The general nodded in acceptance of the Queen Mother’s order and stood to leave—but then the king’s chair scraped back and he was standing, too. Eye to eye, he put a hand on her shoulder, a twin good-bye to the one she’d given him upon Amarande’s arrival.
“Stay safe, General.”
Koldo swallowed, a lump unexpectedly in her throat. “Of course, my king.”
Then the general turned to leave. Geneva was right about one thing—she should’ve left hours ago.
CHAPTER21
ITwas truly a travesty that Amarande was on this journey with Taillefer and not Luca.
By midmorning, it had become increasingly clear they were not being followed and, thus, the prince began his jovial form of narration, which in this case amounted to questions seemingly with the sole purpose of annoying her as they raced across the russet, arid landscape of the Torrent.
First: “Did your stableboy enjoy it here more than he let on?”
Then: “Did he go with that Torrentian kidnapper? The girl with the deadly blade? I must say her bloodlust is extremely enticing. Does he think so?”
Next: “Were you always planning to meet him here? Perhaps expecting to be imprisoned in your own home after your claim was stolen out from under you by your long-lost brother and then rescued and accompanied by your sworn enemy?”
By the time that last question was lobbed, they’d left behind the endless wall of semi-connected buttes she’d called the Dragon’s Spine, and made a turn northwest toward the refreshment of the Cardenas Scar watering hole. The sky was a cloudless, endless blue and the heat was such that it shimmered off the ochre sands and into the atmosphere, blurring the lines between where solid land ended and the sky began.
Not for the first time, Amarande considered knocking out Taillefer, stealing his vial of nasty potion, and going it alone. But given his vices and ambitions, for the moment it seemed best to keep an eye on him. And so she finally answered. “Yes, I have visions. This is going exactly as planned. I want nothing more than to be hunted in the desert with you.”
Taillefer knew sarcasm when he heard it and laughed heartily.
“Given our head start, if Ardenia truly wanted to find you, they would have by now. Which means instead they’re fussing over how to contain the fact that an entire castle’s worth of people now knowsyou are alive and well despite what the kingdom was told.” The prince pointedly leaned in his stirrups toward Amarande, his brow arched. “If anything, once word gets out about the escape at the Itspi, my mother will only want us more. Indeed, her attentions are occupied with planning both a wedding and an invasion, but the woman never misses an opportunity to solidify her position.”
Amarande hated that he was right. About all of it. Still, she had the Warrior King’s reputation to uphold, and even though she knew Ardenia’s famed army could not handle a war on multiple fronts, Taillefer did not. “No matter her position or Domingu’s, an invasion will not happen. General Koldo will not allow it.”
Taillefer examined his reins. “Strange, I did not see Ardenian soldiers near the Pyrenee settlements either time I crossed the border in the past week.”
She had not seen them either, despite being told that regiments had been sent to every border after the threats that accompanied the funeral procession. Moreover, Koldo hadgoneto the Pyrenee border to warn her contingent there, and the general had never been one to bluff—though Ferdinand’s whole existence shed a new light on Amarande’s understanding of the general. “Not strange, strategic. A threat doesn’t have to be visible to be deadly.”
“I do not disagree, Princess.”
Up ahead, a smudge on the horizon stood out from the cinnamon dust and brilliant blue—trees. Amarande dug her heels into Bastian’s flanks and shot forward without a word—which, once he caught up, led to another Taillefer question, shouted over the thundering hoofbeats of the twin geldings. “Is that water?”
“Yes.” And something else, too.
On approach, the sliver of trees surrounding the watering hole was quiet, and Amarande focused on her secondary task first. It was an errand she wished she’d made during her harrowing search for help in healing Luca’s snakebite. If she had, everything might have turned out differently.
When it was clear none of their plausible hunters were hiding deeper within the copse of trees, Amarande dropped from her horse and made a beeline to a very specific hollow stump.
“Where are you going?” Taillefer asked upon dismounting, waterskin in hand.
“To improve our chances of success.”
The princess bent to the stump and inspected the cavity within both for deadly predators—a Harea Asp or Quemado Scorpion were never out of the question—and the items she intended to regain. Satisfied, she carefully reached within the stump and retrieved the remains of her gold necklace setting, stashed away when she’d freed her diamonds as means for trade.
The prince craned to improve his view over her shoulder, but before he could load whatever pithy question he was planning she answered. “Currency.”
“You… plan to trade a mangled necklace?”
“We need currency for food and information. Gold can be melted for medicinal purposes,” she replied—something she’d learned the hard way when the healer Naiara had laughed off a diamond as payment for treating Luca. That mistake had cost them her horse. “Or into bars. Being of Pyrenee, you should know these things.”
Taillefer reached into his trouser pockets and produced two small pouches, both tinkling with gold pieces. “Yes, I do. And I bring my gold fully prepared. Not half-baked.”
Amarande’s eyes narrowed. “What else do you have?”
