Page 25 of Curse of Thorns
“Shut up, Tyadin!” I grumble, pulling my face out of the parchment. My hair sticks oddly to the side of my face.Great.I’m going to look fabulous today.
“You have five minutes before I knock again. After that, we’re leaving without you.”
I flip the door off and then groan as I roll out of the chair I’d been sitting in and get ready to face a predictably unpleasant day.
Rev
Caelynn’s eyes areas red as I am sure mine are. Tyadin and I stayed up most of the night, reading through several books about the Schorchedlands and the Wicked Gates. We got very little new information.
Our strange party doesn’t speak much at all as we set out, each with a mount this time. I ride my golden stag, and Tyadin provides plain old stocky ponies for himself and Caelynn, thanks to the Crumbling Counsel. He’s a hero in this place ever since the trials. It’s funny—he’s a hero for placing in fifth. Drake, Kari, and Brielle, I know, each had to deal with legitimate backlash for simply not winning. Mostly for allowing a lesser court fae to defeat them.
Once we make it to the flat trail we set out on our trek at an easy gallop. As we grow closer, the sun finally rises enough to wake me fully and Tyadin as well, apparently, because he begins a chatter.
“So, you two traveled from the Luminescent Court together.”
“Yes?” Caelynn says.
“With one mount? What happened to yours, Caelynn?”
“Never had one.”
“You mean to say Prince Reveln of the Luminescent Court,the gentleman, made the lady walk the whole thirty-mile trek on foot while he rode that lovely stag?”
“I am not a lady,” Caelynn spits quickly.
“You’re a countess, are you not?” Ty asks.
“I was disinherited long ago. And we traveled much fartheron footduring the trials. Thirty miles is not that far.”
Even for fae, thirty miles isn’t a particularly pleasant stroll, but I don’t feel the need to add to Tyadin’s tangent. I should just tell him to pipe down and mind his business now, but I’m curious to see Caelynn’s reaction to this conversation.
“But we didn’t have the option of a stag or a horse during the trials. It’s really just about manners.”
“I had plenty of manners. Of course, I offered her my stag.”
“Ahh!” Tyadin says. “So, you walked then?”
