She nickered and walked forward, chomping away at my offering. I stroked her mane with my free hand. “I’ve missed you,” I said, and brushed my nose against her coat. Her aura was peaceful. I closed my eyes and tried to trap in her smell, her graceful strength.
My thoughts, which had been so tangled up with Valko, turned to Anton. I felt the remembrance of his hands on my waist when we rode this very horse from the city square to the palace. I heard the prince’s voice, soothing me, asking me to think of him so I wouldn’t be overwhelmed by the masses. You fared remarkably, he had told me last night.
Raina ate the last of the apple. I wrapped both of my arms around her neck and tucked closer into her warmth. I wanted to stay here all night in the safety of her uncomplicated affection.
A rumble of low voices made my body jolt. Raina jerked back. She heaved a loud breath and stomped her hoof. “It’s all right, girl,” I whispered, and smoothed her coat with my hand. As the mare settled down, I perked up my ears.
“Feliks is making all the arrangements for him to come,” said the deep voice of a man. Accompanying him was the clip-clop of at least one other horse. “How was your visit with Nicolai? Is he still committed?”
A second, slightly higher male voice answered, “He thinks he can persuade Duke Krayev.”
As they spoke, I tiptoed to the exit of the stable. The voices were nearer now, though they still spoke in a hush. I reached out for their auras, but there was a delay. I’d attached myself too strongly to Raina.
A burst of laughter rang out from a different direction. I peered out of the stables. In the moonlight, a group of guards advanced toward the servants’ entrance to the palace.
“Go and join them when they enter,” the first man said in an attempt to whisper, though the low pitch of his voice rumbled with too much resonance to be quiet. I couldn’t make out either of their faces from where they stood in the stable’s shadow. “I’ll take care of the horses.”
As the shorter man handed over his reins, I retreated back inside and crawled under the gate of the nearest stall. “Shhh.” I patted a brown stallion.
Into the stable, leading two horses, came Anton. A gasp escaped my mouth, but he didn’t hear me. Crouching back against the hay, I kept to a dark corner of the stall. It wasn’t until several minutes later, after the prince had untacked the horses and left, that I came to my senses.
What was the matter with me? Why had I felt compelled to hide? Had Anton’s impulse to be secretive persuaded me, or was I trying to protect him? I sensed whatever he was doing was something he didn’t wish his brother to know about. I was Sovereign Auraseer. The prince knew my duty was to the emperor.
I thought back on the conversation I’d just overheard. Anton mentioned someone named Feliks, a name I now remembered as belonging to a man with piercing blue eyes, the same man Anton had given over the care of the troika to in the city square. But who was Nicolai, and what did Anton mean when he’d asked if that man was still committed?
Did any of this have to do with the letter Anton had been given from another mysterious man, the man with the amethyst ring? Midnight and Morva’s Eve were the only words I’d seen on that letter. Morva’s Eve was still weeks away. What was Anton planning?
I waited until the servants’ door to the palace thumped shut as the prince entered, then I hitched up my gown and ran around to the main entrance. When the guards stationed on the porch lifted their brows at me, I said, “Just taking a stroll in the gardens.” A late-night stroll with no coat in the cold. Sheepishly grinning at them, I rushed inside, past the amber lobby, and up one of the four twirling staircases as I tried to beat Anton to the third floor.
I succeeded. He entered one minute after I did. There was just enough time for me to catch my breath and pull a stray bit of hay from my hair. My heart, however, pounded like I’d run the length of Torchev. I put my hand on the latch of my door, so it seemed like I was on the verge of going inside my rooms. I wanted this meeting to appear coincidental. I needed a natural way to bump into the prince. We’d had another fresh start for a hopeful friendship last night. Perhaps he would come to trust me and confide his secrets.
Anton came nearer down the corridor, then froze when he noticed me there. The prince’s nose was pink from the cold, and he had his hand on the clasp of his cape, as if making ready to unfasten it. My chest panged with a flicker of hope.
I let go of my door latch and broke into a wide smile. “Good evening, Anton.” All my nerve ends tingled from his close proximity. I flexed my fingers.