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Only bad news.
Everything that had happened since the night of the ball had been disastrous. This would be the same.Or worse. But I couldn’t stop caressing the velvety paper, wondering what was so important.
To our left loomed an enormous stone arch and beyond that stretched a thin ribbon of road, disappearing into the distance where plumes of smoke rose, and if I squinted, the land looked black and burned out, as if the very earth had been scalded.
When we reached the bottom of the hill, the males let their horses graze, drink from a pond of clear water. I drank as much as I was able, went behind a tree to relieve myself, then headed for Zor, his loathing palpable.
Tavion stopped me, pointing me toward his stallion, instead.
I balked. I didn’t want to be here at all, and I certainly didn’t want to get on a horse withhim. “Get on the horse, Anaria. Now.”
The stallion snorted and I balked. Now that I was right up against the beast’s sweaty, heaving side, panic tightened my chest.
I’d never mounted a horse before, never been permitted to touch a Descendant’s animal, but I watched Tristan slid his boot into the stirrup and heave his leg over, then attempted to do the same.
Except my legs were half the length of his, and I couldn’t quite reach the pommel.
But I tried, damn it. With Tavion watching, I jammed my bare foot into the stirrup and heaved myself up, except I missed the pommel completely and ended up hanging there like a ham at the butcher’s, my fingernails gripping the very edge of the saddle.
“You can’t do anything, can you?” Tavion came up behind me, gaze skimming coolly over my foot tangled in the stirrup, skirts hiked up to my thigh. Not that I cared. He’d held me while I was completely naked.
Seen everything Solok did to me in the prison.
Making a fool of myself was the least of my concerns when it came to Tavion Montgomery.
“It makes me wonder why the king’s magic—the most powerful magic in this realm—chose someone like you?” Something in me died at the disdain in his voice. “A liar. A thief. A killer. If you ask me, the magic isn’t very clever, choosing someone like you.”
I fought to untangle my foot from the stirrup, but my heel stuck tight. My sweaty hands, however, had no such problem, and slipped off the edge of the saddle. My shoulders hit the ground first, dress around my hips, baring me to the chuckling males. Tavion stared; his mouth twisted into a sneer Solok would be proud of.
“Stop fucking around, little thief.” I squeezed my eyes shut so I wouldn’t cry, but I did anyway.
“And get on the fucking horse. We have an army at our back, and as much as I’d like to watch you struggle, there’s more in this for me if we make it to Solarys.”
He acted like I was horseshite on his shoes he couldn’t wait to scrape off. And I wasn’t so sure he was wrong.
It took me an embarrassingly long time to unwedge my foot, climb awkwardly to my feet, yank my dress down.
In the end, Tavion toss me unceremoniously onto the horse, my ass hitting the saddle so hard I bit my lip to keep from crying out. Then pulled himself on and banded an arm around my waist, giving Zor a nod.
“Lead on, Zorander, let’s see how far we can go before night falls.”
“Thanks. I would have puked if I had to carry her any longer.”
I was tired of their brutal honesty and some part of my soul fractured just a little more. In my entire life, only one person had ever been on my side, and I’d left her behind with the enemy.
But there was someone else vested in my survival.
A burst of panic had me checking for Torin’s note, relief making me go weak when I found it. Never had I imagined a shred of paper would be the only hope I had to hold onto, but here I was.
“Stop fucking fidgeting. Isn’t it enough you’re slowing us down? Sit still and we’ll live through this.”
I couldn’t help squirming, Tavion wastoo much.
His thick, muscled arm dug into my growling stomach, his hips were snug against my ass, his chest hard against my back, and the smell of him…musk and male and something primal.
We flew like the wind as my failures crashed down on me, his stallion galloping so fast his mane whipped my shame-flushed face.
I despised Tavion, but he was right.
