Page 92 of Prince of Shadow and Ash

Nolan shrugged. “Have it your way.” He turned and walked away, Regulus’—her—dagger still in his belt. He mounted his horse. “See you soon, love. And if I were you,” he smiled cruelly, “I’d think very carefully about how you will answer next time I ask for your hand.”

After Nolan left, Adelaide healed her wrist. Tears of despair stung her eyes as she sent anguished, rage-filled prayers to Etiros. She waited until she had stopped crying to ride back to camp. She couldn’t tell Minerva. Minerva would tell Gaius; Gaius would challenge Nolan. Adelaide had seen them both fight. Nolan would win.

Minerva would be a widow with a baby due in three months.

No. She wouldn’t put Minerva and Gaius in the middle of this. She wouldn’t risk their safety and their lives. A month didn’t give her much time, but at least Nolan wasn’t trying to force her into marrying him next week. She would tell Regulus after their supper. They would come up with a plan together. She combed her fingers through Zephyr’s mane.

Maybe Regulus would ask her to marry him. She couldn’t marry Nolan if she was betrothed to Regulus.

Right?

Chapter 34

REGULUS DUG THROUGHhis closet, tossing aside shirts and trousers and boots. Where had he put it? He glimpsed a corner of the small wooden box and seized it. The silver inlay of anAon the lid gleamed in the sunlight streaming through his window. The oak box was about the same size as both his hands, and heavy. He undid the latch and opened the box.

Inside, a large silver medallion stamped with a rose over crossed swords rested on red satin. The Arrano crest. The pure silver medallion had been left to Regulus, along with everything else, when his half-brother died and his father’s title transferred to him. Lady Arrano had thrown it at his head after he defeated her champion.

Regulus had tried to give it back to her. She could have sold it. But she resented his kindness. So it sat in its box, buried deep in his closet. Now his blacksmith would fashion it into a circlet for the thrice-accursed sorcerer. He snapped the lid closed.

One ingredient out of five.

He had already instructed his bewildered steward to find and purchase fifteen clams. They didn’t even have to be in good condition, he only needed their shells. But he decided to play it safe and get more than necessary. Just in case. Steward Preston didn’t question the uncharacteristic request.

Regulus had talked to Jerrick and to Perceval’s wife Leonora about flowers. They both did some recreational gardening and knew a good amount about plants. Between the two of them, they assured him they could secure a bushel of assorted white flowers. That left the neumenet root and the blood of an innocent. Regulus dropped off the medallion with his blacksmith before heading out. Holgren Forest was over a day’s ride away. It had already taken a day and a half to get back to his estate. He had spent the prior afternoon and evening making arrangements. Best not to delay.

Sieger had made a full recovery. Even after the long trek back to Arrano, his stallion was eager to leave again. As Regulus had decided he wanted to draw as little attention to himself as possible, he left the Black Knight armor behind. Dresden accompanied him. Regulus had tried to talk him out of coming, but between the risk of getting caught entering a royal forest without a permit, concerns about a chance encounter with Carrick, and anger over hiding how bad things had been with the sorcerer, Dresden would not be dissuaded. Regulus decided to be thankful no one else tried to tag along.

Dresden’s concerns proved unfounded. They arrived at Holgren Forest the following morning without incident but searched all day without finding the neumenet tree. Holgren Forest was large, so they had a discouraging amount of ground to cover. When darkness fell, they were deep in the forest. They had no choice but to make camp and hope no forest rangers, or worse, a royal sheriff, happened upon them.

They spent the next day searching. Every snap of a branch or sudden rustling put Regulus on edge. Several deer startled him, and Dresden teased him relentlessly about being more skittish than a doe. Despair crept in as the shadows deepened in the forest.

“Reg.” Dresden pointed. “Did you see that?”

“What?” He turned Sieger, scanning the branches where Dresden pointed. Then he saw it. A flash of light. Like sunlight on water, but high in the trees.

Like sunlight on glass.

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