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“The design was quick in coming, but the execution took quite a bit longer,” he admitted with a touch of a smile on his lips. “I had to learn to project my thoughts outside of myself and manifest them as something solid enough to touch.”
I readjusted my blanket that had slipped on the bumpy roads in the southern half of the city. “When you fought with that assassin lady-”
“Palla,” he reminded me.
“She managed to cut your clothes in a few places. Was it because she was fighting you with normal weapons?”
He shook his head. “On the contrary, her cloak was enchanted by magic. Hers merely canceled out mine where she struck, and thus some of me was revealed.”
My eyes flickered down to his side. “And you were hurt because of my distracting you.”
Ben smiled as he set a hand over my blanket-covered one. “It was my fault for being so distracted by your presence, and you were there to help me back home.”
The carriage hit a particularly hard bump in the uneven road and I was thrown into Ben’s arms. He caught me and wrapped his arms around me. I tilted my head back and found his heated gaze staring down at me. My cheeks warmed with blush and I tried to sit up, but his arms held me tightly against his chest.
“The bump is over. I can sit up now,” I assured him.
He grinned. “Why take chances?”
I snorted but settled into his warm lap. “I guess you are pretty warm. A little hard, though.”
“Don’t all women like it that way?”
I tilted my head back and frowned up at him. “I was referring to your muscle.”
His eyes twinkled with mischief. “As was I.”
Ferox threw back his head and whinnied. I laughed. “Ferox thinks that was a silly line, too.”
Ben shrugged. “A man must try. Otherwise, how is he to capture the beautiful damsel’s attention?”
“Believe me, you have my complete and undivided attention,” I assured him as I patted his hand. “That is until we get to the imperial stables.”
“Then I shall enjoy this drive very much,” he replied.
We rolled out of the southern city limits and found ourselves on a cobblestone road some fifty feet wide. A lane of cart and foot traffic headed north while another traveled south. Those headed into the city were laden with goods carried in crates, boxes, and bags, while empty carts made the trip south for more supplies.
The cramped buildings of the city fell away and were replaced by fine estates with large houses and even larger yards. Trees lined their long driveways and huge barns dotted the landscape. Pastures and barnyards popped up and featured a myriad of familiar animals like cows and chickens. Horses grazed in the pastures and birds flew overhead. I noticed a steady stream of crow calls traveled to and for about twenty feet above the road.
“That’s a lot of communication,” I mused as I watched a cluster of twenty fly southward.
“The merchants in the city are putting in their orders to the newly arrived ships,” Ben explained as he, too, surveyed the crows. “It’s much faster than traveling to and fro most every day, and cheaper.”
I leaned forward and watched the cobblestones disappear beneath the carriage. “It can’t be cheap to maintain this road.”
“It’s well worth the investment for the empire,” Ben pointed out. “Without the port, Validen would have to rely completely on the roads leading across the valleys and over the hills, and those are much more difficult to maintain.”
“How long has the empire been maintaining this road?” I wondered.
He chuckled. “You neglected your reading last night.”
I shrugged. “I got carried away with reading about the recent stuff. Well, mostly about Callidus the Third when he had to kill his cousin to assume the throne forty years ago.”
“That would be more riveting than reading about infrastructure,” Ben admitted as he watched a wagon load of goods roll past us. “But the port was founded by his ancestor, the first emperor, about five years into his reign. It’s been expanded several times by his predecessors until it covers some five miles of coastline.”
My ears perked up at his description. “That sounds huge.”
He smiled down at me. “It is, and the din of the sailors as they load and unload is a sight to behold.”
