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I nodded, watching him. He’d been oddly restless since we’d left Brill. Sure, he’d been hiding it well, but I could tell. He’d turned as clingy with me as he’d been the day Farrow had come to take me from Donnelly.
Worried about him, I opened my mouth to see if he was okay. I started to wonder if maybe he wanted to go home to Donnelly, or possibly even High Cliff where he was born. I’d given him the option to reject my offer with no hard feelings when I’d invited him to lead my armies, but he’d readily accepted.
Maybe he’d only done it out of obligation or friendship, though. I desperately wanted to keep him at my side; I adored the brother of my heart that he’d become. But I certainly didn’t want to make him feel tied to me or Far Shore in any way if he wished to leave.
But I didn’t get a chance to probe. Outside my carriage, the horses slowed to a stop. I peered out the window to find a crowd of villagers waiting to receive me.
“We’re here,” I announced, my stomach tightening with nerves.
“The last hurrah,” Indigo murmured, straightening in his seat and looking as uneasy as I felt.
I knew I should be used to this by now. This was my final stop on my royal tour; I’d been through this very song and dance many times now in the last moon cycle. But I still held my breath in anxiety as my door opened, and Farrow stood there, holding up a hand to help me descend.
What if they didn’t like me?
What if I failed them?
What if I messed everything up?
When my true love gazed up at me and winked in comfort, my nerves settled almost immediately. He’d never gotten the mark, but for some reason, he could still feel all my emotions as if he did have one.
So he was always there to calm me whenever I started to feel overwhelmed.
“Ready?” he asked.
Sucking in a bracing breath, I took his hand and stepped out into the light, waving and graciously smiling at the crowd that had gathered to look upon their new leader.
Pinsky’s baron strode forward to introduce himself and greet me. I shook with him, posing a few curious questions about the village he supervised and its people, but raised voices and activity down the street captured my attention.
“What’s going on down there?” I couldn’t help but wonder.
“That’s the square, Your Majesty,” I was told. “They’ve just started market for today. But if you’d like, we could halt it until you’re done with your tour.”
“Oh no, don’t be silly. The people need their daily market.” I brightened and started forward. “I’ve found myself in need of more grumpackers, in fact, so a visit to the market sounds quite lovely. I’d be honored to experience a little of Pinsky’s commerce, if that’s alright.”
“Absolutely not,” Farrow said with a shake of his head as he stepped into my path to bar my way.
“It’d be a security nightmare,” Indigo agreed, stepping next to him. “We’d never be able to keep you safe enough.”
Arching my eyebrows at them both, I lovingly touched the golden wrist guards that I’d managed to take back from Indy—but only after I’d commissioned Mydera to enchant a new set for him, his made of leather—and I said with a raised voice so the village’s baron could hear, “I think I can trust my own people not to try to assassinate me for merely walking along their streets and trying to learn more about their lives in order to better serve them. Don’t you, baron?”
“Oh, yes, Your Majesty,” he was quick to assure. “You’re quite safe here. The funds you sent along last moon cycle have already boosted our economy two-fold. It’s more than King Torrance ever sent us, in all his years of rule.”
I nodded and smirked saucily at my boys. “In that case, let us continue.”
Both Farrow and Indigo grumbled as we started up the road on foot, our processional causing everyone in front of us to pause and gape, rushing to make a path for us to walk freely among them, and yet remain entirely apart from them as well.
“I have such a bad feeling about this,” Indigo muttered, scratching irritably at his temple.
Farrow took my hand, however, and squeezed before he leaned in close. “As risky as it is for your safety, they’re going to love you after this, my queen. A ruler walking among the people. It’s never been done in Far Shore before.”
I grinned up at him only to become distracted by a hissed curse from my other side, as something was obviously bothering my bodyguard to no end.
Farrow and I looked at him together. But it didn’t appear to be an external threat that troubled Indigo. He pressed the palm of his hand to the side of his head and winced as if experiencing a severe migraine. I reached for him to ask if he was okay, only to realize what was happening.
“Oh my God,” I gasped, my fingers returning to Farrow and squeezing reflexively around him as excitement bloomed inside me. “She’s here, isn’t she?”
Indigo met my gaze, dazed and scared as hell.
