He gave a half-bow. “Of course, Your Highness. We have all heard the stories.”
He glanced sideways at Sierra before hurrying back to the front of the group, directing the second group of guards to form up behind us. I bit my lip. I hadn’t meant to reference the famous trek up the mountains by Oliver, Celine, and me to defeat the Snow Queen four years ago. But apparently my attempt at being approachable had failed dismally.
I groaned silently. This trip was supposed to be my chance to move past that history. Everyone acted as if I had been some sort of heroic savior—and Celine and Oliver were always generous enough to share the credit. But it had been Celine who saved us. She had saved me from freezing twice—first from a frozen heart and then from the actual snow—and then she had saved the entire kingdom. I might not admit it to anyone, but I desperately wanted an opportunity to prove myself without Celine and her powers looking over my shoulder.
One of Daisy’s guards glanced at Arvin, a crease between his eyebrows. My horse—although Arvin could be considered mine in only the loosest sense of the word—was bare of so much as a lead rope. I patted his neck and smiled at the guard.
“Don’t be concerned, he won’t have any trouble keeping up. And he’s not prone to wandering away.”
The guard gave a quick head bob and turned his attention back to the front.
“Don’t make me into a liar,” I muttered to Arvin.
I never get lost, he said, and I couldn’t help but note it wasn’t much of a reassurance.
We began to move, Daisy chattering about something to Cassandra in a voice too low for me to comprehend. The warm sun and the soft call of birds made the walk pleasant despite the ground rolling strangely beneath my feet. I had completed enough sea voyages to know it was a temporary sensation.
The road passed through vast stretches of fields, many populated by farmers busy planting seeds. A line of trees along its length kept the sun from becoming unpleasant, and before long we approached a thicker copse.
Entering the small wood, I turned to make sure no stragglers were falling behind. For a moment I couldn’t find Daisy. A frantic glance around revealed her brunette head off the path, examining something on a tree to the side of the road.
I hurried over to shoo her back to the group, but she was already turning toward us again. For a moment our eyes locked, hers full of energy and enthusiasm, and then something jerked her roughly back into the trees.
She didn’t have time to scream, her shocked expression still fixed on me as she disappeared from view completely.
I screamed for her, shrieking her name. But my voice was cut off as something large collided with me, knocking me to the ground and stealing the rest of my breath.
Chapter 2
I twisted, looking for my attacker, but all I could see were long legs and flashing hooves. Shouts and screams had broken out behind me, but I couldn’t see any of the others.
I scrambled to my feet as Arvin attempted to herd me into the trees. Pushing past him, I surveyed the road.
The small group had erupted into chaos. Struggling figures fought each other, but I couldn’t work out who the attackers were, or where they had come from in what looked like a mass of moving bodies. Daisy’s maid streaked past me, pursuing the vanished girl, the two Trionian guards on her heels. From the corner of my eye, I saw someone lunge toward Daria.
I opened my mouth to scream a warning, but Cassandra was already there, kicking the man in the stomach. He doubled over, gasping, as the Eldonian girl fled for the trees on the opposite side of the road, dragging Daria behind her. She paused, just off the path, her eyes finding me before flitting to Arvin behind me. I gestured wildly for them to keep running, and the two of them disappeared into the wood.
My eyes caught on another female figure, standing just inside the opposite tree line. Sierra. Her eyes latched onto me, and she gestured frantically for me to join her. I shifted to my toes, preparing to dash through the battle on the road, but something wrenched me backward.
I almost tripped, fighting to keep my feet as Arvin’s firm grip on the back of my dress pulled me away from the road.
“Let me go!” I snapped at the horse, my eyes still on Sierra.
Don’t make me knock you down again, he neighed, finally releasing his bite.
My maid, her eyes grown even wider, gave one desperate glance at the raging battle and dashed across the road toward me.
Get on my back, Arvin said. Now.
I gripped his mane, my hands trembling and slipping in my haste, and swung myself onto his back.
“Wait,” I yelled, as I settled myself in place. “Sierra. We can’t leave her.”
Arvin said nothing, but neither did he race into the trees, so I leaned down, holding out my hand to my maid. She reached us, panting heavily, and grabbed at my wrist, swinging up behind me with more agility than I’d expected.
Arvin didn’t wait for her to balance herself, launching into movement so quickly she nearly fell straight back off. She didn’t scream, however, and when I cast an anxious glance back, no one appeared to be following us.
“Who are they?” I gasped.
Neither Arvin nor Sierra answered.
“We have to find the others,” I said. “Someone took Daisy. And Cassie and Daria could be anywhere by now.”
They are not my charges. Arvin continued to move with almost impossible speed through the trees. You are.
“You stopped for Sierra,” I said.
I was momentarily infected by your foolishness. I will no doubt come to regret it.
I sighed. I wasn’t going to get any help from Arvin, and I didn’t dare throw myself from his back.
“Whatever the beast is saying, listen to him, Your Highness,” Sierra said sharply. “We must consider your safety now.”
Arvin gave an indignant snort, although whether it was a protest against being called the beast or disgust at finding himself in agreement with Sierra, I wasn’t sure.
Somewhere in the back of my mind it registered that my maid apparently knew my horse could talk, but more urgent matters consumed my immediate thoughts.
“We can’t just abandon them, though. They came to this land under our care.”
Not under your care, Arvin neighed, not seeming in the least fatigued or discomfited by our unnaturally fast flight. Celine was supposed to be in charge. It is not your fault that you have lost them. I would even be willing to back you up, he added, as if conferring a great favor.
“Fat lot of good that will do when no one else can understand you,” I muttered and then groaned aloud. His words only reminded me that the attack on the road would have played out differently if Celine had been there to come to our aid with fire balls. I was hours into my chance to prove myself, and I was already wishing for Celine to come and save us all.
The trees in front of us thinned, revealing distant fields. Apparently we were nearing the far edge of the copse. Arvin slowed and came to a stop, apparently unwilling to venture out into the open.
I immediately slid from his back, only to hesitate, one hand still on his flank. We had traveled too far for it to make any sense for me to go dashing off into the trees alone. For all I knew, the others were just as likely to find me if I stayed put as I was to find them by stumbling around alone.
“What is the use in being a princess if you can’t even get your horse to obey your orders?” I muttered in frustration.