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He wasn’t the only one in House Riis’s box any longer, but among the dozen watching from this privileged vantage. Three had the intimidating male’s red hair and broad shoulders, his sons most likely. Lady Virtoris had leaned over to speak to the older male and the pair had a familiarity about them that hinted they might be equals.
Was that fae Lord Leyv Riis, Lord of Tongues? I wanted to crane my head around and ask Clemencia, but no doubt she had not whispered the name in my ear for a reason. I’d ask later.
Below, a knight pointed archers to a line where they stood about ten paces apart. Targets loomed in front of the line. I squinted. The archers each held three arrows in their quivers.
The tournament began without preamble. The organizers called for the archers to pull and loose and the competitors in round one let their arrow fly three times.
Two dwarf judges descended and pointed to only two from the line-up. The rest left the field. They were out.
“Brutal,” I whispered.
“I wish they were more cutthroat so we could move on already!” Sayyida said. “The final rounds take long enough, and I’d like to get to the swords.” Her eyes gleamed, and I suspected Sayyida had imagined herself in a tourney like this many times.
In fact, why didn’t she compete? I didn’t know Sayyida that well, but she appeared strong, and I suspected she liked a bit of sport.
“Do you fight with swords?” I asked.
“Whenever I can,” Sayyida replied, her eyes lighting up.
“Then why not enter the tourney?”
Vidar looked taken aback by the questions. His sister, however, threw up a hand.
“You know what?” Sayyida’s look of exasperation was unmistakable. “I’ve asked the same thing many times. All anyone tells me is that highborn ladies from the great houses may not enter these tourneys. Even if they beat their male counterparts at archery or swords or any weapon imaginable, since they were old enough to train.” Sayyida smirked at Vidar, a self-satisfied cat. Her brother rolled his eyes but didn’t argue.
It made no sense. I could see a female on the field competing to be chosen among the finalists. Why could females rule houses and hold the highest titles in the land, but not compete?
As if to prove my point, the second heat of archers finished, and the judges ran into the ring. This time, the judges chose only one fae as a finalist: a female faerie.
The dwarfs rushed the second round of archers off the field and the third preliminary heat marched in from where they waited inside the ring. Prince Vale and Roar were a part of this round, and though Roar’s red hair gleamed in the sunlight, demanding attention by its sheer brilliance of color alone, I couldn’t help but study the prince; the way he walked, the way he smiled and laughed with other archers.
Others seemed to congregate around the prince, to talk and joke with him if their smiles were any indication. Roar, on the other hand, walked with space between himself and others. And when the archers took to the line, the warden kept his face down while the prince continued to talk animatedly to the fae next to him, telling a story probably.
I wondered what it was about, and why so many fae seemed drawn to Prince Vale. Clearly, they did not know how he’d abandoned soldiers to orcs all those turns ago.
As if he could sense my eyes on him, the prince turned from where he stood in the lineup and his gaze traveled up, up, up. We locked eyes. I swallowed.
Among all the people in the ring, had he felt me staring at him?
No, I had to be imagining things. Over a hundred fae stood between the prince and me. He had to be staring at someone else.
But when he scowled, and shot a furious glance at Roar, it felt like he’d slapped me. Oh yes, he’d been watching me. Had Roar said something about last night? It wouldn’t surprise me.
“Lady Neve, what in all the nine kingdoms did you do to piss the prince off?” Sayyida leaned closer.
“He wasn’t looking at me,” I denied hurriedly.
“There aren’t that many people in our box,” Sayyida teased. “It was so obvious.”
Stars. If that had been obvious to Sayyida, it was probably obvious to others too. Or perhaps others were busy socializing and watching the tournament to notice the prince? Needing to check, I let my gaze dip to the other boxes and my stomach immediately plummeted.
Down in the Vagle box, Lady Calpurnia scowled up at me. Another young female with blonde curls down to her butt stood beside Lady Calpurnia. I didn’t know the other fae’s name but judging by the golden scales supporting seated snow lions that had been artfully balanced atop her bun, she seemed to be a daughter of the Warden of the East. Their house animal was a snow lion and, just last night, Sayyida had mentioned Lady Ithamai was obsessed with the law. Could that faerie be the friend Lady Calpurnia had mentioned last night?
“I—I’m not sure what I did,” I said belatedly.
Sayyida didn’t press, and as the third round of archers began to compete for a coveted spot in the final rounds, I breathed more freely.
The first arrows flew, and I had to fight to remain in my seat as Roar hit a dead bullseye.
