Then, without warning, she swung her body to the side, standing rigid and alert.
“What is it, girl?” I couldn’t hear anything but the usual nighttime sounds. The other horses were still munching contentedly on the tall grass, and the birds and insects still chittered.
But I trusted Titania. If she felt something was wrong, I wouldn’t ignore her. Reaching for the knife in my boot, I knelt down and crept toward the road. We were far back, having learned our lesson after Shale and Ella found us. Feeling foolish, I pressed my ear to the ground as Osius had taught me, not sure what I was expecting to hear.
I walked back to Titania, who was still straining against her lead. Afraid she would hurt herself, I untied her and started back to camp, when I heard a high-pitched whistle in the distance. It was so quiet I almost wasn’t sure if I’d heard it, but Titania’s ears were pricked as far forward as they could go, and I knew I hadn’t imagined it.
A moment later, I heard another whistle, followed two seconds later by another.
Without me having to ask, Titania knelt down and I scrambled onto her back. My fingers had barely wound themselves in her mane before she took off toward camp. We had been found.
* * *
We burst into camp a moment later, nearly knocking Osius off his feet.
“Gods, Nor! What are you doing?” Talin shouted. “You could have hurt someone!”
Breathless, I swung down from Titania’s back. “There are riders out there.”
His hand flew to his sword hilt. “What? How do you know?”
“I heard them signaling to each other. At least three people.”
Zadie was already grabbing our belongings. “How much time?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I couldn’t tell. I just know they’re close.”
Talin and I threw our most necessary belongings into our saddlebags and rushed back to the horses. I tried to be as gentle as possible while saddling Titania, but my heart was pounding and my hands were clumsy. Fortunately, she was as solid as a stone, not even flinching when I tightened the girth.
Finally, the sound of hoofbeats on the road reached our ears, unmistakable. There had to be twenty horses, at least. That many people could only mean one thing: Ceren’s guards had caught up with us.
“Can we outrun them?” Grig asked.
“We have to try,” Talin said with a grunt as he swung into his saddle.
Osius mounted, and Zadie climbed up behind him. Within moments, we were flying through the woods toward the road. Our route would give our pursuers an advantage, but we had no choice. I hoped the fact that they had clearly been riding hard for a while would help make up the difference. We had been making good time, but not at the expense of our horses’ health.
I glanced over my shoulder. I still couldn’t see the men, but there was no question we were being pursued. “What if the Galethians won’t let us cross the border?” I cried.
“Then we’re doomed.” Talin freed the Galethian flag from his saddlebag, dug his heels into Xander, and surged ahead. The other horses followed.
We’d been galloping for several miles when I glanced back and saw the first rider behind us. They were gaining. It was one of Ceren’s guards, clad in black armor with the Ilarean crest—the profile of a young woman inside a heart, with two daggers crossed behind it—on the breastplate. Titania was breathing hard, but only sweating lightly. I could see that the other horses were struggling, though, as the elevation increased. The road was getting worse, too, as if it was rarely used or maintained.
Talin looked back and swore. “Maybe the men and I should turn and fight,” he said, lifting the Galethian flag above his head. “You and Zadie could make it at least.”
“No! That’s out of the question, Talin.”
We were winding our way up a mountain pass, and I could see why the Galethians had chosen this as their border. They could funnel anyone attempting to cross through this pass and pick them off from above.
I looked up at the mountains on either side of us. “This is a trap, Talin.”
“I know. But not for us, I don’t think.”
“What makes you say that?”
Talin jerked his head to the left. We were moving so fast I barely caught a glimpse of the rider among the rocks on a gray horse. She had a crossbow fitted against her shoulder, but she hadn’t fired at us.
I risked a glance back just as she loosed the arrow, picking off Ceren’s first guard.
“Who are they?” I called to Talin, who was ahead of me now that the road had narrowed.
“Galethians, if I had to guess.”
“Why are they helping us?”
“I have no idea, but I’m not going to question it.”
Another rider appeared, then a third. Soon, they had filled the road behind us. I stopped Titania and turned her around. Two guards lay dead in the road. I squinted to see if more would come, but only one rider came forward, slowly.
Ceren sat on a pitch-black horse, its coat providing a stark contrast to his pale skin and hair, as did his black armor and that dark metal circlet inset with gems atop his head. The red stones seemed to glow faintly in the moonlight. He looked larger than I remembered, his shoulders broader than his brother’s now, and there was color in his cheeks and lips.
He wouldn’t come closer. That much was clear. From this angle, I could see the Galethians scattered across the mountain, all clad in gray and mounted on gray horses to blend in with the terrain. At least a dozen crossbows were trained on Ceren.
Talin had ridden ahead and disappeared around a curve in the trail. The Galethians had started to fill in the road behind me, riding backward with their bows still aimed at Ceren’s heart. And still he sat impassively below the mountain, staring at me as if to say that he would see me again soon.
Titania snorted and stamped a hoof, breaking the spell, and Ceren turned away, leaving his dead guards behind to rot.
10
The Galethian riders surrounded our party without a word, escorting us the rest of the way up the mountain and down the other side. I was relieved to see that it was not the start of a mountain range, but instead the entrance to a wide valley that stretched as far as I could see, at least in the dark. The Galethians were like ghosts beside us, absolutely silent due to their lack of tack of any kind: no bridles, no saddles. The men and women were all dressed the same, in gray tunics and leather trousers. But though it was clear we were under their guard, they didn’t keep their crossbows aimed at us, and I felt safer than I had in ages. Even Ceren didn’t dare attack these people.
We crossed the lush valley single file. I could make out the shapes of horses in the dark, grazing. Behind us, on the mountaintop, was a stone fortress, but we were moving away from it. If I squinted, I could make out tiny twinkling lights scattered far ahead of us. Houses on a hillside, from the look of it.
“Where are you taking us?” Talin asked finally.
“To bed,” one of the women said, her tone as dry as sun-bleached fish bones.
Talin coughed. “Excuse me?”
A moment later, all of the riders burst out laughing. Even Osius snickered.
The woman responded to Talin when everyone had settled down. “You’ll stay in a cottage for the night. It’s late, and we’re all tired. In the morning we’ll take you to the fortress to meet our commander.”
“I see,” Talin said flatly. I shared his confusion, but I was so delighted by the idea of staying in an actual house that I nearly wept in relief.
Several of the riders broke off as we approached a hillside, apparently returning to their own homes, until the woman who had spoken was the last one to remain. She led us up to the front of a little stone cottage lit with lanterns on the outside. A stone barn stood off to one side.
“You’ll sleep here tonight,” she said. “There is hay for your horses.” She loo
ked at Titania, then me. “Tomorrow you can explain how you ended up with Landrey’s horse.”
“I—What?”
She ignored the confused look on my face. “My name is Kester, by the way. I’ll be back at dawn to collect you.”
When she was gone, we all shared incredulous looks and dismounted.
“I don’t understand,” Zadie said. “Why are they treating us so well?”
Talin shook his head. “My only guess is they saw the flag from the kite seller and decided we must be friends. I suppose we’ll have to wait till morning to find out for certain. Nor and I will take the horses. Zadie, if you wouldn’t mind seeing if there’s anything to eat? Grig, tend to the fire. Osius, make sure the house is secure.”
The men nodded and set out to begin their tasks. I led Titania and Osius’s gelding toward the barn. It was as tidy and cozy as the cottage itself. I removed Titania’s saddle and bridle, patting her damp neck. “Welcome home,” I whispered in her ear. “No wonder you’re so perfect.”
“It does make sense,” Talin said, untacking the other horses and leading them into the small stalls. It was the first night the horses had had fresh hay since we left the port, and they all eagerly buried their noses in the piles.
I took a seat on a low bench, stretching my aching legs. “They’ll probably make me give her back to this Landrey, won’t they?”
“We’ll get you another horse.”
“Not one like Titania,” I pouted. I had never developed a bond with an animal before, and her large, warm presence had become an unexpected reassurance during our journey.
Talin sat next to me and lowered his head into his hands. “I still can’t believe my brother came all the way to the Galethian border. I know he despises me, but I didn’t think he was foolish enough to abandon New Castle for so long.”
After seeing Ceren take the Varenians prisoner, I had believed I was no longer his target. But I couldn’t deny that the visions and dreams had taken on a new meaning, now that I knew he had tracked us here. I should have told Talin sooner, but how could I explain something I didn’t understand myself?
I took a deep breath and released it heavily. “I don’t think your brother came for you.”
“You think he came for you? But why...” His furrowed brow rose slowly in understanding. “You mean you still think he wants your blood?”
I nodded.
Talin considered for a moment. “But why does he need more of it? He’s healthy, isn’t he?”
He had certainly looked healthy, and the fact that he had chased us after capturing the Varenians meant he was stronger than we had imagined. “I don’t know. But the day you came to Varenia, when you lost me in the water? I had some kind of vision. I thought it was a dream or a hallucination, but there was blood on Ceren’s mouth, and I think... I think he could see me, too.”
Talin stared at me for a moment. “I don’t understand.”
“Neither do I. There was another time, before you arrived in Varenia, when I cut my hand on a splinter, and for a moment I thought Ceren was right there with me. And then I’ve had nightmares while we’ve been traveling, and they always seem so real.”
He cupped my face in his hand. “Why didn’t you tell me about your suspicions, Nor?”
“I thought it was just a result of my experiences in New Castle. I thought it was normal to have nightmares after something like that.” And I didn’t want to believe that I was somehow linked to the man who had caused me so much pain and suffering.
I was afraid Talin would be angry with me for not telling him—or at least be skeptical about the trustworthiness of potential hallucinations—but he only stroked my cheek with his thumb. “In these...visions—did he seem angry?”
“No. At least, not to the extent I would imagine he would be if he was coming to kill me.”
“And you think he saw you, too?”
“Yes. I know it doesn’t make sense. I have no idea what he wants from me. But I know that whatever I’ve been experiencing is more than just nightmares.”
Talin took my hand and kissed the back of it. “We’re safe for the moment at least.” He rose and helped me to my feet. “Let’s get some rest and see what the Galethians have to say in the morning. The fact that they helped us cross the border seems like a good sign to me.”
I could only hope he was right as I moved on stiff legs back to the house.
Inside the cottage, Grig had a fire going in the stone hearth, and Zadie was making stew with the ingredients she’d found in the pantry. It wasn’t much, but it would fill our bellies until morning.
“There’s a ewer and pitcher in the bedroom upstairs, Nor,” Zadie said as she stirred. When she looked over her shoulder and saw me, she set the spoon aside and wiped her hands on her tunic. “You’re exhausted, Nor. Why don’t you go wash upstairs? I’ll call you when supper is ready.”
I thanked her and made my way up the narrow staircase, my knees creaking with every step.
The house was small, with only the single upstairs bedroom, but clean and cozy. The men had generously offered to take the downstairs floor to give Zadie and me a night in a real bed. Everything was decorated in shades of blue, from the wooden nightstand to the ewer and pitcher, reminding me oddly of home, despite the fact that we were miles from the ocean. The bed was made up with a soft quilt that had clearly been sewn by loving hands.
I removed my sweat-stained tunic and trousers, eager to wash myself. By the time I was finished, the water in the bowl was brown from all the dirt on my skin. I started at a light knock on the door, but Zadie’s soft voice followed immediately after.
“It’s just me.”
“Come in,” I said, digging in my bag for my last clean shift.
“I thought we might have supper in here.” She was carrying a small tray bearing two bowls and spoons, plus a chunk of crusty bread.
“Thank you. Having a meal by ourselves sounds perfect right now.”
She held out a comb, offering to brush my hair for me, and I gladly let her. It had grown horribly knotted over our week on the road.
“I think this was Landrey’s house,” she said as she worked.
“Why?”
“Just a feeling, and the way Kester spoke of Landrey. This house clearly belonged to someone.” She stroked the quilt tenderly. “Look how much care went into this.”
Selfishly, I wondered again if this meant I would have to give up Titania. “You don’t think something happened to Landrey, do you?”
“Possibly. Why else would we be allowed to stay here?”
I ate my stew and bread while Zadie continued to comb my hair, humming a Varenian lullaby as she worked. Normally, her singing calmed me, but I was still shaken up from our encounter with Ceren. Sharing my concerns with Talin made me feel less alone, but it didn’t change anything. Was Ceren waiting for us at the border, or would he return to New Castle and take out his anger on the Varenians?
“I would love to live in a house like this someday,” Zadie mused, setting the comb aside to braid my hair.
I smiled. “Mother and Father would never live on land, and I’m not sure I like the idea of being surrounded by mountains.”
She chuckled. “I meant with Sami. I don’t think our husbands would appreciate all of us living together. We’d need a larger house at the very least.”
The hair on the back of my neck prickled, but I told myself it was because Zadie’s fingers brushed my nape as she worked the comb through some particularly difficult tangles. “Talin and I aren’t even engaged.”
“Neither are Sami and I. At least not formally. But you will be, someday. And I intend to marry Sami as soon as possible, gods willing.”
That had always been the plan, so it shouldn’t have surprised me. But with everything we’d been through recently, I hadn’t imagined marriage was at the forefront of Zadie
’s thoughts. “What about our parents?” I asked.
“We’re going to save them, Nor,” she assured me. “I truly believe that. But I will marry Sami without their blessing, if I have to. I can handle anything with him by my side.”
It took me a moment to find my voice. “Of course.”
“Nor, that’s not what I—”
I set my tray down, finding my appetite had diminished rapidly. “I think I’ll go to bed, if that’s all right.”
She finished my braid and said with forced cheerfulness, “Good idea. We have to be up early.” She rose and went to the door. “Do you need anything else? I’ll come up to bed as soon as the dishes are put away.”
I faked a yawn. “I’m fine. Just tired.”
She started to open the door, then turned back to me. “You do know how much I love you, Nor. Don’t you?”
“Of course,” I said, and I meant it. But I still couldn’t stop myself from thinking that Father was right; Zadie, my wise, practical twin sister, knew exactly who she was and what she wanted.
Part of me wished I were as sure about everything as Zadie was. I wished the idea of marrying and settling down in a cottage like this one sounded appealing. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to be loved and accepted by others; if anything, I wanted that more than ever. Why else would I have returned to Varenia, if I hadn’t believed I might finally belong?
But in this house that Zadie found so cozy, I couldn’t fight the feeling that the stone walls were closing in on me, that the roof over my head was a barrier, not protection.
That I may never find a place that truly felt like home.
11
Kester was there at first light, as promised. I had slept like the dead, with not a single nightmare to disturb me, and there was no news of Ceren from the border. But if he wasn’t here, he could be anywhere, and somehow that was almost as terrifying.
We filed back across the valley on our horses. It seemed Galeth, or at least the part we’d seen, was designed entirely for travel by horseback. The valley would have taken well over an hour to cross on foot, and there were hitching posts and mounting blocks next to every cottage.
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