Page 25 of Prize for the King
Magnar’s laughter is loud and startling, and a moment later, the hardness at my bum grows less poking, though it doesn’t disappearcompletely.
“I’m trying to imagine a religious ceremony that might require that,” he says with a huff of amusement. “Thank you, little prize. That was helpful.”
We ride in silence for the next few hours. It’s peaceful, though we pass few people on the main road, and while I don’t notice visible marks of the war, the lack of tradesmen is telling. In the few villages we ride past, I see the silhouettes of Agnidari towering above the humans. It looks like Magnar didn’t waste any time making the country his even before the castle was taken.
We change horses in a small village completely overridden by Agnidari soldiers sometime around noon. Magnar takes me off the horse, and my cheeks burn from shame when I say I need to relieve myself. He leads me to the nearest privy standing by a cottage that seems deserted.
“I’ll be just outside,” he says with a neutral expression, though I know it’s a warning.
Don’t try to run.
“Just… don’t eavesdrop,” I mutter, gathering my torn skirts around me to fit in the tiny space.
I have used a privy a few times in the past, mostly during country picnics and longer rides, but this is the first time with a man standing watch just outside the door. I have trouble relaxing, and when I finally do, my face heats with shame when I hear the long, steady splash a few feet below me.
When I come out, Magnar whistles a cheerful melody, doing up his belt. He gestures at a patch of wet nettles by the privy.
“Whatever sounds you made, I bet mine were louder. Come. We’ll have some cold tea and be off again.”
I stare at him a moment, nonplussed. Did he… try to make me at ease? If so, he went about it quite inappropriately, but at least, I no longer feel ashamed. Magnar sighs at my hesitation, grabs my hand, and pulls me after him.
“How are your thighs?”
Achy and strained. “Fine,” I mutter darkly.
“I could massage them for you,” he says, shooting me a challenging look. “It wouldn’t take but a minute.”
“No, thank you.”
We reach a water pump, where the Agnidari stand in a line, filling water bags and dishes they seem to have taken out of the cottage. Magnar grabs a basin filled with water and takes it to an old wooden bench.
“Here. Wash your face and hands, and I’ll get you tea.”
I take off my hat and plunge my sweaty hands into the cold water, shivering from pleasure. I am about to splash some onto my face and nape, when I realize it’s gotten quiet. I straighten slowly and look around. The Agnidari are all by the pump, a few minding the horses. Magnar is gone, and if I am to run, this is my cha…
“Hiya,” Khay says, coming out from behind the cottage. He bites off a large piece of a green apple and offers it to me. “Want some?”
I sigh and try to shake off the surge of tension that climbed up my limbs when I considered running. I wouldn’t have gotten far, anyway. I ignore Khay, pursing my lips, and continue washing. It’s very refreshing, and I am grudgingly grateful to Magnar for arranging this. When he comes back, I drink the cold, sweetened tea he brings me in a few gulps.
“We’re making good time,” Khay says, looking at the sun that’s just past its zenith. “We’ll reach Dagnar’s castle by sundown at this rate. How’s riding with the little diamond?”
“Stimulating,” Magnar says drily.
Khay laughs and tousles my hair with a smile. I flinch back, sudden fear clawing at my spine.
“There you are, my prize. Have you been hiding from Daddy?”
“What are you doing?”
My voice is shrill, but that touch, seemingly innocent, makes a cold, slithering sensation settle in my stomach on top of all my troubles already brewing there. Khay frowns, searching my face, and Magnar claps his shoulder.
“Probably shouldn’t touch a royal princess like this,” he says with a sigh. “All right. Ready to go?”
We stop once more for a meal of bread and cheese, no human meat to be seen, then set off again. When the setting sun goldens the sky, and my legs scream from pain and tension, a small castle looms on the horizon.
“Finally,” Magnar groans, shifting uneasily. He’s poked me since the last stop, and I don’t know what to make of it. “Try to rest as well as you can. We’ll ride at dawn tomorrow.”
The castle turns out to belong to an Agnidari general who received it as a reward for his contributions to Magnar’s victories. It’s smaller than the royal castle, with only one set of walls and one gate. Three towers jut high into the twilit sky, swallows circling them with longing cries.
