Page 24 of Daughter of the Dark

Dinner at quarter till sundown. Don’t be late!—C

Solana whirled to the window and the last sliver of light that speared through the trees. “Shit,” she cursed, crumbling the note into a fist and taking off toward the kitchens. She didn’t have time to pretend she didn’t know where she was going. A woman in blue dodged out of her way when she turned a corner too fast and a guard watched her with his hand on his sword, ready to cut her down unquestioningly.

But there was no chance, for the only unquestionable thing was her inability to be on time to anything. In this case, it wasn’t her fault. Someone could have woken her. Unless they hadn’t on purpose, in which case they were intentionally sabotaging her first day under the king’s employ and forcing her to break the few rules he had set out for her.

Don’t cause problems. Don’t ask questions. Stay the course. The newest Rule of Three.

Solana cursed again and pushed herself harder, barreling into the kitchens like a rabid animal. The staff jumped in surprise, their eyes narrowing once they saw who it was. For a moment, Solana was afraid that they recognized her curly hair and wide brown eyes. That she had spent too much time stealing picarones and talking the cook’s ear off to be forgotten. But she recognized none of them and once the shock of her appearance wore off, a slight girl with flour on her face pointed at the door and said, “You just missed them.”

“Do you know where they went?” Solana asked.

The girl shrugged and went back to work. Solana swiped an arepa from a pile of still-warm food on the table and tore off a bite as she strode out of the kitchen and back into the hallway.

The Masters had been on foot when they’d collected her and Sami, but they had ultimately mounted those giant black horses and rode through the cities back to the castle, every step of their thundering hooves like a hammer straight into her skull. She had fought so hard to stay awake and alive. Refused to give in to the pain of her wounds or the humiliation of being tossed about like a sack of flour.

This intentional exclusion would not be the thing to best her.

Jaw clenched, Solana made her way to the stables.

CHAPTER TEN

Solana heard them before she saw them. Comfortable conversation, casual laughing, horses huffing and stamping. The castle grounds were calm, the fresh air balmy, the city beyond the gates transitioning from the bustle of day to the anticipation of night. She wondered what it looked like for them, so close to the castle and all its privilege.

In Qhilli, they rushed to bring in their children and make it to their homes before dark fully fell. They shuttered their doors and windows and waited until the sun rose and once again banished the muki, along with the lingering fog, back to the Uku Pacha. They slept fitfully, wondering if that would be the night the muki would learn they could open doors or shatter windows.

Swallowing the last of the arepa, Solana steeled her spine and strode through the wide-open doors of the stable. There were four horses gathered in the large walkway between stalls, and next to them, tightening tethers and adjusting straps, were six people, five of whom she recognized.

Oskar laughing at something Nikolas murmured in his ear. Cora, with her bright smile and chiming laughter, speaking to the woman that had been the one to bind Sami’s hands. A balding man stood off to the side with a leather apron wrapped around his generous waist and a drying cloth tossed over a shoulder.

And standing apart from them, a pillar among his peers, was Reyes. Though his back was to her, she knew it was him by the shine of his hair and the breadth of his shoulders. She had watched as he rolled them out after cutting her open. As if it was hard work, being hunched over a body strapped to a table. The way they moved was a very specific mental image she likely wouldn’t be free of anytime soon, which made her loathe him even more.

Solana cleared her throat to announce herself and held steady as five pairs of eyes swung to meet hers. “You made it!” Cora bounced over and swept up her hands. “I told Reyes you would be here. Come, meet everyone.”

“There’s no need,” Solana told Cora. “That’s Oskar and Nikolas, and I’m not sure what her name is, but I’m finding that I don’t particularly care.”

“The feeling is mutual,” the woman said. She turned her back on Solana and resumed readying her horse.

“That’s Suri, and this is Roiden, the king’s groom.”

The man that Cora pointed to inclined his head to her. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said. Solana paused at his formality and the slight recognition in her chest, but she brushed it off and eyed Reyes.

“You’re late,” he said, arms crossed over his chest as he stepped up to stand shoulder to shoulder with Cora.

Solana shifted back so that she could look him in the eyes without having to crane her neck. “Nobody bothered to wake me.”

“Are you a child? Should we ring a bell to remind you of your responsibilities?”

“Perhaps you can tie a leash around my neck and tug me around,” Solana said. “It seems to work well for you and the king.”

Reyes leaned forward, but before he could say anything, Cora slid between them and placed one hand on each of their arms. “Let’s save the animosity for the true enemy, shall we?” She walked away and left Solana to face Reyes’s carefully blank expression, but she had seen the disgust and displeasure.

He would have to learn how to tolerate her and she was not going to make it any easier for him.

“You’ll ride with me,” Reyes said. He turned away without sparing her a second glance and forced Solana to trail after him like the dog she accused him of being.

“What do you mean I’ll ride with you?”

“Do you know how to ride?” Reyes tugged at the footholds dangling off the saddle of the large black horse. It turned and sniffed Solana’s arm. She stepped away before it could nibble on her cloak. “Can you be trusted to keep your seat if a demon attacks? Can you keep your horse from trampling us if it panics?”