Page 7 of Feathered Thief

Kazik launched to his feet, pacing the floor and grasping his wild hair with both fists. “I had no idea! My father only ever talks with me about military training. . . except when he sings the praises of my dozens of girl cousins.”

Euzebia had to smile. “Not quite dozens, but plenty and to spare.”

“He wants me to marry one of them.” The very idea curdled his blood.

“Yes, but I shall never allow any marriage against your will.”

Her tone was so adamant that Kazik stopped pacing to stare at her. “Mama, were you forced to marry my father?”

“No, my dear. I married him by my own free will. I was young and romantic and believed I could change him—without using magic, I mean. He is very handsome, like you, and he was charming and kind to me. Kazik, people can change—sometimes for the better, and sometimes for the worse. The battle between good and evil still exists.”

But then her sober demeanor melted into a smile. “Today is quickly passing. If you wish to visit Helena, who is a true young lady, you had better get started.”

Kazik kissed his mother’s cheek, stepped into the hall, then took the shortest route along the gallery, down the spiral staircase, into the back hall, and out a back door into the formal gardens.

As soon as he entered Geoffroi’s pocket world, the horse bugled, “Finally!”

With a musical flutter of feathers, Solara landed on Kazik’s shoulder. “Madame Euzebia says we’re taking you out for a jaunt.” How a bird of solid gold could feel as light as a dove, Kazik couldn’t begin to guess. “Ugh! You must preen before you meet the princess,” Solara declared before shoving his hat aside to begin on his hair.

“Enough of that now!” Geoffroi pawed the ground with one enormous hoof. “He has no time for you to waste!”

“Oh, very well. I’ll arrange his head feathers after we arrive.” With an annoyed flutter, Solara took off again and seemed to vanish into the blue sky.

“Mount up, human colt.”

Kazik still had to scramble a bit, but he mounted the stallion with no help. This time, instead of galloping over the endless hills of his pocket world, Geoffroi escaped through its invisible doorway, then circumvented the castle and trotted down its curving drive. “No one will see us,” he assured Kazik, flicking his ears back and forth.

Only now, after years of riding the golden horse bareback, did Kazik understand why he felt almost one with the creature when they went adventuring: fay magic. In Geoffroi’s company, he was never too cold or too hot or too tired.

“How long before we get there?” Kazik asked.

“Soon.”

Faster than any ordinary horse could possibly run, so fast that the scenery blurred, they sped over hill and dale and even leaped a small river. Soon afterward, Kazik glimpsed a gray stone castle ahead, perched on a forested mountainside and picturesque with turrets and towers and parapets. “Is that Castle Valga?”

With a ringing whinny, Geoffroi slowed to a trot, then a walk. Instead of approaching the gatehouse, the horse followed the curtain wall to an outer gate, which he nudged open with his nose. They entered a lovely flower garden to find the golden bird perched on a rose trellis. “Solara, will you find Helena for us?” Kazik asked.

“I already did,” she responded, her eyes instantly focusing on his wild hair. In a matter of moments, she was perched on Kazik’s shoulder, her sharp beak tugging and smoothing his red curls into order. He didn’t really mind; the effect was soothing. “There now, you’re handsome again. The princess is preening too,” the bird informed him. “She will arrive shortly.”

When Solara fluttered down to perch on Geoffroi’s rump and shook her elegant golden tail, sweet music chimed.

Despite his friends’ encouragement, a sudden wave of doubt struck Kazik. What if this no-notice visit offended Helena?

But before he could invent even one more what-if, the princess burst through an archway and stopped short, staring directly at him. Her sudden smile was nearly blinding, and when she breathed his name, “Kazik!” his heart went wild.

She wassopretty.

And even taller than he remembered.

And she looked more like a woman and less like a child, which was scary.

As if in a perfect daydream, Kazik swung one leg over the golden horse’s neck and dropped lightly to the ground. “Helena! Sorry to suddenly drop in like this, but . . .” His voice trailed off. He couldn’t look away. And he wasn’t at all sorry for staring, because she stared right back.

Then she ran up to Kazik, who thought—hoped—she might hug him, but she stopped short and looked him up and down, her face quite pink. “I’ve missed you,” she said, turning even pinker.

“I’ve missed you terribly,” he confessed, though the words sounded like a growl.

Geoffroi snorted. “Stop talking, boy, and embrace the girl.” He nodded for emphasis, his elegant forelock flopping over his eyes.

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