Page 10 of Feralheart

The word came out harder than I’d intended. She flinched, but I saw it. Good. I wanted her off-balance. She’d already put me there.

Her chin lifted enough that I could see her eyes up close for the first time, a rich dark brown with green flecks. I expected deference from her. Fear, maybe. Or that careful blankness servants used around the elite.

Her gaze spit fury.

“The hatchling was calm before,” she said. “Did you see how it moved after the collar was placed?”

“The bond settles them.” The words came automatically. “It’s well-documented. The Unity Band brings peace to their instincts and harmony between rider and mount.”

“Is peace what you felt when you bonded with Aristus?”

The answer should come easy. There were poems written about the ceremony.

So why couldn’t I remember mine?

I swallowed and the collar of my tunic felt like a band around my own neck.

At seven years old, I’d stood in the chamber like Petra. The priestess had lifted the band off the pillow. My mother had watched. And then the band was on. Aristus was mine. That was the memory. The before and after, not the moment itself.

“That hatchling trusted me ten minutes ago,” the woman said. “He followed my voice and responded to my touch.” She ground her teeth together. “Now he won’t look at anything.”

“You’re a servant. Commons.” I meant my words to sound dismissive, but they came out uncertain. “You don’t understand the complexities of⁠—”

“I understand what I saw.” The color drained from her face, and her gaze dropped back to the floor, her voice lowering to almost nothing. “Excuse me, please, Your Highness. I misspoke.”

“Look at me.”

The words came out before I could stop them.

She didn’t. Her face set, and she kept her eyes down, and something about that refusal became a challenge I didn’t know how to answer.

Footsteps approached from down the hall. Overseer Nuant stopped beside us, frowning from her to me.

“Your Highness.” He bowed, his scowl growing. “Is there a problem with this one?”

Irritation sparked through me.

This one? She had a name. I didn’t know it, which was a problem itself. But she wasn’t an object to be tossed aside when she became inconvenient. Even if that was exactly what would happen if I didn’t intervene.

“If there’s an issue,” Nuant said, “I’ll address it myself, ensuring it’s addressed properly.”

His tone made clear what properly meant.

The woman’s knuckles blanched at her sides.

Why hadn’t I pointed to her hiding in the meadow or let the bloodseekers track her down? I hadn’t done my duty then, and I definitely wasn’t doing it now.

Twice in a handful of days, I’d stood at the moment where a prince was supposed to act, and twice I’d felt the urge to protect her instead.

A commons who questioned sacred traditions would be made an example of to maintain order and good morale. It was important that we preserve everything we held dear. I could tell Nuant to handle it. Walk away and forget this conversation happened.

“She was answering my questions about a hatchling’s feeding schedule,” I said. “I was confused about the ceremony preparation, and she was kind enough to enlighten me.”

Nuant’s brow furrowed.

“Carry on,” I bit out.

I waited until he’d left, then turned and strode away from the woman.