Every time someone looked at my humanity, they probably saw my brother’s hatred.
Towering trees swallowed my view of the castle when I finally looked back.
We rode for hours until the path became increasingly slender and he was forced to bring his horse next to mine.
Ache seized the muscles in my legs. We had already stopped twice. I couldn’t ask him to stop again.
I pulled the flask from my horse’s saddle and took a sip. “Is this horse yours too or just Merda?”
“Ivy is just one of the king’s many mares.” Fyn combed his fingers through his disheveled waves.
“Don’t mind him. He doesn’t know how to say anything nice.” My fingers trailed along her mane. “You can be mine, Ivy… at least for the journey.”
“You know I can hear you when you speak most of the time, right?”
“Completely aware,” I said. “So what kind of bet did you lose to be given such a large prize to trade?” Every time the horse pounded the uneven path too hard, I felt it.
“Are you referring to yourself?” He flexed his hand when I nodded. “I only trade things that don’t speak, Your Highness.”
“I’ve had to contend with the knowledge that this day was coming my entire life. Soren’s invitation didn’t startle me. I’m fully aware of my value, Fyn.”
“Please enlighten me. What is your value?” There was a different tone in his voice, one that I didn’t recognize.
“You know I’m my father’s only daughter. I overheard pieces of every failed marriage negotiation.”
“Maybe he would have benefited from trading goodsinstead of women,” he said. “You don’t truly believe that is your only worth, do you?”
I looked to the tree line when I couldn’t look at him. “No, it’s just the one I’ve heard named the most.”
“Good, because I was about to start listing reasons to challenge that belief.”
A part of me wanted to hear someone say something beyond the words I had always heard spoken—the ones that seemed to be chained to my name, but it wasn’t the way we existed around each other.
I didn’t know if I wanted it to be.
It seemed I had already said too much, so I simply laughed.
Magnificent pinks and blues streaked the horizon. I tugged at my cloak as the evening air nipped at me.
Slowly the thicket of the forest faded, giving way to a road thicker than any we had traveled.
Fyn slowed his mare until she fell in line with mine. “There’s a small town ahead of here. I know the innkeeper and there will be a place to rest for the night.”
I hadn’t thought about sleeping arrangements. There were few places I had stayed beyond castle walls. My fingers shook as I gripped the reins too hard.
He leaned toward me, bracing my back. “Are you going to faint?”
“No.” I pulled myself upright away from his touch. “Why would you ask me that?”
“You look unwell.” His brow arched as he looked me over. “Ashlyn, if something’s wrong, you cantell me.” He rarely used my name like that. The moment he did, it tugged at a feeling I couldn’t name.
“I’m just tired. I’ve never done this before.”
“Stayed at an inn?” He did a poor job of stifling his laughter. “Surely you jest.”
I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing I hadn’t stayed at an inn. “I’ve never ridden a horse for this long.”
That was probably just as dangerous to admit. The muscles in my hands clenched from holding the reins too tightly.
