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The male fished in his pockets, then revealed three lumps of sugar. “Twilight will eat all three at once if you let her, greedy mare.” He stretched his hand in my direction and I scooped them from his palm and retreated to the door, hoping Ruslan hadn’t noticed my disappearance.
“Thanks!” I shouted over my shoulder, hurrying back to the horses.
Ruslan still spoke to Drazen, and I heaved a sigh of relief as I approached Twilight again. “Here you go, pretty girl,” I cooed, flattening my palm with a single sugar cube offering, and she snatched it, munching away as I tangled my fingers in her mane.
“You like horses?” Ruslan’s hot breath fanned across my cheek, and I stiffened, a gasp leaving my lips and nearly sending me into a panic attack as he appeared from nowhere behind me.
Sucking in a shuddering breath and pushing away the urge to fight or flee, I nodded. Ruslan’s hand found my back, and I jumped into the mare, still too on edge from my scare.
“What’s wrong?” His deep voice held a hint of concern, and he smoothed circles into my back as I struggled to breathe.
“I… You scared me,” I managed to say.
Strong arms circled me, squeezing me tight and burying me in his body, which radiated heat. “Take all the time you need to calm down. I’m here.”
His tenderness melted me, and I collapsed against him, riding the wave of panic until it subsided and my breath flowed without force from my lungs. His arms did not slacken the entire time, and only when I pushed against them did he allow them to loosen enough to spin me to face him.
Kneeling down so his eyes were level with mine, he said, “I promise not to sneak up on you again. I didn’t realize it would cause you to panic, and the last thing I want is to make you feelunsafe, because it is my fault for not protecting you in the first place.”
Ruslan had unquestioningly accepted the burden of my abuse, and that alone caused more pin-pricks in my eyes.
“Are you ready to go?” he asked, wiping at an errant teardrop on my face.
“Yes,” I breathed, as the male I’d feared from the moment he arrived in my life won another part of my heart.
Backing away, he gave me space to mount Twilight, and I did so with ease. I adjusted my stirrups just a hair shorter, then picked up the reins, waiting for Ruslan. He swung his leg across the stallion’s broad back, then clicked his tongue, starting him in a walk, and my mare followed without hesitation. I spurred her forward to ride side by side. “I do like horses, very much, in fact. Learning to ride was one of the best things that’s happened to me since I left my cave.”
Ruslan’s smoky eyes caught the light of the morning sun, the gold highlighting little flecks of blue in them. He slicked his hair back with a free hand, grinning mischievously. “If you like Twilight, she is yours. If you don’t – or even if you want – I will buy you another horse. Whatever you want, you will receive.”
I couldn’t help the grin that stretched across my lips. “I’ll hold you to that.”
In the distance, small stone houses scattered across fields filled with trees, vines, and stalks. Many Fae bent among them, pruning, collecting, and chopping the last of the harvest. Sheep, goats, and dogs ran among them, chastised when they trailed too close to the overflowing baskets. None paid us any attention as we rode toward the citadel that watched over the fields and city like a sentinel.
“The first snows should arrive any day now,” Ruslan mentioned.
I had briefly glimpsed snow on my trips through theAgrenak Mountains, but I remembered my guards complaining about it interfering with their families’ farms.
“I can’t wait,” I smiled, imagining the land dusted with the white powder. I loved the autumn leaves that had surrounded me on the road to Vaenor, and I was excited to experience a different season. Despite my unwilling departure from the Night Realm, I still held a ferocious curiosity about the world that was hidden from me for so long.
After some time, Ruslan spoke again. “I wish I could have saved you from all of that. I will never forgive myself for allowing King Zalan and King Azim to have total control of your care. If only I had pressed harder for information… I would have protected you.”
His confession was merely a whisper and yet it struck me as hard as if he had shouted it in my face. He’d said as much several times now, and I was beginning to think that the male had some semblance of guilt beneath his arrogant exterior.
His pain must run as deep as mine if he had that many layers protecting the most vulnerable parts of himself.
When we reached the outskirts of Radence, the dull thump of hooves on packed earth was replaced by a steady clop against large, square stones dug into the ground, worn smooth by countless feet. As we rode through the streets leading to the citadel, the bright faces of Iron Fae glanced our way, some staring a little longer than appropriate, others sending a friendly wave, while only a few averted their gazes as they hurried on to their destination.
Did the common Fae know of King Azim’s experiments?
The longer I studied the Fae, the more I realized that these people did not look at all like what Viktor had described to me when I asked. Skin in every shade, eyes and ears in every shape, and hair in every color dotted the streets of Radence, males,females, and children in all shapes and sizes bustling about the capital city.
We rounded a bend, cutting us off from the colorful residents and beginning a trek uphill to the citadel. Soldiers lined either side of the cobbled road, some headed to and some away from the massive structure that missed nothing with its eagle eyes. Its spires were sharper than an eagle’s eyes, too. Black stone formed an impenetrable ring around the edge of the cliff upon which it rested, the stones smooth and without handholds. A surprise attack on Ryza Citadel was impossible, and my stomach dropped at the realization.
Before despair had time to sink her claws in, we trotted through an archway wide enough to ride five abreast, Ruslan angling his horse to the left where young males wrangled other horses deposited by their riders. With the grace of a panther, he slid off his steed, handing the reins to an attendant without a word. It irked me that he didn’t even thank the young stablehand, so when I handed my reins over, I offered a polite thanks. He balked at my acknowledgement, his face flushing as he ducked his head and hurried away.
Ruslan watched me with curiosity, a half smile pulling at the corners of his lips. He held a hand out to me, and self-preservation had me accept it. Ruslan might have been an unwanted ally, but he was all I had as we strode toward the citadel where the male who was truly responsible for my abuse awaited. Heavy iron doors marked the entrance, held open by even heavier iron chains to allow the flow of people in and out. A large hall stretched in either direction, and from the shape of the exterior, I assumed it ringed the whole structure. Halfway around the ring, Ruslan stopped at a nondescript wooden door, so unlike many I had seen on the way here. He pressed his hand to the flat surface, and it swung inward to reveal a spiraling staircase leading into the earth.
Sweeping a hand in front of him, he indicated that I should walk ahead. Sucking in a breath, I imagined myself staring out at the vast expanse of land from the roof of Roc as I exhaled, trying to calm my racing heart. He could be leading me into a dungeon for all I knew, and at the bottom of the endless-looking spiral there could be a dozen guards ready to overpower me and lock me in iron. Not that it would do them any good – I could still access my power around it. But they did not need to know that until it was time to reveal my thorns.
