A shadow appeared over me. “You okay, little fox?”
I lifted my wet lashes to find those gleaming brown eyes. “Yes.”
Grae’s lips curved. “Liar.” He lifted his knuckle and wiped a stray tear from my face. My cheeks burned. I hadn’t realized I’d been crying. “I’m sorry you have to leave your home. I hope you’ll be happy in our new one.”
Our.
Grae’s heavy stare weighed on me.
Briar stuck her head out of the open carriage window. “Calla, let’s go,” she said, straightening the hood of her cloak.
I noticed the golden door of the carriage in front of us waiting ajar. “You’re not riding with us?”
“Briar said you got little sleep last night. It’s a long journey to Damrienn. You two should rest,” Grae said, pausing when I didn’t reply. “Unless . . . you’d like to ride with me?”
My heart faltered at his question. A whole coach ride with just the two of us. I was about to open my mouth to agree when Briar popped her head out of the carriage door again.
“Cal, come on,” she demanded.
I rolled my eyes. It would’ve been a terrible idea, anyway. I felt embarrassingly out of control around him, and now I wouldn’t have the wine to blame.
Grae grinned at my sister’s antics, giving me a wink that made my whole body tingle. “I’ll speak with you after we arrive in Highwick?”
I nodded, cringing at myself as Grae strode away. I climbed into the rounded belly of the carriage, sitting on the crushed velvet bench beside my sister. Satin cushions sat on either end and gold filigree papered the walls. It was the most opulent space I had ever been in . . . and this was just the carriage.
I adjusted the neckline of my cloak as Maez’s face appeared in the window. She had short-cropped hair, light golden brown skin, and a mischievous twinkle in her hazel eyes. Her lips twisted into a smirk.
“Ready, Your Highness?” she asked Briar, casually leaning her forearms through the open window. Her eyes lingered on Briar before she peeked at me. “It’ll be about six hours.”
Briar pursed her lips, pulling Maez’s attention back to her with ease. “Are you driving the carriage?”
“No, Your Highness, I’m just riding with Hector.”
“Why don’t you ride with us?” Briar offered, gesturing to the empty bench.
I cut my sister a look that I knew she was ignoring. She’d told Grae we wanted to sleep and now she was inviting company into our carriage? Briar waited for Maez’s response with innocently raised eyebrows.
“Oh.” The guard’s eyes widened as a grin stretched across her face. “Okay, I’ll grab my satchel.”
As she retreated from the carriage window, I elbowed Briar in the ribs. “What are you doing?”
“Ouch,” Briar snapped, though we both knew I hadn’t injured her. “I just wanted some entertainment on the long ride.”
“I thought you were going to desist with that form of entertainment now that Grae is around.”
“Can you blame me? Look at her! Besides—” Briar shrugged. “Grae and I talked last night.”
“When?” Mouth agape, I glared at my sister. “What does that mean?”
The door opened.
“It means we talked last night,” Briar muttered out of the corner of her mouth.
Plastering that queenly smile back on her face, she greeted Maez.
As the guard sat across from us, my mind spiraled. What had Briar and Grae talked about? What agreement had they reached, and had it something to do with this mysterious suspicion of Grae’s? My nerves were as tight as a bowstring, ready to snap.
“Did you grow up in the capital?” Briar asked, breaking into light conversation.
“All the Silver Wolf families live in Highwick,” Maez replied. “Grae and I are cousins on his father’s side.”
I racked my brain for note of the King’s siblings, but whoever Maez’s father was, he must’ve passed long ago. I couldn’t recollect his name in any of our classes, though Vellia’s tutelage had been more focused on the living royal lines.
“I entered my apprenticeship with the royal guard at thirteen,” Maez said. “And Grae invited me into his personal guard about . . .” She looked at the ceiling, silently counting. “Four years ago?”
“Impressive.”
Maez shrugged. “It spared me from my uncle marrying me off to another kingdom. I pledged my sword to the crown prince, so I’m not a threat to his line.”
I pursed my lips, considering Maez. It was a smart move. She’d been confronted with the possibility of an arranged marriage and she’d found her own way out. I respected her more for it—her charming swagger suddenly more understandable, that bravado hard won. She knew what she wanted from life, and she’d taken it, just like Vellia had bid me to do.
“How old are you?” Briar asked.
I glared at her again, knowing she was shamelessly interrogating the guard for her own purposes.
“Twenty-four,” Maez said, cocking her head at Briar, a mischievous fire in her hazel eyes. “And you will be twenty at midnight tonight.”
Briar scanned the guard from head to toe, playing along with her game. “And do you have any . . . sweethearts in the capital?”
Goddess, I wished I could fade into the cushions and disappear from this conversation. I nudged Briar with my knee, but she moved her leg away, merely blinking back at Maez with her blue doe eyes. Briar and I didn’t need to say a word to have an entire conversation. She knew I was warning her to behave, and I knew she was ignoring me.
The carriage lurched forward, and I leaned out the window to wave goodbye to Vellia. The cool morning air tousled my curls as we rode down the forest path. My godmother waved her white handkerchief to us in farewell. Once, twice, and on the third time she disappeared, a trail of glittering stardust left in her wake. Another breath, and the cabin disappeared, too.
I squinted, trying to find the seam of warped air, the glamour hiding the edifice . . . but there was none. It was simply gone. All evidence that we had ever lived there—the place that held every one of my childhood memories—had vanished.
My eyes welled again, and I kept my head half out the window to let the breeze stymie my tears. I hated that the tears came so easily. Warriors weren’t meant to cry.
My excitement dampened, I stared at the morning sun rising through the trees. I felt the absence of Vellia’s magic more with every turn of the carriage wheel. We had to make it on our own now.
“Hardly.” Briar’s voice pulled me back into the moment. I leaned back beside her, not hearing a word of their conversation as I watched the vacant spot where our home had once been. “I don’t know why anyone would fancy men, Moon help them.”
I pointedly cleared my throat.
“Calla likes men and women,” Briar said to Maez in a conspiratorial whisper. “We’ll forgive her for that.”