Page 75 of Falling Princess

“I remembered you giving away your pets before school last year. These you can take with you.”

“When is your birthday? I shall have to remember to reciprocate. Not that I can draw. Or do anything useful, really.”

He leaned against my rock, face upturned to the sunlight. I resisted the urge to brush his hair back.

“It was at the end of July.”

“I missed it, then. I’ll have to make it up to you.”

Lorcan fiddled with the lacings on his boot. “My mother and my sister are the only ones who insist on reminding me of it. I wouldn’t mark the occasion otherwise.”

“For some reason, it never occurred to me that you had a family.” A living one, anyway; I knew about his father.

He laughed. “I don’t know how else people would come into the world.”

That comment did nothing to help me keep the direction of my thoughts moving away from sex and toward companionable friendship. Pity about the professional relationship thing. And Raina. This would be a good time to ask whether he’d seen her over the summer, if I were going to.

I didn’t.

We moved on.

CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR

By evening, my thighs were sore and my back hurt. It’s been a long time since I’ve spent so much time on horseback. My body creaked like an old woman’s when I dismounted, landing with a grunt. We made it to Covari Village within the day, although that isn’t exactly a feat of speed. It’s a treacherous path through the foothills of the mountains to its hidden location, but a good rider with a fast horse can make it in four or five hours.

Saskaya greeted us. Cata remained back at the castle, where she’s been more of a fixture than usual. Lorcan was staying in her empty house.

“We’re up to twenty-seven fully assembled Sentinels,” she told me proudly, over supper.

“No thanks to me,” I grumbled. Sas laughed.

“Was this when you destroyed your room?” Lorcan asked, teasing. I gaped at him.

“How do you know about that?”

He gave me a tiny smirk and lifted one shoulder. I tossed a crust of bread at him. Saskaya looked from me, to him, then back at me, her silvery eyebrows rising.

“Nice to see you two getting along better.”

I inhaled and resumed Princess Mode. Lorcan’s spine straightened, and Saskaya’s eyebrows returned to their normal, skeptical position.

“I may have shown him the video,” she said, and winked.

Abandoning Princess Mode, I rolled my eyes. “Thanks for that. I deleted it, even before my phone was confiscated. Reassuring to know you did the same.”

“I always have your back, Zosh,” Saskaya teased. “If you hadn’t tried to make a mechanical version of yourself, we might have been further along in assembling the blasted things.” She got up and collected our dishes. “I’ll show you where I’m keeping them hidden.”

Walking out into the center of the village, we passed the small shrine and made our way past a waterfall, then turned sharply into a brush-concealed cavern. This country is riddled with them, volcanic rock whittled away by weather and time. Inside were the dull frames of 500-year-old robot soldiers.

We stood there, looking at them in awe. It’s inspiring to think that our people invented these automatons so long ago. They were used, briefly, in the war between Raina’s people and mine. One of several historical battles, usually over access to the Moon Temple. That’s why I’m not obligated to worship at Reila’s temple—it’s Raina’s task.

Sun. Moon. Sky. Three main temples. Thousands of shrines, in homes and in villages, throughout the kingdom—stars. The celestia. Part of me loves the way its symbolism is woven into every aspect of Auralian culture and life.

I just don’t want to be the goddess’ living avatar. I want to be myself. Ordinary.

“Do you have any idea why the Sentinel targeted the princess?” Lorcan asked quietly. He seemed wary about the machines. I probably should be after what happened, but having spent so many years working with Saskaya on schematics and translations of old texts to figure out how they work, I can’t summon any fear.

“My best guess is that the machine had been programmed to target a foe with the color of Zosia’s dress.” Saskaya patted a hull. They blend in with the rocky cavern. Difficult to detect in this terrain. “Clearly, we need to do more testing before we take them out again.”

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