Page 45 of House of the Raven
“No,” I say. “He’s coming with me and so is Furia.”
Amira bristles. “That is not what we discussed.”
“It’s also notnotwhat we discussed. I just made a few additions.”
“I give the orders here,” she says. “Get in the carriage.”
I ignore her and keep walking.
“You will not ruin this. You have to be on your best behavior.”
“Exactly.Mybest behavior. Not yours.”
Amira follows me into the stables. Furia is eating hay in her stall, looking placid. I point to an attendant. “Saddle my mare as well as your best gelding.”
The attendant, a young boy of no more than fifteen, takes a step to follow my orders, then freezes when my sister says, “Stop, boy. We don’t need those horses.”
As calmly as possible, I turn to face my sister. “I’m not asking for much, Amira. Only the company of my best friend and my mare. You’re sending me away from home to do something against my wishes. Allowing me this small favor is the least you can do. You cannot expect me to ride with Emerito all the way to Aldalous. I will kill him. ”
Amira seems to weigh my request. I try to imagine what she’s thinking. Is she worried that having Jago as my ally will cause trouble?
She turns her back on me and walks outside. Jago is reclining against the threshold, examining his nails. Amira glances to the left, pondering, and after a moment, she faces me again.
“All right,” she says, “I’ll allow it.”
I do my best to hide my relief. My mare is fast, and Jago’s gelding better be too.
An hour later, I’m seething. Guardia Bastien is holding my mare’s reins, and Jago is riding behind the carriage, per the corpse’s instructions. Arms crossed over my chest, I stare straight ahead at the road.
We have left Castellina proper and are on the Alcorcón trail, headed west. The trip will take five days and a hells of a lot of patience.
“This is ridiculous,” I complain for the second time. I get no response from Guardia Bastien. He’s looking straight ahead, his nose pointedslightly up as if he’s scenting the road, but most likely he just has a sharp dagger stuck up his ass.
“Can’t you at least let Jago ride by my side?” I ask. “Your horse is great to look at and offers far better conversation than you, but we have little in common.”
Still no reaction.
“Gods! You’re insufferable.” Even as my mare marches forward, I sling my left leg over her and jump off, landing in a half crouch.
Guardia Bastien pulls on his reins, comes to a halt, and, in no time, is standing in front of me. How can he move so fast?
“What do you think you’re doing?” he demands.
I flip my hair behind my shoulder and skirt around him without answering. If he doesn’t deem talking to me necessary, I don’t see why I shouldn’t return the favor.
As the carriage crawls to a stop, I fling its door open and call Jago. “Come in here with me, cousin. Maybe you can help make this trip bearable.”
He jumps off his gelding, ties it to the back of the carriage, and follows me in. Emerito looks annoyed, more so when Jago collapses next to him and thumps his shoulder.
“Hey, Emer,” Jago greets him. “Got anything to eat? I’m starving.”
“Don’t touch me.” Emerito dusts his shoulder with a sneer.
“Be civil, Emerito,” I say. “You’ll be stuck with us for the next five days. You wouldn’t want us to… oh, I don’t know… start singing bar ditties, would you?”
I’m not proud to admit that I’ve learned a couple of very lewd songs from Jago. He winks at me in approval.
“That one about the one-eyed barmaid is particularly good, don’t you think?” my cousin asks.
