Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 123190 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 616(@200wpm)___ 493(@250wpm)___ 411(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 123190 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 616(@200wpm)___ 493(@250wpm)___ 411(@300wpm)
I leave the bathing room quickly, unwilling to look at myself as a faerie too long. When I return to the main room, the others have taken their potions as well, and now they also appear fae.
“Whaddya think?” Skylar asks, tossing a pack over her shoulder and throwing me another.
I catch it, grunting under its unexpected weight. “I look like a faerie.”
“A hot faerie,” Remme says.
Kendrick grabs the pack from my arms and slings it over his shoulder. “You can flirt on the road. We need to load up the horses.”
He heads out the door, and Remme chuckles at his back. “I’m just saying what everyone else was thinking.”
I follow them and frown as I watch the team pack up the horses. I’ve left the capital countless times over the last few months—sometimes by goblin travel, sometimes on my own two feet—but somehow going on a journey with this crew feels more permanent.
Because this is the first time in years that you’ve left your sister for more than a few hours.
There are only four horses, which makes sense, since there are only four of them, but when I suggest we acquire another, Kendrick looks me right in the eye and laughs. “Absolutely not.”
Apparently, he thinks I’m liable to run from them if I have my own horse.
Not their captive, my backside.
“How long will it take to get to this Feegus Keep?” I ask.
“It’s three-days’ ride from here,” Kendrick says, tightening the saddle on his mare.
Three days? I’m supposed to ride on horseback with Kendrick for three days? “Why don’t we just travel by goblin?”
Natan shakes his head. “The goblins know too much. We don’t need to give them more.”
Remme nods.
I look back and forth between them. “What does that mean?”
“Wish we knew,” Natan says, but he smiles. Despite myself, I like him. At least he doesn’t try to piss me off at every turn like Skylar or poke fun at me like Remme.
“How are we going to travel for three days? Didn’t you say you didn’t want to travel at night?”
Remme and Kendrick exchange a look, and Remme says, “Did she ever leave that palace?”
“As protective as her sister is, I’m guessing no,” Kendrick says, but his tone is kind, like he isn’t judging Brie for being protective of me, more like he understands. And I guess, of all people, he would.
He shifts his attention to me. “I know you haven’t explored the court much, but it’s not as uncivilized as you might think. There are inns along the way.”
Skylar looks me over. “Have you done much riding? Three full days on horseback will make even an experienced rider sore.”
I lift my chin. “I’ll be fine.”
Three days? I was sore after three hours. Eight hours in, my muscles burn. Even the fact that the weather is perfect for riding can’t distract me from the horrendous ache in my thighs, hips, and back.
Remme and Skylar lead the group, with Natan taking up the rear as we ride quickly through the more rural areas and slower through the towns. We stopped for a break midmorning and then again to eat lunch, but getting back on the horse after the relief of being off is almost worse than the agony of the endless riding.
It’s not like I haven’t been on horseback before. After moving in with Brie, I began taking lessons as soon as I was healthy enough to do so. Back in Elora, only the most wealthy have horses, so Brie and I didn’t have much experience, and my sister made sure to correct that immediately. Of course, she never had me climb in a saddle in front of a very strong man for whom I feel a complicated variety of emotions, nor did she make me stay in the saddle for hours at a time.
Kendrick’s arms are looped around me, his hands on the reins. I sit as stiff and straight as possible to avoid any additional contact between our bodies, but it’s no use. Every step forward, every shift of the horse’s hips brings our bodies in contact.
“Princess,” he says, his mouth against my ear, “if you don’t relax, you aren’t going to be able to get out of bed tomorrow.”
“Oh good,” I deadpan. “A day in bed sounds lovely.”
He grumbles something unintelligible that I think might be “You have no idea” before pulling me against him and urging me to relax against his chest.
He’s warm and solid at my back, a reminder of the feeling of safety he brought me during those darkest days in the dungeon. My muscles seem to sigh, going loose in relief, while other parts go tight.
“Better?” he murmurs in my ear.
The heat of his breath sends a pleasant shiver through me. “Yeah.”
I swear I can feel his smile. “I’m not so bad, if you’ll remember.”