Page 99 of A Veil of Gods and Kings

I smirked but turned to Emrin. “Have you heard of this visit?”

“No.”

I sighed. “Sounds like Lady Otonia is busy playing matchmaker and overstepping, hoping her gamble on impropriety pays off.” I clicked my tongue.

“The kingdom of Segion would be an ideal connection for us to have, though,” Emrin said.

“It’s up to Pip.” I pushed my scarcely touched plate back and rose. “I’ll find her and speak with her. Would you want to join me, Apollo?”

Apollo jumped up with me, grabbing a chunk of bread to carry with him, and the two of us ambled out of the palace and into the swelling ebony of evening outside. At the stables we stepped in, and I approached a worker that brushed down the back of a chestnut colored mare whose ear twitched. An oil lamp hung on a nail, glimmering the woods of the structure in a wash of honey-light.

“Your Highness.” The stableman bowed.

“Have you seen Princess Epiphany?”

His eyes darted about the place like he could find her in the rafters. “I have not, Your Highness. She hasn’t been here today.”

I hesitated. She hadn’t been at the stables? At all?

At that moment a bustle of laughter trailed in through the door, and Epiphany, Temi, and Valerian all strode in, cheeks bright, hair tangled, dirt coating their clothing. A basket hung from Pip’s curled arm. She froze as she spotted me and Apollo. “Cyn,” she said.

The stableman cleared his throat and bowed, walking down the straw-lined path and out of the barn. I stepped over towards the group. “Where have you been?”

Epiphany trailed a loose strand of hair behind her ear, smearing a streak of dirt over her cheek, bowing her head. Temi spoke first, however. “We went farther out today.”

Apollo grinned at Temi. “Taking a liking to horses?”

“You know,” she deadpanned, “they remind me of some people. Not so bad once you spend time with them.” She gave him a pointed look.

Apollo scoffed, but I looked back to Epiphany. “That must have been some very rough riding.”

Her eyes brightened, and she shook out her riding skirt like she could get rid of the worst of the evidence. She cleared her throat. “Right. Well”—she lifted the basket—“we’re about to eat dinner. Do you want to join us?”

“No, thank you.” I sighed. “I need to speak with you alone for a moment, please.”

She shrunk back towards her group, but then she handed the basket off. “I’ll see you all in a minute.”

I turned to Apollo. “Would you wait for me?”

“Sure,” he said. “I can join my sister for dinner.”

“Didn’t you just eat dinner?”

He smirked. “Bedtime snack, then.”

I rolled my eyes, and his lips spread into a smile. Those lips that trailed my skin, coarse and hungry. I cleared my throat and nodded towards the exit, and Epiphany followed along. We stepped out into the gardens. Phlox, with its petite, colorful petals, grinned merrily in the moonlight.

Epiphany twisted a strand of hair around her finger. “Listen, Cyn…”

I stopped walking and grabbed one of her hands. She ceased speaking. “You have a visitor.”

Her body grew still. “Who?”

“A Lord Galeson. He’s a suitor who’s arrived early.”

Even in the dim light, her skin paled, her shoulders sinking. “Oh.” She breathed the word, and it trailed out, lost to the evening breeze.

“Tell me to send him away, Pip, and I will. His family overstepped by sending him here in advance. You don’t have to see him.”