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As promised, I moved quickly, milking, feeding, and caring for the various animals, all the while wondering about what Darcy had to tell me and why she did not seem happy at the prospect of seeing her mother.
After I was finished, I washed myself, knowing that it would do little good and that I’d be covered in dust by the time we reached the warden’s station, but wanting to make the effort anyway. If not for my wife’s mother’s sake, then for my wife’s. I did not want to embarrass Darcy. I combed my hair and tied it back so it would not get too tangled on the ride, replaced my hat, put on fresh trousers, and went looking for Darcy.
I found her with Sora, rubbing the hound’s ears and staring into her eyes. I stopped and watched them, just for a moment. I remembered when it had just been Sora and me. Both of us small, scrawny, and bruised. I wanted to go back in time and tell that kicked pup, that kicked boy, to wait. Just wait. Because your life will be good one day. Better than you ever could have imagined or deserved.
I started walking towards them. Heading right towards the centre point of everything that mattered. Darcy straightened up and turned towards me at the sound of my footfalls. Her hair was a darker pink than before, and very glossy. It made the green parts of her eyes shine even more brilliantly than before. She wore a simple, long-sleeved white blouse and a long skirt that reached nearly to her boots.
“You’ll need a hat,” I told her, my eyes sweeping tenderly over her face.
“Definitely. Can’t show up to a meeting with my mother with even more freckles,” she said, sending her eyes to the sky then back down again.
“Can you get more of them?” I asked in wonder, amazed that her skin could change in that way.
“In the sun, yeah.”
“That’s quite magical!” I said. “I am intrigued by this. But I do not want you to get a sunburn. So put on your hat while I fetch Kolt.”
She stared at me as I went for the shuldu stalls. When I returned for her, leading my black shuldu Kolt, she was indeed wearing her hat.
With her long legs, she didn’t struggle too much with the stirrup. I only had to boost her a little to get her settled before I got up behind her.
Despite her sour mood at the prospect of seeing her mother, Darcy let a small smile flicker over her face.
“I’ve never ridden a horse, or a shuldu, or anything like this before. Some of the farms near us on Terratribe II had horses, and I always thought they were beautiful. I thought riding on one would make you feel so free.”
“Would you like to learn to ride? I could teach you. Reesha is gentle and would be amenable to a new rider, I think.”
Darcy twisted in the saddle to look at me. I could not fathom why, but she looked entirely shocked by my offer.
“You would do that? Take time away from all your other duties to teach me? I can’t imagine I’ll be a quick study; I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing.”
“If it would please you, of course,” I told her. “I want you to be happy.”
She blinked, and her eyes suddenly looked more shiny than before. She turned around to face forward, staring out at the road between Kolt’s curving black horns.
“Let’s get moving,” she said, and she sounded tired. “We have a long way to go. And a lot to talk about.”
30
DARCY
Once we’d established our rhythm out on the road, I girded my loins and just went straight for the jugular.
“I had a fiancé before you. His name was Massimo. Or, is, I guess. He’s still alive out there, as far as I know.”
Unfortunately.
Fallon had made every effort to keep his front sealed protectively around my back as he held the reins, so I felt him stiffen in response.
Oh, God.
I hated this. Hated, hated, hated that this might bother Fallon. That it might hurt him. Or that I might have hurt him, waiting so long to tell him.
“Go on,” he said when I went quiet. There was a gentle encouragement in it that just made me feel even worse.
“I didn’t choose him!” I said in a rush. “I’ll just make that clear right now. My parents did, my mother in particular. It was a match based solely on wealth and political connections. Massimo’s family runs a massive agricultural enterprise on Terratribe II.”
“More massive than mine?” Fallon asked, suddenly sounding a little peevish.
