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Amaria smiled where she rode beside me. “Starguard is beautiful,” she said. “Embercrest is, too, but I’ve always loved Shelshire Lake and the way the city has grown around it.”

“That’s a lake?” I couldn’t keep the disbelief out of my voice as if I hadn’t just been thinking of the giant freshwater lakes in America.

Phoebe laughed again. “Yes. It’s the largest on either continent, though there are some in the Far Lands that are similar in scope. It’s an unofficial partition of sorts within Marish. North of it, the Nesumían make their homes while south, back toward the Staslid Mountains, are the Odrain. And then Starguard, here in the middle, is very much a melting pot, along with Dawncross.”

I remembered that name, Odrain, from the first morning with Callum’s people. Our people, I supposed they now were. The thought had a wave of grief-tinged anxiety swelling under my sternum.

“That’s where Joseph is from, right?” I asked just to shove the emotions back. They were resisting going into a box, so distraction was paramount right now.

“He is,” Callum agreed. He frowned, looking at something in front of us rather than any of the city itself. Without a word, he grabbed Elyssian’s reins and closed the space between us, his thigh pressed against mine. Two women dressed in blue kirtles and holding hands passed us. One had golden brown hair that was braided in a coronet, small strands curling around her face. Her lavender eyes brightened as she noticed us.

“Welcome to Starguard, Your Highness,” she said with a broad smile and quick curtsy.

The woman with her offered a small bow and a more cautious smile. She had brown-black hair—nearly as dark as mine—left to fall straight and unstyled down her back, and her eyes were bright red. She stood a few inches taller than the first woman and her body was more slender. Her focus was wholly on me now, unbridled curiosity in her expression as she adjusted a crossbody bag.

“Welcome, my lady,” she said. “We’re honored to have you.”

I inclined my head the way Callum had, not entirely sure what to say. Both women offered smiles again and then continued down the road. Once they were gone, Callum separated our horses again. When the street narrowed, Amaria slowed until she rode behind us, beside Phoebe. Even as the buildings grew farther apart and the trees and other foliage became more dense, the decorations didn’t lessen, stretching between trees and smaller bushes. The homes still had those paintings, but they’d also started appearing on the cobblestones underfoot, too. That motif appeared the most often, the lotus with the down-turned arrows, surrounded my vines and flowers and sometimes birds and rabbits.

The sounds of the city faded as we traveled farther from the center, though the laughter of children seemed as bright here as it had near the basilica and even the gate of the city. Callum turned from the street and onto one of the estates about halfway up the cliffs. Pine and fir trees lined most of the narrow road, though smaller bushes bare with winter spread out between them. On either side of the trees, a wide expanse of prairie grasses cut short for the winter led to a small covered pathway with rounded arches and simple white columns that connected to the main home. As we approached, two people navigated the wide flight of stairs that led to the main doors.

“Will you need me?” Phoebe asked.

Callum shook his head with a small smile.

Phoebe nodded and eased the circlet from her head, slipping it into the saddlebag just behind her right hip. “The school has requested my help in administering the mid-term testing.”

“That’s fine,” Callum said, understanding whatever question was implied. “You know how I typically am. I’ll send word to you during the day if I need something. Will you want a room here or prefer to stay with the school?”

Phoebe pursed her lips. “Here for the next few days at least so I can make adjustments to the spell if needed, especially if Reuben intends to continue on to the capital.”

I tuned out the rest of their conversation, my attention locked on the home in front of me. It had the same light beige plaster that read nearly white in the midday sun. Two men actively painted the same series of motifs around the main doors while several others were scattered along the covered pathway, positioning ribbons and garlands similar to all the others I’d seen.

Someone stepped out of the main door as Amaria helped me down from Elyssian with a hand on my elbow to steady me as I managed to dismount mostly on my own for the first time. She looped her arm with mine and then grabbed the saddlebag from Elyssian. Callum circled my wrist as we passed him, still engrossed in conversation about logistics and meetings with Phoebe, Vincent now joining them with wide eyes fastened on me. The blush was as fierce as it was fast, and I ducked my head to hide most of it. I wasn’t used to feeling so much, and I’d run the gamut today. The exhaustion from it all left me off-balance.

The painters paused as we ascended the steps, offering small smiles and quick bows of their heads. One had pointed ears and red hair. The other had round ears and was nearly as pale as me, his eyes a dark brown. I gave them both the same smile they’d offered us. It felt awkward, and the small half-wave I gave only made it worse.

Maybe etiquette classes should happen before reading. At least then I’d know when to intentionally piss someone off or put my foot in my mouth instead of doing it all without a roadmap.

The thought fell away as Amaria led me inside the home proper. Thirty feet in front of us was another garden with the same rounded arches and columns, allowing the entire home to access the large open space. A fountain sat in the middle, just like the one at the basilica, though this one had only one woman rather than thirteen different people. She sat on a bench, the basin of water at her feet, a dog sitting beside her with its head in her lap. She was dressed in flowing fabric cinched at her waist. Her hair was left unpinned, the waves falling over one shoulder nearly to her waist. In one hand she held a book while the other rested atop the dog’s head.

Entranced, I took a step toward her before forcing myself to stop.

“You can look,” Amaria said with a smile. “You’re not a child, and Vincent has nothing to hide. We have plenty of time before everyone will be here for the celebration feast.”

I perched on the edge of the water basin and traced the intricate fauna carved into the side of it. Only then was I able to look at the rest of the home. The second story looked out over the garden, too, with the same covered pathways. In fact, the entire thing reminded me of a…

“It’s a Roman villa,” I muttered.

Not exactly, but the similarities were obvious now that I really looked.

I wondered if there was a chapel here dedicated to one of their gods, or if they went to the basilica for prayers and rituals. Did they have prayers and rituals? Callum did. I’d awoken to him praying in Wolfrest, after all. But no one else had mentioned much of anything in regards to the gods.

Amaria tilted her head. “A villa? Yes, some would call it that. That’s more common in Tousir, though, where they have warm weather all year. We call them estates here.”

The part of me that loved architecture struggled to adjust to the reality that so many different eras of styles and construction sat side-by-side here, seemingly at random. And yet, even as I wanted to soak in the lines of the house, the brown and purple colors of the roof tiles, and the pathways carved through the inner garden that was larger than many parks I’d seen, I couldn’t help but look back to the statue.

I didn’t have it in me to ask another question, though. Not yet, at least. They knew I wouldn’t know anything. I’d figure out the details with time.