“As far as I know. Why aren’t we riding horses with Galen and Wren?”
“To irritate you.”
I gave him a look.
“It’s a long trip. I didn’t want a horse to have to carry us bothall the way, and the border isn’t the place to teach you how to ride.”
The carriage jolted as the horses started forward. I managed to grab the bottom of the bench just before pitching over onto his lap. Which would have cast a very different light on the already awkward situation.
“Have you been to Vhrania before?” he asked.
“I’ve never been beyond the district, at least that I remember.”
Nik leaned toward me, unfastened the shutter, and flipped it open; when he sat back, the scent of a winter forest—piney and sharp—lingered behind him. I liked it. And I didn’t like that I liked it.
“In case you want to look outside.”
I did. It was getting entirely too warm in here.
“Right. Thanks.” I turned to sit sideways on the back bench, arms folded on the narrow window ledge.
“Wren seems very formidable.”
“She is. So watch yourself.”
“I always do. How long have you been friends?”
“She showed up at the Lady’s manor a few months after me. I was bonded at ten. I’m twenty now.”
“You were a child.”
“I didn’t know my mother. My father died of the traveling sickness. I was bonded to pay off the healer for his treatment. Or so I was told.” How would a child know if debt had actually been incurred, or if the healers had done anything to help?
“Ten years hasn’t been enough time to pay it off?”
“The master is responsible for that calculation.”
“And the healer?”
“Long gone, I’m told.”
“That’s a broken system.”
That had me shifting uncomfortably on the bench. “I don’t need pity.”
“I don’t pity you. I’ve seen you literally run into danger, so I know you’re courageous, and you’ve clearly figured out a way to survive. But I’m sorry you weren’t protected. I’m sorry Carethia failed you.”
It wasn’t the worst response I’d heard. “Tell your prince that children shouldn’t be used to pay off debts they didn’t incur.”
“I will,” he said.
I almost believed him.
Since there was no point in talking about it, and I didn’t need the reminder of how far from freedom I was, I changed the topic. “Is the prince friendly?”
Nik stretched out his long legs and crossed them at the ankle. “He’s a paragon among men.”
I snorted. “Can a Lys’Careth be a paragon?”
