Page 19 of Summer

Freedom is so close I can almost taste it.

I ease open the door and peer down the hallway. It’s empty, as it has been every night I’ve checked. I’ve been careful to time my previous adventures so I might learn the movement of the guards. Some nights, I hide in a room with windows and watch the grounds for the moving torches of guards.

To my surprise – and delight – they are sparse.

I move down the stairs and out the back door. I avoid the servants’ hallways; there’s more of them than of the gentry here. I’m more likely to be caught by one of them, and I don’t trust they would let me leave. I could explain away a midnight stroll. I cannot explain away a midnight stroll with a bag of stolen household items.

I press my back against the door once outside, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the darkness of night. Hothin has two moons, but this time of night they’re both hidden. The only light I have to guide me is from the sparse lanterns along the property. I move from shadow to shadow, careful to avoid movements from the guards.

My end goal is the stables. Saddling a glidesale is my best chance at leaving without a sound. Glidesale’s are similar to the horses of Earth – they are tall, muscular creatures, bred for speed and distance. I’d been to a few glidesale races once, where aliens bid on the fastest beast. I’d suggested to Lady Gennelle that we might ride them, but she ignored my request. My hope was to gain the favor of one so my escape would be easier.

Nothing is easy with that female.

The stable door makes a quiet creak as I ease it open and duck inside. A single light hangs in the middle of the aisle, casting long shadows. I watch them for movement, for the sign of a guard or anyone else that might intervene. The shadows sway as the light moves, but no one steps from them.

I peer into each stall, trying to decide the best glidesale to take. I know nothing about them, just the short lessons from Protegre on their crotchety old mare. While I wasn’t particularly good at riding, she never managed to throw me when she bucked or started. I doubt a family like the Vestinhoth’s would own anything but the fastest, best bred glidesale.

I stop in front of the third stall, eyeing up the creature in there. He is of medium stature, his eyes wide and curious. He takes a step toward the door and extends his long nose, his nostrils flaring to scent me. I raise my hand, and he inhales before stepping back into the shadows.

I slip inside the stall, glad when he doesn’t pin his ears to bite me. He’s tall and lean, his coat the dark purple of the night grass. I reach out to rub his neck and he lets me.

He’ll do.

As I leave the stall to find a saddle, I hear a voice that stops me dead in my tracks.

“Out for a nighttime ride?” It’s Aaoric.

I turn slowly, my gaze tracking up from his boots to his face. When my gaze meets his, he starts in surprise, his eyes widening.

“Summer? What are you…” He trails off, noticing the bag at my side. I tuck it behind my back, trying to make my face as empty as possible. That is how you disarm the aliens – act stupid. A simple human, raised in a simple school, meant to be bought and sold and traded like chattel. No thoughts, no feelings, no desires.

“You’re leaving,” he whispers, and I suck in a breath.

My plans unfurl before me. He’ll tell his father, who will tighten his reins on me. I’ll no longer have the excuse of being a stupid human. They’ll know what I was planning to do, and I’ll have a personal guard at all times. I’ll …

“You don’t want this either.”

I hesitate, his words cutting through my rising panic. He must see it on my face because he quickly raises his hands, as though dealing with a flighty creature. “Not that there’s anything wrong with you. Stars, I hardly know you. I just don’t…” He trails off, swallowing his words. “You can’t do it this way.”

I don’t speak, afraid to admit that he’s got the right of it. The minute I do, I can no longer play innocent, that I was just out to see the glidesale at night. That I cannot sleep, that I’m just out for a stroll.

I take a step back. He takes a step toward me. “Listen…” he starts, but I’m moving away quickly. If I can get back to my room, I can pretend I was never here, that I didn’t try to escape this stupid manor with limited surveillance and the seeds of a plan.

“Summer! Wait!” he says, but I’m not sticking around. I’ve turned to run, sprinting through the aisle to the back of the stable. There has to a be an exit here somewhere. I pull open the first door I find – it’s the tack. I swear and try another door, and another, and another…

Aaoric catches my wrist, stopping me from fleeing. “Please,” he says quietly, his voice low. “Just…let me explain.”

I jam the heel of my shoe onto his toe and jerk my wrist free. He cries out, allowing me to slip under his arm and dash back to the entrance of the stable. Once I’m outside, I can disappear into the shadows. I just have to get…

I’m a fool. Walking around the grounds isn’t nearly enough exercise to return me to my previous fitness. I am slow, clumsy, and out of shape. Aaoric catches me quickly, this time holding me at arm’s length so I can’t escape no matter how hard I try.

And I do try. I use every trick I know, loosening his grip on me a few times.

“Summer, just listen – please! I want to help you escape, I want to— OOF.”

I’ve managed to knee him in the stomach, sending a jolt of pain when it meets the iron of his muscles. Of course the bastard is fit, what else was I expecting?

“I don’t want to marry you, but if you escape now, like this, Father will hunt you,” he wheezes. “And they’ll either drag you back or buy me another bride. We need to be smart about this.”