He actually laughs, placing my knife under the strap of my dress to hold it in place. “Goodnight, Commander. I’ll kill you if I find you trespassing again tonight.”
“Goodnight, Your Majesty. Thank you for playing chase.”
He stalks into the darkness, raising a finger in goodbye. “Chase recently became my favourite game.”
I do as he says for a change, escaping the cool twilight air to return to the warmth of my palace guest room. I sit down on the bed and stare at the wall, my mind running at a mile a minute. The kiss was not a success. Rexxan is even more on-my-mind than he was this morning.
I’ve been back ten seconds already and Stellan hasn’t appeared. That’s odd. As I stand to see if he’s in his room, I shriek as the door bursts open, the handle falling clean off as he bursts through my door like an excitable puppy. He may be the most vicious killer in my army, but he loves nothing more than gossip. He holds up a bottle of wine, jumping into my bed. "Tell. Me. Everything!"
I rub my hands over my cheeks. "I don't know what just happened," I say, falling backward onto the huge bed and staring at the ceiling.
"How was the ball? How werehisballs?"
I whack a hand over his mouth. “You should be in jail for that one!”
“So tie me up!”
We’re cackling like children. “Well, I had a great catch-up with Espan. He's going to travel back some of the way with us, and he’s asked to hire us—“
“If you start talking finances now, I’ll cry.”
I laugh out loud. “Okay, okay. And then...well, some of the people at the table were insulting our people, and the King made them leave. I think he killed them. He chased me through the woods and we kissed. And he stole my underwear.”
Stellan sips his wine, his eyes alight. "Fuck. I think I need a night with him too."
I nod in agreement. "I'll pitch it to him."
I breathe out a curse, starfishing on the bed. Rexxan has lodged himself deep in my brain, along with his huge forearms, auburn eyes, deep voice, talented mouth, deeply buried sense of humour, and the trace of a heart he let me see for just a second. I let out the world’s longest sigh. "You have to get out of here first thing."
"So do you."
"I have one more thing to do here."
He shakes his head no. "And when Rexxan catches you? How will you talk yourself out of this one? I've told you Renna; this isn't a good idea. You won't win over the River Kingdom, no matter what you do for them."
"A good leader would try anyway. We’re a small group of two hundred and fifty. We can’t afford to have a whole kingdom on the verge of declaring war on us.”
"Agoodleader wouldn't risk the wrath of King Rexxan."
"Rexxan will understand." He won’t, but if I tell myself it enough, maybe he will. In any case, it doesn’t matter because he won’t find out.
"Rexxan doesn't have an understanding bone in his body, Renna."
"All I can do is what I think is best. We need to at least bring our relationship with the River Folk back to neutral."
* * *
When dawn breaksover the horizon, Stellan leaves to join Onyx and the rest of the Shadow Hunters on their route to the Forest border.
"You'll leave as soon as you can, yes?"
"Promise," I say, hugging him hard.
He swings up onto his black horse, squeezing my shoulder. "Behave."
"Coming from you!" I hiss, outraged. He laughs as I blow him a kiss and ride back to the palace, but I don’t go to bed.
Silently, I shrug off my outfit and pull on my black hunting trousers, complete with hidden knives and poisons in every possible space. I pull my top over my head and cover my face with a black hood, pocketing a black mask to put on later. And when I complete my look by sliding my feet into heavy black boots and lacing them up, I feel unbreakable. Whistling a quiet tune, I swipe my steel swords from the windowsill, swing on the frame out of my room, and slam into a rock-solid, bad-tempered giant.
