Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 139662 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 698(@200wpm)___ 559(@250wpm)___ 466(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139662 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 698(@200wpm)___ 559(@250wpm)___ 466(@300wpm)
I bathe, eat some of the bread and cheese prepared for us, and attempt a nap, but every time I drift off, I hear something outside the tent and jerk awake, thinking Finn might be returning. There’s so much we need to talk about. I still haven’t confessed that I spied on him and Juliana last night or asked about what the tethered are.
But he doesn’t come. Instead, the servant who helped with my bath returns to the tent in the late afternoon and tells me that Finn would like me to dress for our outing and meet him at the stables. This afternoon we travel to a sacred spring and make an offering to Lugh so that the priestess will agree to see us tomorrow.
I let the servant help me into one of several dresses that were waiting in the tent when we arrived. It’s the same red as I was wearing this morning, with thicker sleeves and a higher neckline.
I’m dreading a return to the rainy day, but when I step out of the tent, the sun is shining. I wonder if I’ll regret the heavy dress and the extra layer of socks beneath my boots.
The servant directs me toward the stables, and the moment I see Finn standing next to Two Star, I remember why the term tethered as a relationship between two people sounded familiar.
Misha and Amira told me that Finn’s grandfather Kairyn was the tethered match of Queen Reé, the last ruler from Mab’s line. I didn’t ask what that meant and had assumed it was some sort of pledge between a queen and her second. But if Finn thinks we might be tethered, it can’t be that.
“Did you have a nice nap?” Finn asks.
“Yes, thank you,” I say, smiling through the lie. Admitting that I spent the whole time wishing he’d join me will only sound pathetic.
“Good.” He pulls the saddle cinch tight and pats Two Star’s flank. “Kane and Pretha will be joining us. We can be there in an hour if we move quickly.”
The other two mount their horses, and I frown. “Where’s your horse, Finn?”
He grins at me and strokes Two Star again. “You and I are riding together.”
I scoff. “You’re kidding.”
Finn arches a brow and shifts his gaze to the servant waiting at attention behind me. Right. Because we’re supposedly betrothed.
“I’m just saying,” I say, schooling my features, “I don’t mind riding alone.”
“It’s safer this way,” he says. “I’m not taking any chances after what happened in the capital.”
“Lucky for us, the sun came out,” Pretha says from atop her mount, tilting her face toward the sky. “Feels like summer again.”
Kane nudges his horse forward and comes to a stop beside Pretha. “You probably should’ve dressed in something cooler,” he says, looking me over.
I shrug. “I’ll be fine. How hot can it get in the mountains?”
Really damned hot. Especially considering my too-thick clothing and the heat of Finn riding behind me. The sun beat down on us as we rode along the mountain paths, and by the time we stopped at the spring to make offerings to Lugh, I was flushed, sweaty, and miserable.
The human in me wanted to mock the foolishness of the simple ritual, but when we walked sunwise around the small stone-encircled pool in the mountainside, dropping handfuls of grain into the water, I felt the magic flow through me as sure as I feel the presence of the night sky.
When we were done, Pretha asked that we go on ahead and give her some time alone.
We ride only a short way before stopping in a clearing. “We’ll wait here,” Finn says, dismounting. When he helps me off the horse, he holds me close a few moments longer than necessary, the corner of his mouth twitching up in a smile, as if he knows exactly how riding so close to him affected me.
I wiggle from his arms and step back. Looking over my shoulder. We’ve traveled just far enough that Pretha’s out of sight, but not out of earshot. “Why did she want to stay?”
“She scattered Vexius’s ashes around that spring,” Finn says softly. “This is the first time she’s been back to visit.”
My heart tugs for my friend and her grief. “Are you sure we shouldn’t have stayed?”
“We’re sure,” Kane says, taking a seat on one of several fallen logs arranged in a circle. “She wants to be alone. Let her.”
I follow his lead, but I settle onto the dirt in front of my log so I can lean back against it. The heat has taken too much out of me.
“Are you okay?” Finn asks for the third time since we left the spring.
“I’m fine. I can handle a little heat.”
“You could take off the dress,” Kane suggests, smirking. “We don’t mind.”
I roll my eyes. “Don’t be a pig.”