Page 24 of Ties of Dust

And for very good reason, not that she intended to tell the prince what she knew of that.

“Aha!” The prince was grinning now. “That’s what youdid. You stole chameleon steel. Or perhaps you stole the secret of its refinement.”

Again, Flora couldn’t help laughing. “I certainly didn’t. I’ve already told you I’m no criminal. My bad experience in Dernan is of no import, and I wouldn’t wish it to affect your plans. With any luck they’ve forgotten all about me—it would be poor chance if the random border guards recognized me. But I truly meant what I said about the other reasons not to go through Dernan.”

He nodded. “And I maintain that it was unnecessary. But that doesn’t stop me from being curious about your background. I realize I know very little about you. You must have an unusual tale to have gone from a prestigious school for titled girls to a role with the royal guard.”

Flora pulled out her arm hoop again, stalling for time as she slipped it over her wrist. The movement of spinning it was second nature, and she grabbed hold of the ensuing magic without thinking about it.

“If you mean to imply that my parents are titled, the school wasn’t just for titled girls. Some were daughters of wealthy merchants and the like.”

She sent out a scouting enchantment as she spoke.

“Are you the daughter of a wealthy merchant?” the prince pressed.

She shook her head, her focus split between the enchantment and the conversation. “No, my situation was unusual. I had no funds to cover my education. But I was determined—I was convinced I had significant magical potential, although I’d never had opportunity to explore it. I persuaded the mistress to give me a domestic role at the school, and then took every opportunity to show my magical aptitude. Fortunately for me, she was impressed enough to offer me a place alongside the paying students.”

“I’m impressed as well,” Prince Cassius commented. “You were obviously resourceful and persistent from a young age.”

Flora shrugged. “It did take persistence. It took two years of menial work to get there. That’s why I graduated with Princess Miriam but am older than her.”

“And what was your situation before you approached the school?” Prince Cassius asked.

Flora didn’t answer. Her scouting enchantment was communicating back to her, and it now had her full attention.

“There’s someone hidden in the trees ahead,” she said sharply, raising an arm to point. “More than one someone—maybe three?”

“How do you know?” Prince Cassius asked.

“I sent out a scouting enchantment,” she told him. “They might be there for an innocuous reason, but I’m suspicious. They seem high up, as if they’re in a tree.”

She was gratified when the prince asked no more questions, instead barking an order to the closest guard. In moments, half a dozen guards had peeled off to check the indicated area, while the rest of them increased their pace.

“I’ll go into the trees with—” Flora cut herself off with a noise of irritation. “No, I can’t, can I? That would drag you into the potential danger as well.”

“Stay with the group.” The prince sounded stern, and she couldn’t blame him. He was definitely safest to stay with the other guards.

Flora moved to put herself between the prince and the trees, her eyes fixed on the point her magic had identified. A moment later, a shout went up, and the guards who remained with the prince instantly moved to tighten the protective formation around him.

Flora, riding by his side, felt a sickening sensation as movement from the trees stirred a particular type of magic—a type too soiled to be used. She caught a flash of tan leather as a body fell to the ground. Two guards leaped toward it as if to incapacitate the man. Could they not tell that he was dead? She’d sensed it at once, from the nature of the magic generated by his body’s movement.

A sick feeling rose up in her as the image of the plummeting man from the day before filled her mind. She forced her mind back to the present, feeling cowardly for being glad that this time, some other guard had felled the attacker.

Because attackers they were. If there’d been any doubt, it was dispelled a moment later. It had all happened so rapidly, the group was still thundering past the spot where the guards were focused on something else in the trees. They’d almost cleared the area when Flora heard a whizzing sound followed by a grunt from Prince Cassius.

Her mind struggled to comprehend what was happening as she simultaneously saw an arrow graze Prince Cassius’s shoulder and felt red-hot pain blaze into existence on her own shoulder. She clamped her lips shut, the pain intense but the shock helping her to keep it in.

“The prince has been hit!” A guard riding on Prince Cassius’s other side shouted the words, and the group sped even faster as he leaned forward to try to take the reins of the prince’s horse.

“I’m all right,” Cassius said curtly. “I don’t need assistance.” He pulled the horse away, resisting the guard’s efforts to take over its guidance.

Flora bit back the cry of pain threatening to erupt as the galloping pace jarred her shoulder over and over again. She gripped the reins tightly, determined not to pass out. Shesensed the movement of magic from within the group and realized with relief that Lord Armand was doing what she should have thought of, and using magic to provide protection for the party. Nothing was required of her but to hold on until they were clear of the area, then they would surely stop to regroup.

They did so within a couple of minutes, the head guard approaching the prince as soon as they came clear of the copse, Lord Armand hot on his heels.

“Your Highness! Your shoulder!” The nobleman gaped at the prince’s tattered tunic and the blood seeping from his wound.

“I’m fine,” the prince said, with an irritable tone that hinted at the pain he was trying to deny. “The arrow grazed me, nothing more. Is the danger past?”

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