaned against the side of the barn, arms crossed over his chest. His gaze drifted away from the smallvillage, back toward the thick tree line that made up the forests of central Onita. Mariah, Matheo, and Callamus waited in those woods, setting up camp.
They’d just left Eyarfell that afternoon, the wing beats of dragons covering ground far faster than any other animal on the continent. They’d flown over the Everheim Mountains, watching them fade into foothills over the Onitan border. They’d passed Antoris then Khento, following the scar left by Kol’s army as it had carved across the kingdom.
Callamus had urged them to descend into these forests as the sun was giving away to early evening. It was about a half-day’s ride from Andburgh, and far enough from the army’s path that they shouldn’t attract any unwanted attention.
It was also then suggested that they figure out a way to travel the rest of the way on horseback. Dragons were conspicuous, to say the least. The last thing they wanted was to draw eyes to them before they were ready.
To everyone’s surprise—including his own—Andrian had volunteered himself to go into the nearby village to buy horses. It had seemed like such a mundane, ordinary task. One that, in another life, he would have to do often.
Sometimes he wished for that ordinary life more than he’d ever wished for anything. One in which he was just a man, and Mariah was not a queen. One where they could see the world together, just them, and take the time to find the quiet and peace that evaded them at every twist of fate.
A silly dream, he knew. But one he dreamed of all the same.
“Here they are.”
The man returned, leading three saddled horses—two solid bays, one a flea-bitten gray. “Should you ever come back this way and have no more use for them, I’ll buy them back from you. I meant what I said; they’re good beasts.”
Andrian took the offered reins. “Thank you.” He tied the reins of the gray horse to the saddle of one of the bays, then took that horse's reins in hand and mounted the third. With a light tap of his heels against the animal’s flank, the horse started forward, leading the other two toward the thick, quiet woods.
The tangof smoke greeted Andrian as he emerged into the small clearing.
Three tents were pitched in a semi-circle, tucked against the trees. Callamus sat a short distance away, tossing rocks and sticks through the tall meadow grass. Matheo tended to the small fire, carefully arranging the wood to limit the smoke. Mariah sat on a rock beside him, watching him work, but her expression told Andrian that she wasn’t truly seeing.
There was a tense, heavy quiet in the camp. The kind of silence that hung around people who were headed toward a terrifying unknown but had no choice other than to press on.
They turned at the sound of the horses’ hooves through the underbrush. Mariah rose to her feet, brushing her hands down her dark leathers.
Andrian knew it wasn’t the time and that they had much bigger things to be dealing with at the moment, butfuck, he loved the way she looked like this. Dressed in black leathers that clung to her muscular curves, dark hair unbound around her shoulders. Her leather tunic was sleeveless, crossed with the straps to the short swords sheathed down her spine. Those strange marks on her hands and wrists glowed in the dimming evening light, opalescence beating a soft, cadenced rhythm like the beat of a heart.
Like the beat ofherheart.
He slid from the horse, giving the animal a soft pat on the neck. The other two filed into the clearing, standing patiently with flickering ears and soft eyes.
“Nothing fancy,” Andrian said, untying the reins of the other two horses. “And I paid way too much for them. But they are healthy and sane and?—”
He was nearly knocked off his feet as Mariah slammed into him withwaymore force than he was expecting. Jasmine and cedarwood swept over him, and he couldn’t help drawing in a breath. Her arms latched around his waist, face burrowing in his chest.
Andrian chuckled, folding his arms around her shoulders, sweeping the silky length of her hair away from her neck. “I was only gone a few hours,” he murmured against the top of her head. “Miss me that much,nio?”
Mariah nodded against him. “We’re so close,” she said softly. “I canfeelhow close we are. And the closer we get…” She drew in a great, shuddering breath, chin tipping up until his gaze was filled with resplendent forest green. “The closer we get, the more terrified I become.”
Andrian wished there was something he could say. Wished that there were words he could offer to soothe her fears, to reassure her that whatever haunted her would not come true.
But he’d lived for weeks with Kol. He knew how the monster thought, the sort of games he played. He’d played those games on Andrian himself, after all.
And they’d long ago sworn not to lie to each other.
