“Is he alright?”
“Yes.”
“Should I go check on him?”
Another horse appeared, the first to leave the vicinity and head down the road, Cain in its saddle. Thaan’s voice echoed in my head.Follow Cain.
My tongue clicked, Kolibri’s legs surging me away from Hadrian and his questions. I felt his gaze on the valley between my shoulder blades, a sharp knot in my back. A moment later, he caught up, scrutinizing me as he rode. “What happened? Did Kye say something to you?”
Ignore him,said Thaan.
My teeth clenched together. I faced forward.
Hadrian rubbed the back of his neck with a hand. “He didn’t want to go back through the pass today. He wanted to stay with you. He’s sorry he’s not here to take you back himself.”
I listened to the crowned prince make excuses for his brother, as though he believed I was angry at Kye, and though some tiny, tiny shred of me was charmed at the fact he thought it was necessary, I wished he’d leave. Hadrian believed his words with me were private. He didn’t realize Thaan listened to every one of them through my ears.
The prince paused, waiting for my response. Then sighed through his nose when I didn’t. “I’m glad you made it back to Calder safely, Lady Maren.” He waited a moment more, offering me more than enough opportunity to say something. But my gaze remained locked onto the road, and nothing within me bent to my own will. Hadrian rode ahead, joining a man I didn’t recognize until he sent an interested look back at me from over his shoulder. Aren, Junior Captain of the Guard.
My hands gripped the reins a bit too snug, my thighs wrapped Kolibri a bit too tight.
My jaw ached from the clamp of my bite as Hadrian and Aren spent eight days half trying to coax me into conversation with little success. I knew Hadrian didn’t trust Thaan—he’d told me as much the morning Kye and I had been taken captive by Captain Kriska. Still, I could only wonder what he thought as he watched Thaan’s horse ride next to Kolibri, cutting me off from the rest of the group.
“Is this going to become a problem?” Thaan asked, as unamused as the prince and junior captain as they glowered at us a few paces ahead.
No, I thought back. “Probably,” my mouth said.
Thaan chewed on the honest answer for a moment before looking at me, a sudden curiosity in his milky eyes. “Did you tell Nikolaos that you are blood-bound to kill his brother?”
“No.”
“Ah.” He settled into his saddle. “But does heknowthat you must?”
He’d believed it once. Someone had made attempts on Hadrian’s life, and Kye had thought I was involved. I wasn’t sure what he believed now, though the weight in my chest told me well enough what my heart believed. That his mind had changed. That he trusted me. I squirmed in my seat, unable to give the answer I wanted to. Ahead, I felt Hadrian and Aren both watching. “I don’t know.”
Thaan’s brows twinged. “More importantly, doesheknow you’re blood-bound to kill him?” he asked, indicating Hadrian with the merest wave of his hand.
“He suspected lastVirccos.”
“And what gave him that idea?”
“He and Nikolaos worked it out after Nikolaos lost half his memories,” I said, realizing his open-ended question gave me just enough flexibility to speak more than a blunt word or two. “After youincantedhim into marrying me without telling me he didn’t agree to it. After you sent me into battle with a wooden stick.”
My mouth snapped shut on a silent demand. Thaan rode for a moment in heavy silence. Then veered off to join Cain in a way that sent a small chill down my spine.
I spent the remainder of the journey alone.
51
Maren
Our caravan angled west towards the coast until the salty air of the sea bathed us in cool currents, and then it was a straight shot down to the tip of the continent where Calder City waited.
Landmarks became familiar. The red cliffs I knew by heart from my visits to the Venusian Sea breathed me in, and then the farms and fields, followed by the pine forest that wrapped around the palace. As I passed the first layer of trees, the tallest towers came into view. A few Winterlight guards behind me gasped; I wondered if they’d never seen it before.
I’d festered on the road, unable to speak, walk, or even scratch an itch without Thaan telling me to. He surprised me as the palace emerged from the leaves overhead, gaunt and tired from an eleven-day ride.
“I have things to take care of,” he said. “I think it wise to move up our timetable for the crowned prince. Your husband will likely arrive tomorrow. The moon will be full in three days.Cordaewith one and kill the other. I don’t care how. Selena will be expecting you. For now, I release you.”
