Page 25 of Daughter of the Dark

Solana heard someone snort and pressed her lips together. Once upon a time, she could ride. She had memories of her father leading her pony around the stables, of learning to clean stalls and dress the horse and approach slowly and never from behind. But it had been twenty years ago, a different life.

“I’ll ride with Cora, then.” But Cora was mounting Suri’s horse with an apologetic smile. Solana gestured at Oskar. “I’m sure Oskar won’t mind sharing.”

Oskar started to sign, but Nikolas pushed his hands away. “She can ride with me,” he offered. His teeth glittered in a bright smile.

“No,” Reyes said, the finality in his tone heavy enough to bruise. “It’s with me, or you walk.”

The five of them were watching her, waiting to see if she would be as difficult as she was sure Reyes had convinced them she was. It might have been worth it to prove them all right, if only out of spite. But three hundred ilyas and safe passage out of Supay were guiding her decisions now. Her spite would have to be swallowed and saved for another time.

“Fine,” she finally agreed. “Let’s get this over with.”

To her surprise, Reyes gestured for her to mount first, which meant he would be at her back, his body wrapped around hers with no way out. The thought made her stomach churn. She would rather die than show Reyes any hint of fear or hesitation, but the way he watched her made her think that he saw through the mask she donned.

“We’ll meet you at the gates,” Reyes said to the others. Their horses shuffled out of the stables, rocks and dirt crunching under their hooves, and disappeared around the side. Solana could feel Reyes at her back and stepped closer to the horse. It was large, and the leather straps for her foot were higher than she could likely reach, but she had spent all her nights climbing and jumping and solving problems that arose.

Those problems didn’t typically huff and shift.

Something hit the floor at her feet. Solana glanced down to find a small wooden step stool and looked up to see Roiden going back to cleaning saddles. Beside her, Reyes seemed to be paying more attention to rearranging his weapons than strictly necessary. They were giving Solana a slice of dignity, of pity.

Without using the stool, she slotted her foot into the leather strap and swung her body up and over the horse. It shifted forward with a snort and Solana gripped its hair with both hands, ready to hang on for dear life if needed.

But Reyes was there, his long fingers stroking the horse’s neck. “Thank you, Roiden. We’ll board them on our own when we return. Go enjoy dinner with your family.”

Roiden grunted a thanks and strode out of the stables. When he was out of sight, Reyes ducked under the horse’s head and stepped up to Solana’s left.

Though she had been watching and waiting, the warmth of him surprised her. She leaned forward with a sharp inhale and clutched the horse’s hair tighter. The smell of him—smoky and clean—brought back flashes of him towering over her, his hands on her body, his gift flooding her until she could taste him.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Reyes murmured. The words, gentle and deep, made her want to stab her dagger into his thigh just to hear him scream like she had. “I won’t ever hurt you again like that unless absolutely necessary.”

“That’s not as comforting as you think it is,” Solana said. “Your necessary is sure to be worlds different than my necessary.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you talk too much?”

Before Solana could respond, Reyes’s leg kicked the horse’s side and it took off, forcing Solana back in the seat and flush against Reyes. She swallowed her surprise, leaned into the wind, and pretended like she was the one in control. It was easy to do with the reins in her hands, but only if she ignored the heat of Reyes’s arms around her, the strength of his thighs pressed against hers, the glances from the others as she and Reyes thundered past and they filed in behind.

The gates opened wide enough to let them slip through, and then they were on Sonqo’s main road, storefronts closed for the night flying by on either side. She knew that farther out toward the coast was where the wealthiest lived, with their luxurious homes that rose above the city, kept away from the main road and the working class that served them.

The road they were on would meander through Sonqo, then Iques, and straight into Qhilli, but it would narrow and thin until it was packed dirt and wet with runoff, indistinguishable from one alley to another in the callejon, where everyone served their city to survive.

Solana wondered where they were going and hated that she hadn’t thought to ask before. As if hearing her thoughts, Reyes leaned forward and spoke directly into her ear, his hot breath sending a chill down Solana’s spine. “There were two deaths at the Academy last week. We’ve been looking for their demon forms for a few nights now. That’s where we’re headed.”

The Academy was on the eastern coast of Supay, in the northern quadrant of Iques. She had never been, but she’d seen it on a map in her father’s rooms. The whole layout of it had been as big as her thumb—almost as big as the castle. When she was a child, she imagined it was filled with opulence, a verifiable well of knowledge and opportunity that would shape her and her future to a point of perfection. As an adult, the place never crossed her mind.

She turned her head into Reyes. “Are these the same demons you said were apprehended?” she asked.

“A necessary lie, and a common risk of the Academy.”

Risk wasn’t the right word. It was a risk to leave your house after dark or go swimming too far out in the ocean or wander the woods. Attending the Academy wasn’t a risk. It was a privilege taken for granted. A rite of passage for some who intended to do nothing with their education but wear it as a badge for bragging. She found it difficult to have any sympathy for those who learned hard lessons.

What would they do if they knew the truth of what Solana had been through and who she was? It was possible betrayal ran through the blood, and there was a darkness inside of her that clawed and agonized until it was fed. It only made sense that it came from her father.

Lucia had been the light of everyone’s life. A beacon of safety and comfort to all she met. The world without her was a bleaker place. If Solana died, there wouldn’t be many who missed her, and she had kept it that way on purpose.

Nobody to hold her back. Nobody to answer to. Nobody else to lose.

They finally reached their destination several hours later, just when Solana was sure she would have to throw herself off the horse if she intended to ever walk again. The quaintness of Iques distracted her somewhat. The buildings were wide and squat with decorative features like wrought iron balconies painted green and scalloped trim that hung from the roofs. There were flower beds under windows and cobblestone streets that made Solana think about twisted ankles and tripping hazards. And then there was the Academy in the near distance, a mountain of a building that jutted above the rest of the city, with imposing stone walls and spires that pierced the sky.

“We’ll start hunting here,” Reyes said. Solana’s back went cold with his absence and then he steadied the horse while Solana gathered the courage to dismount. Her muscles were screaming from the unnatural position. It felt as though her butt was going to be permanently bruised. She cringed when she hit the ground and didn’t even have the energy to bite Reyes’s hand when he wrapped it around her upper arm in support.