Eliza gave a squeak of protest, but it was Jenny who truly halted the princess.
“Highness,” the girl said softly, then licked her lips and spoke with real concern. “I fear you’ve taken ill. Not lovesickness. True sickness.”
Jenny was not only too observant but too kind. Aria still hadn’t found a way to apologize for forcing her way into Jenny’s trip, especially when the girl had asked if Aria would walk with herto her mother’s grave and she had instead waited in the carriage like a coward.
For the sake of the sister she didn’t know how to embrace, Aria smiled and said, “Thank you for the concern. I’m a little tired, that’s all. Too much excitement of late. I’ll retire early tonight.”
She tried not to think of how quickly she approached the fifty-day mark. Half her time spent with nothing gained.
At least she’d not lost her mind to the curse yet. All things considered, it held stable, an ongoing torture but not an increasing one. If only that could have comforted her. Instead, Aria felt tension in every bone, anticipation pulling her skeleton tight. Surely Widow Morton had something else planned, another strike against the king. But expecting an ambush didn’t mean she could spot it among the shadows.
Jenny nodded, and Aria exited at last.
Lord Kendall surprised Aria by suggesting they go out riding together. Apparently, he wanted to prove he had a range of interests beyond lullabies.
Eliza caught up with them at the stables, puffing from her hurried dressing and pursuit. While the stablehands saddled horses, she and Lord Kendall held a conversation Aria lost track of immediately. She leaned against the corral fence, begging herself not to be so obvious as to rest her head on her arm.
She woke to a crow swooping out of the sky, diving so close that its feathers brushed Lord Kendall’s ear. Eliza shrieked, stumbling backward, and Aria’s suitor dove heroically to the ground. Perhaps it was the exhaustion slowing her reflexes, but Aria only blinked.
The bird landed on the fence, directly beside her. He opened his beak and gave a loudcaw.
“Well, aren’t you a friendly one.” Her lips twitched.
“Guards!” Lord Kendall cried, scooting away from the fence. “Rid us of this demon bird!”
“No need.” Aria pointed to the tube fastened on the crow’s back, between its wings. “He’s a messenger bird.”
Eliza eyed the bird. “I thought only falcons were smart enough to carry messages.”
With anothercaw,the crow ruffled his feathers as though he’d taken the insult to heart.
Aria had no avian experience, butsomeoneclearly trusted the crow. As she unfastened the tube’s lid, she pitched her voice low to impart a secret. “I think you make a fine messenger bird.”
The crow twitched his beak up and down as if in agreement. She stroked his feathered head gently with her thumb, then, with a rush of wind against her face, he took flight, disappearing into the sky.
“This can only be for you,” Aria said, extending the rolled parchment to Eliza. “Your Henry is certainly an interesting one.”
Her sister took it with shaky fingers, a smile budding on her face.
Lord Kendall pointedly changed the topic, determined to act as if nothing had happened even though his face still burned red and his pants carried a streak of dirt. He leapt into the saddle at the first available moment.
Once riding, Aria didn’t have to keep up with conversation, and she found a truly enjoyable trait in her suitor—competitiveness. Lord Kendall goaded his mount faster, which Aria matched in kind, until they were both galloping, the wind billowing her riding coat and twisting strands of her hair free from its pearl net. She grinned, and she even heard Kendall laugh.
Perhaps there was hope to this relationship after all. Perhaps ...
A cursed girl pretending at a future. Mark.
Eliza called from behind, but Aria did not slow. She leanedin, pushing hard until she rode ahead of Kendall. He shouted something she didn’t hear. The trees passed in a golden blur streaked with orange, and the drumming hooves kept a steady rhythm that soothed her heart.
Soothed her mind.
Soothed her soul.
Aria didn’t realize her eyes were drooping until the world disappeared in a blink, and she felt herself falling, sliding into a waiting blackness pierced by pain.
Aria dozed. A fitful sleep, interrupted by the voices of her father and the physician, Eliza and Jenny. Everyone seemed concerned about her.
She wished they would let hersleep.
