Page 31 of Tarnished Crown
I gasped, and he raised an eyebrow.
“I told you I would give you a weapon.”
“You did,” I allowed. “But I didn’t actually believe you.”
He sighed. “Of course you didn’t.”
A slow smile spread across my face. I threw on the cloak and gloves, and Taisiya surprised me by helping strap the sword belt around my waist. She was strangely contemplative as she did so, her brows furrowed in deep thought until she finally spoke up.
“My Lord, might I be of assistance on the road?”
I darted a glance from her to Evander. His eyes were narrowed as he studied her for all of a handful of seconds before he answered with a curt, “No.”
Taisiya looked as if she wanted to argue, but nodded instead. Was she being protective of me, or merely preserving her idea of propriety?
“Of course, My Lord. I only wanted to assist the princess to make your journey easier.”
“There is no need,” he assured her. “She has promised to be a good little pet, haven’t you, Lemmikki?”
I rolled my eyes at him and thanked Taisiya.
She left, and Evander turned to me. “So, in your...extensive studying of the weather, have you gathered anything about today’s?”
My heart skipped a beat at his placating tone. If he didn’t believe me about my reasoning, would he question me on the truth? Just because I had never come across a fae hunter didn’t mean they didn’t exist, and Fia was not one for exaggerations.
He didn’t seem inclined to push, though, so I opened myself up to that awareness of the weather, pretending to study the clouds outside the window.
“It looks like we’re in for more snow, but there are no...erm...signs of a storm.”
He examined my features with some suspicion before nodding, leading us out to the hallway. It was hard to stay anxious about what he may or may not suspect in the excitement of leaving.
I bounded out the door and down the hall, in part because I couldn’t wait to see Theo, but if I was being honest, I was also just desperate to leave the castle. The black walls of my room and the cold stone of the balcony had been slowly driving me mad.
Evander led the way downstairs, and we were nearly to the front door when a figure intercepted us. Lady Mairi.
“Where are you taking her?” Again, there was a quality to her voice I couldn’t quite identify, something that felt more sinister this time than it had before. Directed at Evander? Or me?
“Father has given me the freedom to take my pet wherever I like,” Evander answered.
A thinly veiled way of telling her it was none of her business.
After the time I had spent with Aleksander, I had my doubts as to whether or not that was true, but right now, I was firmly in the corner of whoever was taking me away from these four walls.
So, I averted my gaze when he breezed past her, shuffling to keep up with his quicker pace. Taras, Kirill, and a few others were already waiting in their mounts, with two more saddled and ready to go.
Logically, I knew that I was still a prisoner.
But for a moment, I could almost pretend that I wasn’t a captive princess at the mercy of Socairan men in a ridiculous power struggle that I didn’t begin to understand.
CHAPTER24
The horses here were fascinating to watch in the snow.
They didn’t seem to care if the roads were icy or dry, if the snow was high or melted all together. They flew through the frozen terrain with a speed that I could never have expected from our horses in Lochlann. Though, in addition to their natural abilities, they were wearing chained shoes that helped give them traction.
They also took little heed from us and seemed to set their own pace, excited about the roads we were taking. Or maybe they were just as happy as I was to leave the estate and its quietly suffocating walls behind.
Icy winds rushed past us, and it didn’t even bother me that my cheeks and nose were red with the cold, or that I would likely have to share a room with Evander on the road.