Page 73 of Bride of Ash & Dust

A SILLY LITTLE THING

“Oh!” Lilias cries.

Her horse prances, pawing the ground, as Lilias’s hand flutters over her chest. It’s distracting. Several of the soldiers stop riding and look at the exact place where my wife’s hand is brushing the air.

“What is it?” Anura says. “What’s wrong?”

“My cloak!” Lilias replies.

She turns in her saddle, batting her eyes at the green valley behind us. The sun is already sinking into the horizon. If we’re going to make it to the next shithole town by sundown, we’re going to have to move.

Lilias has been riding slowly ever since we left Tanic, and the soldiers have been grumbling. I’m not sure what’s going on. She didn’t seem reluctant to cross the border this morning. If anything, I’d imagine she was glad to be back in Marion.

“What about your cloak?” one of the soldiers growls. Lyam, I think.

Lilias brings a hand to her forehead. “I left it in the inn,” she cries. “Oh, that’s so stupid of me!”

“So?” Lyam replies.

His fist tightens around the reins of the horse he’s riding. Lilias smiles sweetly at him.

“I can’t leave it behind,” she says.

One of the soldiers beside me spits on the ground. Another growls something under his breath that sounds like fucking women. Lyam sighs heavily.

“Fine,” he huffs. “I’ll send someone⁠—”

“Oh, dear,” Lilias gasps, cutting him off. “Oh, I’d hate to inconvenience everyone. It would be so much work to turn us all around for such a silly little thing.”

“I’ll go,” Anura says. “I can get it for you.”

“Oh, would you?” Lilias replies. “That’s so kind of you!”

Lyam looks back and forth between the two women.

“It’s no bother,” Anura says, turning to Lyam like she’s responding to something he hasn’t even said. “Look, we’re barely out of Tanic. We’re heading to Detec, right? I can meet you there, with the princess’s cloak.”

Lyam frowns.

“Oh, thank you, Anura,” Lilias gushes. “Gods, I can’t believe I forgot my cloak. I just can’t travel any farther without it. I don’t want to make everyone turn around, but I simply cannot leave a gift from King Malrik behind⁠—”

“Your woman can go,” Lyam growls as Lilias’s voice trails off. “We’re supposed to be in Detec by nightfall. Gods know we’ll never make it if we all turn around for some fucking cloak you idiots left behind.”

Lilias smiles at him like he’s just paid her a compliment.

“Thank you for being so understanding,” she says. “I’m so sorry for the hassle. Anura will travel quickly.”

Anura nods. “If I don’t meet you in Detec, where are we going next?”

Lyam glances over my shoulder, at the soldier who called my wife a fucking woman, and then back to Anura.

“The Dragon Mine,” he says.

Anura nods, as if a gold mine is a normal destination for a married couple on their honeymoon. Before he can say anything further, she turns and begins to trot back down the road. Lilias calls a final thank-you, and Lyam rolls his eyes.

“Fucking hells,” he mutters. “Can we just get on with it?”

Without waiting for an answer, he nudges his horse forward. Lilias follows him without a backward glance. The soldiers behind me fall into line.