“Just pull yourself onto it,” Maud steadied Rosemary as much as she could. Rosemary was doing circles in anticipation of their ride while Aurie struggled to climb up onto her new horse’s saddle.

  The two horses didn’t seem to like each other. Aurie’s horse was a slightly shorter but stockier breed, one of Enya’s Bashkirs that needed a rider, with a chestnut coat that was far thicker than her Rosemary’s. Maud thought his mane made him look like Draka’s hair when they first met him: unkempt flowing locks that fell between two round-tipped ears. And the fur was nearly the same color, too. Aurie didn’t think naming the horse Draka the Second was as funny as she did.

  “Hold the reins…not that foot, you’ll end up backwards…Ma, you’re upsetting him.”

  “I’m upsetting him?” Aurie huffed after raising a foot for a stirrup that seemed to be her horse’s cue to take a step forward.

  Maud directed Rosemary to bring her closer. “Ma, this isn’t some pet. He feels what you feel. You’re upset, he’s upset.”

  “He’s upsetting me,” Aurie turned a glare on him with a wagging finger. “You’re as bad as Vigora.”

  “He won’t let you ride him if he thinks you hate him. Would you?”

  Her horse chewed on his bit, eyeing her with his black eye, nostrils flaring and his ears alert. His tail was swishing.

  Maud pointed at each, “He’s scared. He’ll buck you if you don’t calm down and calm him down, too. Talk to him.”

  Aurie nodded. She reached to pet the dark furred bridge of his nose but he jerked upward against it. She pulled back with a frown and nodded.

  Softly, she said as she moved to in front of him, “I’m Aurie, you’re new rider. I was told your name but I will never be able to pronounce it. And, right now, I’m wondering if I should trade you in for another. You want me to ride you or not?”

  “Not the way I’d go about it,” Maud cocked a brow. “Give him an apple.”

  “I told you,” Aurie looked over her shoulder, seeming completely oblivious to the grin on her horse’s face, “I’m not spoiling my horse the way you do. I don’t see Draka feeding his horse apples all the time.”

  “He feeds her bites of his meals, Ma,” Maud shook at her. “And she’s been his horse for a lot longer.”

  “He what? But I thought when he camps he only eats…”

  Maud nodded with a shrug, “Meat. Yep. So,” she waved a hand, “Give him an apple so he knows you’ll at least be nice to him.”

  “You eat meat?” Aurie looked a little sick at the thought. She blinked at him a moment before reaching into her pack and holding an apple up for him to scoop up with his lapping lips.

  He was eyeing her suspiciously the entire time.

  “Rub him,” Maud leaned on her saddle. The sun was nearly above the scaffolds of the watchtowers beyond the ferry.

  She was beginning to regret asking her mother to join her with her new horse. She should have asked Draka or maybe had Yi or Fleurie join her. Radhya didn’t like it when she rode fast and she was beginning to suspect that Adrian was avoiding her since the feast. For days, she had meandered through the market, finding excuses whenever she could to wander in every direction, but she never seemed to find him. Even when she took her nightly walks. She should have danced with him.

  Finally, Aurie was lifting herself into the leather saddle with a swing of her leg over it and a reach to pull her boot into the stirrup. Her horse took a few clopping steps forward and sideways, giving Rosemary a wide berth even though Rosemary never once tried to bite him. Aurie was sliding her rump on the saddle side to side and front to back, trying to find a good spot, bouncing with each step her horse took. Maud tried to quiet her snicker.

  “You decide on a name yet?” Maud asked as they approached the gate to the village. “What did they tell you his name is?”

  “Something only that gypsy fiddler can pronounce. It has a -ski at the end,” Aurie shrugged. Her brows were constantly pressed together and her rump constantly shifting while she continued on her quest for a comfortable spot on her saddle. “I didn’t like it and I can’t remember it.”

  “Well, he needs a name,” Maud eyed the way she was holding the reins. She shook her head when she saw how the poor animal had to tuck its chin to keep from pulling them taut. “Loosen the reins. He knows to follow the road.”

  “Oh,” Aurie let the loop she had gathered between her hands loosen and the horse’s ears flicked and twisted with a blow of butterflies sounding from around its bit.

  “That was a thank you,” Maud chuckled.

  “You can understand horse, too?” Aurie cocked a brow.

  “Sure,” Maud shrugged. “You will, too.”

  At the gate, Olaf and two knights were waiting, armored and on their own horses. Aurie gave them huffing nods. She didn’t like the guards constantly around her, but Maud could see that she was getting used to it. Maud, on the other hand, shot Olaf a knowing smile and he returned it.

  Unlike her guards, Olaf wouldn’t complain or try to stop her from riding too fast or trying to jump ditches. Actually, he would be the one she would be racing—losing against, too, every single time, but one day she’ll beat him—and he was helping her get better at horse archery, too. Not today, though. Not with Ma. This would be a nice stroll down the road, maybe to one of the river crossings where the Zorn curved south across the road one last time before Alcer, and back by midday.

  “What do you think of Hans?” Aurie leaned to ask her horse. It lifted its head and tail, trotting a little lighter. “Hans?” It nodded with a breathy jerk of the reins. “That’s a yes?” She looked to Maud.

  “Looks like his name is Hans,” Maud shrugged. “Where’d you come up with that name?”

  Aurie was rubbing his side as they crossed the bridge into the village, grinning thoughtfully, “It belonged to someone very special.”

  The village was still in the first throes of the morning. Mud gushed with their hoofbeats between villagers beginning to load their carts with their wares for the stands they would set in the square. Laborers were kissing their wives and children at their doors with trawls and picks in hand. There were some with fishing boots already laced up to their hips while others were in patchwork coats of different colored linens, bowing their heads with tips of their fur or cloth hats as they passed. A few were soldiers making their ways from their small family homes among the newest parts of the village to the camps with their tall pikes in hands.

  Maud turned in her saddle to see who was fishing on the lake, eyeing each face in the small boats as she scanned them over. There was Chase and Andre with Soran, Morin was working with Gregor and Balian, Damon and Preston…no Adrian. Of course, why would he be among the fishermen? He wasn’t in the stables either. Nor was his horse. She still couldn’t remember what he called his horse. All she could remember was that it was Vigora’s daughter. And Vigora was gone, too. He and Draka must have gone riding together somewhere. Maud let out a long sigh as Balthazar’s shop blocked her view of the lake.

  “Looking for someone in particular?” Aurie raised a brow.

  “No,” Maud lifted her chin, her eyes now on the road through the village ahead.

  “Oh, okay,” Aurie gave her nod of disbelief. She knew her daughter too well to believe her. “If you were looking for someone, I might, maybe, know where they went, being the Regent and all…”

  Maud kept her eyes fixed on where the road curved a bit past the last of the shanties through the fields toward the camp and the beginnings of the watchtowers being built. She wasn’t going to give in. If she happened to see Adrian, then she happened to see him. If she didn’t, she didn’t. That was how she would leave it. She won’t go out of her way. She was a Princess, after all. She just…why didn’t he ask her again?

  She thought he would, but he never did and she ended up dancing with Olaf, then Dimitriy, then Francoise, and Pierre—whom she will never dance with again, if she can help it, after how sore the top of her feet were—all the while watching and waiting for him to come her way. She even tried to catch his eye with an encouraging smile, like her mother did with Draka, but he only watched her and drank from that stein at his spot along the wall, hovering until brooding off somewhere, never to be seen again. For days. Days!

  “You wouldn’t believe what I heard from Nina yesterday,” Aurie had finally found a comfortable spot on her saddle. “You know that Draka’s ward—I keep forgetting his name, with everything that’s been going on. Starts with an ‘E’ I think—”

  Maud rolled her eyes, “Adrian! And, where is he? I’ve been waiting for him all weekend.” She let go of the reins to count on her fingers, “He’s never on the castle battlements, never in the stables, not the market, nowhere. He’s constantly eating!” She threw her hands with an exasperated expression aimed at her mother, “But do you ever find him in the Hall when there’s food? Nope! Never! He’s disappeared. Did he leave? Did Draka send him away or something? What happened to him?”

  Aurie wagged a finger at her, “I knew it! You’re smitten.”

  “Don’t be so na?ve,” Maud narrowed her eyes and stiffened her jaw. “I just wanted to give him back that awful book he gave me.” The really good book he gave me that I’ll never give back if a blade were put to my throat.

  “Oh, right,” Aurie eyed her. “He gave you a book. An awful book. Is it the one you keep under your pillow?”

  “Ugh,” Maud had to turn away sharply, so her hair fell over her reddening face.

  “If you like him, then why didn’t you dance with him at the feast?”

  “I…Ugh!” Maud squeezed her knees for Rosemary to trot faster. Behind her, she heard Aurie laugh.

  Aurie had gotten her horse to catch up and called to her, still somewhat laughing but with worry in her tone, “Maud, slow down! I’m not as good at this yet…will you stop being a child about this!”

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  Maud widened her knees and straightened. Rosemary returned to a slow trot. Aurie let out a sigh of relief.

  They had gotten far from the edge of the village and were nearing the camp where the watchtowers were being built. The brisk wind was sending her hair across her face and making her nose run. She snarled as she brushed it to fly over one shoulder and shook her head.

  She was acting immature and that made it even worse. He made her feel like she did when she let go of the ribbon at her first Ribbon Dance: less. Less than everyone else who might have been asked by him because if she wasn’t, he would have asked again, right? But he didn’t.

  “Talk to me,” Aurie moved Hans to block Rosemary’s path. They all stopped.

  Maud rocked back, rolling her eyes. “Ma, please. I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Fine,” Aurie shrugged. “Don’t talk about it. But, if I were you, I’d start trying to figure out why you care so much about the man you told no to.”

  “Because he didn’t ask again,” Maud blinked at her matter-of-factly. “He should have asked again. I would have said yes if he asked again. But he didn’t. He just watched me dance with everyone else—including Pierre, who stepped on my feet almost every step—and then LEFT! He just left! Why would he leave and not even say goodbye? And where has he been since? I don’t even know which room is his in the castle. I know he stays there, but I can’t send for him, I can’t go and find him and ask or explain or talk to him, he’s just gone, and all I can do is wander around like I’m plowing Dalfur!”

  “Wow, how far my darling girl has fallen,” Aurie tsked and shook her head. “Maybe you should bring him a rock.”

  Maud shot her a glare.

  Aurie was struggling to keep from laughing. “I’m sorry,” she winced in her struggle. “Mostly.”

  “I know rocks are what make your toes curl, Mother, but I kind of enjoy it when my men can speak and aren’t married to demons!”

  “Hey!” Aurie’s smile disappeared. “Don’t snap at me because you always do the opposite of what you mean. The poor man hears you telling him not to come near you and you’re mad he listens!”

  Olaf’s guffaws were far louder than they should have been. Both women turned their glares on him. He shifted his horse two steps to the side and pointed to the knights who were with him, shaking his head. The knights gaped in offense at his accusation and vehemently pointed back at him. Aurie and Maud rolled their eyes back towards each other.

  “I never said no! I didn’t actually answer!”

  Aurie nodded, “Then the boy is smarter than I thought. I’d hide from you, too.”

  “Hey!” Maud growled.

  “What?” Aurie shook at her. “What do you expect? He can’t read your mind, Maudeline. You didn’t even answer him? What did you do? Give him a little tease,” she mockingly smiled over a shrugging shoulder before returning to her scowl, “and walked away like Leta does?”

  “No…” Maud sank. “Yes.”

  “Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Aurie slapped her own forehead. “Of course you did. Do you know why Leta is married to Gregor?”

  “Because she did that to him and he kept trying.”

  “Because we went to him, day after day, and told him that she liked him!” Aurie huffed. “And every time, he and your father would bloody each other’s knuckles because he didn’t believe us!”

  “Oh.”

  “That poor boy probably thinks you hate him,” Aurie shook her head. “You want him to chase after you? He did. He asked you to dance. And you didn’t even give him the common decency of an answer?”

  “Well, how was I supposed to know he would react like that?” Maud threw her hands. “I didn’t know. I was just doing what Aunt Leta said I’m supposed to do. No one’s ever asked me to dance before.”

  “Huh,” Aurie blinked at her. “I guess now you know why.”

  Maud glared with a pressing of her lips. Aurie glared right back.

  “And don’t ever talk about Draka that way again,” Aurie raised a challenging brow. “That was low, even for you. He deserves better than that.”

  “Then that means I am in the right place,” A woman’s voice made them nearly jump from their horses. She had thin eyes and a pert nose, her full lips pulled into a grin over a chin that was hidden by layers of scarfs. Her hair was covered by a white fur cap and she was covered in purple robes lined with white fur to match it. Her gloves were shimmering in the sunlight as they gripped the reins of her blanketed tall brown horse. Maud wondered if they were sequins or…no, they couldn’t be diamonds on gloves, could they? It was the gathering of hooded and armored wagons, thickly armored knights, and lines of soldiers gathering from the tree line that made her eyes widen with recognition of someone she had never met.

  The woman had her horse, whose mane was pinned into colorful plumes, step nearer, allowing Maud and Aurie to turn their own horses to greet her. Her eyes were hazel, like Adrian’s, but more blue on the edges and brown toward the center. Her face, framed as it was by her layers of coverings, was a shade lighter than Radhya’s, but only slightly. That grin, though. Maud knew the grin. It was Adrian’s grin. Adrian’s lips. Her eyes looked Maud over, then Aurie, then went to Olaf. “Olaf, be so kind as to introduce us.”

  Maud crinkled her brow. She knew Olaf? Could this be…?

  “Queen Isabella,” Aurie said before Olaf could open his mouth. “I am Paladin Dowager Regent Aurelie Clevlan and this is my daughter, the High Princess…”

  “Maudeline,” Isabella’s grin warmed. She bowed her head. “It is a pleasure to finally meet you in person. And, I see you have taken well to my Chara.”

  “Rosemary,” Maud rubbed the side of Rosemary’s neck. Then, bashfully added when she realized she had just corrected a queen, “Your majesty.”

  “Rosemary?” Isabella regarded the spotted horse with a nod of approval. “A much better name. And it is a pleasure to finally meet you,” her eyes rose to Aurie, “Dowager Regent.”

  “Paladin Dowager Regent,” Aurie corrected her.

  Maud waited for her to finish. And it never came. The two women only eyed each other while Maud stared in wonder. The silence was only broken when Isabella shook her head and laughed, never losing her sharp gaze into Aurie’s eyes.

  “We shall be great friends,” Isabella said as she half turned to her shoulder. She didn’t look away from Aurie, but a knight was galloping hard to come to her. When she was near enough, she called to her, “There is an Abbey building battlements nearby. Dispatch all but the Royal Guards to aid the Sepulcher Cohorts there and inform the Paladin Commander that we have arrived. Cleric Olaf here will kindly direct us to Paladin King Draka’s castle.”

  “That’s it,” Olaf pointed to the village and the spiked tower rising from the lake. “They’ve been waiting for you. Ask for Paladin Commander Enya.”

  “I thought the Paladin Commander was Paladin Khanyisile Dandarvaanchig of the Five Points,” the knight blinked questioningly. She looked young as Adrian from what little bit Maud could see through the opening in her helmet.

  “That’s her,” Olaf shrugged. “We call her Enya. Easier for the squishies to say.”

  “The what-ies?” Aurie glared.

  Maud blinked.

  Isabella scoffed. “If Philip were here, he’d at least pretend to chastise you for using such a term. Shame on you, Olaf.”

  Olaf shrugged. “They are, though.”

  “Squishy?” Aurie put a tongue in her cheek beneath her glare at him. “Give me time, Olaf. Don’t forget that Draka’s not from very far from here.”

  “He’s from the less squishy side of the river,” Olaf shrugged and turned his horse.

  “Squishy,” Maud thought it over for a moment. Squishy, as in…She roared after him, “Like a bug! Next hunt, you’ll no get a drop of my stew, Olaf!”

  “How familiar are you with Draka’s men?” Aurie’s gaze hovered.

  Isabella let out a short burst of giggles, “Come, little sister, I very much would like company on my way to seeing my son and his keeper.”

  “Sister?” Aurie gave Maud a questioning look.

  Maud shrugged and shook her head.

  Isabella only turned on her with that smooth grin, “Princess, be so kind as to help guide my daughter to your father.”

  “Your daughter?”

  Isabella pointed to the knight who had just spoken with Olaf.

  “Oh,” Maud drew in a breath and trotted Rosemary to them. As soon as she was there, she slapped Olaf’s shoulder, “Squishy?”

  The knight giggled. “You’re Princess Maudeline, then, right?”

  “I have no idea who you are,” Maud leaned to see her face better. She still couldn’t see much through that little opening in her thick helm. “Are you a Paladin, too?”

  “Oh, God, no!” She laughed. A few straps unbuckled and she pulled the thick helmet off to let long, brown hair fall over her shoulders. It was Adrian’s eyes that looked at her. “My name is Jasmine, though my twin brother, Michael has the eyes of our father and is, in fact, a Paladin.”

  “Where is he?”

  “He’s our Regent in Al’Constantine,” She shrugged. “Order of the Hagia Sophia. So, he stayed. But my sister Theresa and brother Paul are here with us,” she pointed to one of the armored wagons. Maud didn’t know which.

  “I didn’t know you had so many brothers and a sister, too,” Maud grinned. “I always wanted a sister.”

  “Be nice to have an older sister, finally,” Jasmine beamed. “So, tell me, has Adrian given you anything yet? What was it? Can I see?”

  Maud’s eyes went wide. “Uhm, what? I mean, he bought a book for me at the market, but…”

  “We were hoping to get here before the festival, father always said that the Ribbon Dances were a sight to see, but we ended up weathering a storm in Budapest. Miserable time, but beautiful city. You’ll see it on your way to Al’Constantine, I’m sure.”

  “I will?” Maud was trying to wrap her head around everything. “Maybe, one day.”

  Jasmine’s youthful dark brows crinkled. Her oval tanned face and doe eyes were studying her. “You’re a commoner, I forgot. You do know he’s here to court you, right?”

  “To what?” Now Maud was wide eyed and bolt upright in her saddle.

  Jasmine raised a brow at her, resting her helm between her thighs on the horn of her saddle, “He was supposed to wait until he finished his university, but once you were named Princess, mother was planning it. Why do you think you have Chara? She was my horse, you know.”

  “Rosemary,” Maud collected herself and she rubbed Rosemary between her ears with a reach. “And I didn’t know. So, what, is it already decided, then? Like an arranged marriage?”

  “Did you accept the book?”

  “Yes,” Maud was taken aback.

  “Then, your courtship has started,” Jasmine shrugged. “I’m not old enough for mine to begin, but I’m supposed to meet mine while we’re here. I’m told the Dauphine is not betrothed to anyone and he’s coming for Michaelmas. I will present myself before him, so long as I’m not in competition with you. Am I in competition with you?”

  Maud blinked. “I hope not.”

  “What happened?”

  Maud winced. “So, he asked me to dance…”