Iskander had been a pretty boy and had become a handsome man. He was only a few years older than me, twenty-three or twenty-four, with a lean, well-formed body and a smooth, angular face. His ebony hair fell into dark, guileless eyes, and he smiled at me with real pleasure. It annoyed me for a reason I couldn’t name.
“Indeed. Hello, Iskander.”
“I didn’t recognize you at first. You’ve grown.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “Yes. Well, time will do that. We were quite young when we last saw each other.”
His smiled flickered, and something dangerously close to pity rose in his eyes. He glanced at my neck, at the puckered scar across my throat, and swallowed. No doubt he was remembering the last time we met.
“Well, it suits you,” he said, somewhat lamely, like he sensed how much I hated the feeling of his sympathy. “In fact, I think I’ll have to give you a new nickname. Do you remember what I used to call you?”
My mind flashed back to my eighth summer, when my family lived at the Vishiri court. Iskander and his little friends had taken one look at my pale skin and red hair and decided I looked like a maggot.
“Do you remember what I did when you used it?” I snapped my jaw shut, but it was too late to recall the words. Arkady stiffened beside me. Prince Iskander’s eyes bulged, clearly and suddenly remembering how I had tackled him to the ground. I held my breath, praying he wouldn’t leave.
A hint of pink colored his dusky skin, but he smiled and began to laugh. “Very good, my lady. No more nicknames. Though that would be a sight to see, eh?”
I nodded, too relieved to smile.
“You must be tired after your journey,” Governor Erol said with an amused glint in his eye. “The maester has prepared rooms for you and your men. Tomorrow night, we shall hold a ball in your honor—but in the morning, I’ve organized a hunt for Prince Iskander.”
“Yes, I’m quite excited for it. Though I’ll have to beg warmer clothes off you, Governor,” Prince Iskander said, rubbing his hands together as if he’d caught a chill. “I don’t know how you survive this cold.”
“You call this cold?” I laughed. “Wait a week, then you might see real snow.”
Iskander’s smiled faltered. “Alas, we do not have a week. We leave at the full moon.”
I jerked back, his words striking me like a blow. They were a blow. “That’s only three days from now.” My godfather wasn’t sending aid, I thought. This wasn’t a negotiation. He was sending his regrets.
“Yes. It’s . . . unfortunate we can’t stay longer,” Iskander said, shifting from one foot to the other. “We must sail before the winter storms come.”
“Well, then,” I started, my mind scrambling for purchase. “We’ll have to use our time wisely. I would hate for it to be another six years before we see each other again.”
Prince Iskander beamed. “That we must.”
The governor leaned forward with a clever gleam in his eye. “I’ve heard you’re quite the horsewoman. Would you care to join us on the hunt?”
I could have kissed him. We both knew my window of opportunity was already half closed. He was giving me a chance—perhaps my only chance. An opportunity to snatch a moment alone with Prince Iskander and convince him to take me to Vishir. “I’d love to.” I cocked my eyebrows, smirking at the men around me. “If you think you can keep up.”
Hope seared through me at the warmth in Iskander’s voice. This wasn’t the end. Iskander could be swayed, I knew he could. All I had to do was convince him to take me to Vishir. After that, well, there was nothing I wouldn’t do—nothing I wouldn’t give, to convince the emperor to save my people.
2
My first night in Eshkaroth was a sleepless one. Arkady and I had stayed up late trying to figure out how to convince Prince Iskander to take up my cause in only three days. Make that two, I thought. My gaze flickered to the morning sun shining weakly in the clouded sky above the courtyard.
“Change his mind.” That’s what Arkady had said when he left my room last night. I loved Arkady—he was my dear friend and mentor—but that was, perhaps, the most useless piece of advice I’d ever received. I wasn’t going to my neighbor asking for sugar. I was begging an emperor for an army.
And time was short, I thought, worrying at the scar on my neck. I had this morning to convince Iskander, or today would be lost. The whole cause would be lost. My horse whickered, nudging my shoulder with his nose as if urging me to hurry.
While servants bustled across the courtyard, readying mounts and loading supplies, Arkady and Vitaly stood beside me. Arkady wore his usual scowl while an unperturbed Vitaly held the reins of their horses. A young lord in his own right, Vitaly had been among nobility all his life. The fact that he wouldn’t be intimidated by the prince was the only reason the general had allowed Vitaly to come after the stunt he pulled yesterday on the ridge. I’d have insisted upon it anyway. Vitaly was so personable, I had no doubt he’d charm Iskander. The Day Lord knew Vitaly had been friendly enough to charm even me when I first returned to my grandfather’s court, broken and alone. Vitaly had been my only friend for a good long time.
“Don’t worry, my lady,” Vitaly said, as if he could sense my anxiety from the way I was shifting my weight. “You have time to convince the prince to help.”
“Do I?” I asked, patting the smooth fall of my gelding’s red coat. “He’ll be surrounded by retainers who certainly won’t want him to be convinced.”
“Ah,” he said with a shrug. “We can get him away easily enough.” His gaze darted from me to the general and back again, a sly smile curving his lips. “I’m reminded of the midsummer hunt two years ago when you helped me separate a certain lady from her husband.”
I laughed quietly, both from the memory and from the prudish look of shock rippling across Arkady’s face. “The difference is that that young woman wanted to get away from her husband. I’m not so sure Prince Iskander will want to be alone with me, but . . .” The idea sparked in my mind and I considered everything I knew about Iskander. He seemed like the kind of man who was ruled by his passions, the kind who liked a good game. All I had to do was draw him in.
“Look lively, my lady,” Arkady murmured, as Prince Iskander exited the keep, flanked by two of his own men.
My plan exactly.
“Good morning, Princess Askia,” Iskander said, hurrying down the steps.
“Good morning. I hope you’re ready for some sport.”
“I was born ready,” he proclaimed, laughing at his own bravado. Over his shoulder, I saw one of his companions—a small weasel-faced man—sneer.
I smiled. “Do you know what we’ll be hunting today?”
“I’m told there are deer and wild turkey in the foothills, but the governor says the real prize is something called a domuzjov. Whatever that is.”
“It’s a kind of wild boar,” I said. “They have more hair than the type you have in the south. Bigger, too, and faster. Their hair turns white in the winter, so it should be a challenge with the snowfall last night.”