Sahar let out a long, slow breath as shereleased her grip on Kiska and cuddled the kitten to her chest, andKiska seemed content to snuggle.Aleksi went about gathering thematerials to make a splint.The handle of his wooden spoon woulddo, and after whittling it down to size, he tore a clean linen raginto strips and shaved a thin layer of felt from the edge ofZolotoy’s saddle blanket for padding.Kneeling across the cot fromSahar as she positioned Kiska, he met and held her gaze.“I’m sorryI hurt you, Kitten,” he said.
Raw pain flashed over her face and rippedopen his gut, shredding the coiled knot there into tatters.Thenshe blinked and lifted her chin.“You didn’t hurt me,” she toldhim.“As you said, we are nothing to each other.”
Sahar took her seat at the table of honor forthe winning riders between Aleksandr and Yago, the last place shewanted to be, and the one place she seemed to end up over and overagain.She gave each of them a wordless nod of greeting and took along drink of her wine, and then another.It would not do for herto become drunk at the feast tonight, nor did she want to bestarting the race tomorrow with a drunkard’s aching head andthickened tongue, but she was not going to be able to make itthrough this night sober.
Draining her first cup, she motioned for theserving maid to refill it, and caught her mother’s furrowed brow asshe lifted the cup to her lips and took only a quick sip.She setthe cup down and let the warmth of the spirits spread from herbelly to her toes.Her mother’s attention now focused on theuncomfortably pregnant Rima.Sahar turned to Aleksandr.“How isKiska?”she asked.
“Better,” he answered, his warm brown eyestender in the same manner he had shown splinting the kitten’s leg.That tenderness confused Sahar, for it made it harder to hate him,and she really and truly wanted to hate him.Contrary to what shehad told him in the stables, his betrayal had hurt her deeply.Ahurt that been assuaged only a little by his apology.“Ratter gaveher a drop of Dream Flower and she was sleeping like a kitten whenI left for supper.”
Sahar laughed despite herself.“You areimpossible.”
He grinned and gave her a roguish wink.“So Ihave been told.”
“Ahh,” Yago said with a voice as smooth andoily as his smile.“It is good to see you two lovers have put theembarrassing incident with the harlot behind you.”
“You mean the harlot you hired to set up meand the princess?”Aleksandr said, glaring at Yago.He sat back andhis glare softened as he spoke to Sahar.“I was sending her awaywhen you ‘happened’ by.”
“It did not look like you were sending heranywhere,” Yago said with a sneer.“It looked like she was sendingyou—”
“You lie,” Aleksandr grit out, keeping hisvoice low.
Yago’s sneer turned into a snarl.“I would becareful about calling me, Prince Yago, a liar, bastard.Wars havebeen started for lesser insults.”
Sahar laid a hand on each of their forearms,and could not help but compare the bunched muscles of Aleksandr’stanned, corded arm with the slimmer, smoother feel of Yago’s.
“There will be no war started here at myfather’s table,” she scolded both of them.She narrowed her glareon Yago.“Especially for so trivial a reason.”
Yago slid his arm out from under her hand.“You consider calling me a liar trivial?”
Aleksandr’s muscles tensed beneath herfingers, and she gave his arm a warning squeeze.
“When you are in truth lying, yes,” she toldYago.“I do.”
Yago’s eyes glinted as cold and treacherousas thin ice over a pit of pitch, and Sahar held onto the solidwarmth of Aleksandr’s arm.She glanced from Aleksandr’s broad,square-tipped fingers to Yago’s longer, more slender fingers.Shesaw him curl the middle finger of his right hand in, but not beforeshe noticed the red, swollen tip, and the piercing wound thatlooked suspiciously like a cat bite on the pad.
She opened her mouth to ask him about hisinjured finger, and then clamped it shut.She did not wish to startanother fight between Aleksandr and Yago, not here in her family’spalace, and not now at a feast celebrating the race tomorrow.Therewould be time to confront Yago later.
The king stood and the salon went quiet.Heraised his goblet to his wife and then to the table of riders.“Atoast,” he said.“To the brave riders of the third and last race, acourse of one hundred leagues that has claimed the life of morethan one rider through the years.”He met Sahar’s gaze, and therewas true concern in his, and pride.“To my daughter, PrincessSahar, the first woman to not only enter these races, but to winthe first and place second in the next.Let us see if she and hermare, Lasair, can beat their sires’ record of five days in thehundred-league race.”
“To Princess Sahar,” Aleksandr seconded,holding his cup high and grinning at her.“A most worthycompetitor.”
Her cheeks flushed, and she nodded her thanksto Aleksandr, whose cocky grin brought even more heat to herskin.
“To all the riders and their steeds,” shesaid, raising her cup.“May the gods watch over us, and may thebest man, or woman, win.”
It was a feast meant to sate the gatheringand fuel the riders for the grueling race ahead, and Sahar ate morethan she normally would, filling up on roast goat, soft cheese, andlate summer squash before the next several days of salted jerky,flatbread, and dried fruit, which would be her racing diet.Herbelly full to bursting, she pushed back from the table with a groanthat was echoed by every other rider there.She eyed Yago’s swollenfingertip as he drank the last of his wine.He had grown morecareless of hiding it with each cup he emptied, and Sahar wasgrateful that Aleksandr had not noticed or had chosen to ignore thetelltale injury.As the meal was at an end, so was Yago’sreprieve.
She waited until he stood to leave thesalon.
“Prince Yago,” she said, standing also.“Willyou be so kind as to accompany myself, Aleksandr, and Munir to thestables?There is something I wish you all to see.”
Yago glanced at Aleksandr and then Munir, whostood ready to do Sahar’s bidding without explanation.“Of course,”Yago said with a quick, deferential bow of his head, though hisexpression oozed suspicion.
He indicated that she should lead the way,and Aleksandr quickly stepped up to walk beside her, leaving Yagoto trail behind with Munir.
“What are you up to, my tigress?”hewhispered.
“You will see soon enough,” she told him.“And I am notyourtigress.”
