Page 42 of A War of Three Kings

Gwyneth turns away, her entire body coiled tight. A shiver runs through me at the forlorn expression on Caitlin’s face as she watches her lover disappear back into the crowd.

I put my hand on Caitlin’s arm and whisper in her ear, “If Father can weather the storm of his fae nature being exposed, then you and your baby will survive this as well.”

“Mother and Brianna are going to have their hands full putting out that fire while we are gone,” she says.

I put my arm around her shoulders, and she leans her head in toward me. The moment lasts a few heartbeats until she spots a young guard sharpening his blade incorrectly and rushes off to scold him.

The chaos of the courtyards becomes ordered as people prepare to ride, many already mounted. My father stands in the stirrups of his huge stallion at the front of our pack, barking out commands. I notice Aldrin and Silvan stand as far as possible from the great warhorses allocated to them. Silvan frowns profusely at the creature, as though his dark looks can persuade it to enact his will. Aldrin rubs his temples, face pale.

I move toward them. “Do you need help mounting?”

“You expect me to trust this thing?” Silvan glowers at me. “How do I know it won’t kick me or buck me off? Does the beast bite?”

Aldrin runs a hand through his hair as his eyes slide to mine. “We can’t even talk to it. How does it know where to go or what to do?”

I can’t help it; a giggle bubbles right out of me. Both men shoot me indignant stares.

“Are you two big fae warriors afraid of horses?” I say.

Aldrin’s lips quirk up, but his expression is abashed.

Silvan folds his arms across his chest, a muscle feathering in his jaw. “At least we could tell the kelpies what to do. We only rode them when we were too injured to run.”

I quirk an eyebrow at him. “How well does Kai listen to you? Especially when ‘the spirits get to him.’ What does that even mean?”

“Adrenaline hit, I think,” Aldrin says, still not getting any closer to the horse. “I think I’ll walk there. Run if I need to. We can leave these creatures behind.”

The sound of clopping hooves alerts me to my father’s approach. “You will do no such thing,” he orders. “You leave here and arrive at any lord’s estate on horseback. Only peasants walk. Unless you want no one to take you seriously.”

“It’s true,” I say gently as my father leaves.

Aldrin moves closer to murmur to me, “Does it have to be this beast? This one looks nasty.” The black stallion in question huffs out a breath as though offended. Aldrin raises his eyebrows and throws a hand out toward it, as if that is proof.

I laugh. “Any horse big enough to carry your bulk is going to be nasty-looking. The groom said these two have gentle temperaments.” Neither man looks convinced. “Look, when we travel out of the keep and into any estate, we’ll be moving at a snail’s pace, so you just need to hold on. You can walk for the rest of the journey. You really need to learn to ride a horse, though.”

Both men nod, gritting their teeth as I summon a groom to discreetly help them onto their horses and position them behind me in the procession.

Our long line of warriors rides out through the guardhouse, across the bridge that connects the fortress to the orchards and down the winding path that leads to the outer wall. Each time I glance over my shoulder, I see both Aldrin and Silvan sitting stiffly in their saddles, their knuckles white on the reins.

Seeing Aldrin vulnerable makes that ice around my heart thaw.

After a few hours, we stop at a creek that runs through a rolling meadow to water our horses. Aldrin finds me soaking myfeet in the shallow, crystal-clear waters to ease some of the heat of the day. He watches me from the shore, and I move carefully over the shifting pebbles of the riverbed toward him.

“You survived a morning on horseback,” I state.

“Yeah, well.” He shakes his head. “I just can’t get used to sitting on that thing. I swear there is murder in its eyes whenever it looks at me.”

A laugh rolls out of me as I glance at the calm stallion chewing grass.

Aldrin searches my face. “I was just—I thought maybe…I don’t know. Forget about it.”

He turns to walk away, but I grab his wrist and pull him back. “Tell me.”

Aldrin glances from where I touch him to my eyes. “I have always had a kelpie’s torso to hold on to. Caitlin said that a good way to get used to being on horseback—that you might not mind if I…”

My eyes dart over his shoulder to where Caitlin straddles her mount. A huge smirk grows on her lips and she raises an eyebrow at me. This morning, she told me to get over my issues with Aldrin. That everyone makes mistakes.

I am trying, but it is hard with the noise coming from my father and grandmother. They know exactly how to tap into my fears.

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