Page 63 of A Veil of Gods and Kings

I picked at a fingernail and shrugged. “Mostly it’s my presentation. I… I wish I didn’t have to go through with it. I don’t want to marry a stranger.”

He didn’t speak for several moments, and I raised my face and met the intensity of his gaze. He pulled back and pressed a smile on. “That’s understandable.”

“Valerian, I—” The words stuck in my throat.

Our gazes locked. The dark texture of the stubble along his jaw gleamed. His voice dropped to a whisper. “Yes?”

I stepped in closer to him, our heartbeats tangling up together like vines scrambling for sunlight. He released a heavy breath that seemed to lace through the air. I swallowed. “It’s—” Two stablemen walked in, their voices echoing along the rafters. Birds fluttered at the noise, flying higher and stirring up dust that sparkled as it drifted towards the ground. I swept my hand over my ponytail. “Have you seen Temi?”

Valerian cleared his throat, his entire body dropping like the muscles loosened, a sparkle returning to his eyes as he gestured to the doors that lead to the pasture. “She’s already riding, actually.”

“She is?”

He nodded. “She’s the most adept beginner I’ve ever worked with.”

I stepped over to Meadow’s stall and unhinged it as Valerian lifted her saddle. “Did you leave her out there alone?”

“No.” He balanced the saddle on a board and lifted a handful of fresh straw, balling it up and running it down Meadows' back. She flicked her chestnut tail and stomped her hooves. “Someone else is out there. She may be excellent, but she’s still a beginner.” He raised a blanket up and smoothed it out.

“Oh, look at you taking your work so seriously,” I said.

He dipped around Meadow and grinned up at me. “Come now, Pip, I’m always serious.”

“Right.” I matched his smirk as we walked Meadow out, and I swung up on her.

A few minutes later, I trotted up alongside Temi. “Out early horseback riding?”

She smiled. “It turns out I find it more enjoyable than I expected.”

I nodded, and we pushed into a canter. Meadow’s mane jumped across her neck, and the wind skimmed my face, cooling the sweat along my brow. The horse’s hooves clipped against the ground, and I leaned into the bouncing motion, the way it silenced my thoughts.

When we finished and handed the horses back to Valerian, Temi walked over to a fence and rested her arms on it. Her eyes seemed to stare out beyond the palace grounds, her lips pinched.

I strolled over beside her and leaned down, grazing my fingers over the grainy surface. Heather grasses swirled around fence posts, their downy shapes like plumes of fairy dresses. “You’re quiet today,” I said, breaking the silence between us.

Temi sighed. “I have a lot on my mind.”

The wind swept the panels of my riding tunic about. “Yeah, me too,” I whispered.

Temi turned towards me, and some expression sharpened over her features. “I’ve had an idea.” She hesitated, an unusual trepidation in her voice. “There’s something I want to do. And I want to invite you as well.”

“Okay?”

She rubbed her hands together. “Not every aspect of the idea is necessarily legal.”

Ice ran down my arms. “You want to do something that will break the law?”

“I’m not explaining this well.” She frowned and pushed up off the fence. “There are women in the city, and children, who suffer because they cannot make their own way in the world. It’s like that where we lived, too. And I’ve tried to figure out some way to help for a long time.”

I crossed my arms. Storm clouds drifted in the distance, curling over the mountains. “And you landed on criminality as your only option?”

She smirked, brushing her braids behind her shoulder. “What do you think? If a law is wrong, should you follow the law or do what is right?”

“I’m not willing to answer that so broadly. Give me details.”

“What if…” She trailed off, but her posture rolled back, her chin jutting up. “I thought we could teach some women our age in the city how to hunt.”

I startled at her words. That was illegal. Women couldn’t hold hunting licenses and therefore couldn’t pay the tax on their catch. And every hunt required some of it to be dedicated to the gods. You couldn’t do that if you didn’t claim it. “To start with,” I said, “you’re assuming I know how.”