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Something in his tone has me looking up again. “Her belongings. What she brought with her.”
“She didn’t bring anything.”
My hands still. “What do you mean? Are they sending them later? To the river?”
“I don’t know. Maybe the answer is in the letter.”
I brush thoughts of the letter away. “What didshesay about it?”
“I didn’t ask. The bitch delayed our departure by almost three full days and then we got a late start. We were told she couldn’t get her spoiled ass out of bed on time.”
I frown.Why didn’t I know this?“You left three days late, but you arrived only a day behind schedule?”
“Well, I pushed us hard to make up the time.”
“And she bellyached the entire way?”
“Not really. She was mostly silent, but when she tried to lure Bron in, I put a stop to their talks.”
I turn back to Nightshade. “Seems you were focused on the wrong brother.”
“Seems so,” he agrees ruefully. “Seven stone can add up to more trouble than one would expect.”
Pulling my bow and quiver down from the wall, I strap them across my back and mount my horse. “I’ll be back before nightfall. And Noé?” I wait for him to acknowledge me. “Leave the girl alone.”
He inclines his head.
Riding northeast in the direction of Nadore Lake, I’m pleased when not long after leaving, Vennatrix joins us. “Where have you been, Venna?” I ask my usual hunting companion. Three summers ago, I found her as a wolf cub next to her mother’s dead body, half-starved and dying of thirst. On a whim, I nursed her back to health and didn’t discourage her from following me around.
She usually stays within a few miles of the stronghold, probably because she never found a pack of her own. My warriors and I are her pack now. She rides into battle with us and has proven her worth more times than I can count, as a hunter, a tracker, and a warrior.
With Nightshade and Venna with me, I’m able to clear my mind of the events of the past week. There’s nothing but the cool, pine-scented air, the squeak of the leather saddle, and Nightshade’s hoof steps on the worn forest path. It takes a good hour before Venna lifts her nose in the air and heads more directly north. Following, we come upon the deer she’s tracking in a clearing that I know well. I spent summers as a young child running wild over the land surrounding the stronghold.
As quietly as possible, I dismount and nock an arrow. We’re downwind and the huge buck gets no warning before the arrow slices deep into his ribcage behind his shoulder. When he doesn’t go down right away, Venna takes off after him, but by the time she catches up, the buck is dead on the ground.
I go back for Nightshade and lead him into the clearing where Venna is nosing the buck’s wound with intent. She bares her teeth at me in a low growl. She’s never bitten me, but that doesn’t mean I don’t treat her like the wild animal she is. “That’s mine,” I tell her in my most commanding voice. “Go get something else.” Still growling, she obeys, slinking off into the woods to find herself a rabbit or a fox. An unexpected grin has my lips twitching. Venna’s not the only female to give me that look today, or even the second. Both Rina and Yvette made their displeasure known.
But my good humor is short-lived. The buck is a big fucker and there’s no way I can lift it onto Nightshade’s back. Pulling my hatchet from my belt, I seek out two saplings to make a sledge. The task is time consuming and turns out to be the perfect thing to keep my mind busy. Though it’s cloudy, I’d say the sun is well past its zenith by the time Venna returns, her muzzle stained with red. Not long after that, I finally get the buck loaded onto the leather lattice I keep for such occasions between the two poles.
Dark is coming on fast when I arrive at the butcher’s cabin. Leaving the buck in his care, I let him know what I want done with the hide.
It’s been a long day and I’m tired and hungry. But that’s all forgotten when I come in through the front gates and my gaze is drawn up to the northeastern corner of the stronghold. Amarinata Valentirnan D’heilar is sitting on the window ledge of her room, wrapped in the blanket, watching the courtyard below. And I swear, across the distance, I feel her amber eyes meet mine, kindling a glow low in my gut.
It’s time to pay the princess another visit.
♦♦♦
I’ve washed, put on a clean shirt, and eaten dinner before I take the steps to the tower. I put her in the turret to keep her isolated, but by the time I come to the guard stationed at the top, I’m irritated.
“Is Yvette with her?” I ask sharply.
“No, Deve,” he stutters. Another recruit. It seems Noé is not as worried about her status as a cold-blooded killer as he’d have me believe. “She left before midday.”
Midday?Then I notice a tray of food on the ground near his feet and he hurries to explain. “I was told no one may enter except Yvette and since she’s not here . . .”
I don’t know whether to commend or pummel him. “Give it to the pigs,” I say, gesturing at the congealed mess that’s obviously been sitting there for hours. “And bring a new tray up.”
He hurries away and I go down the short hall. There’s no latch mechanism on her door, reminding me that this isn’t an appropriate place for a prisoner. If only she were an ordinary captive so I could lock her up downstairs and forget about her.
