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Khal snorted. “Have a care? You’re the one throwing away what any other fae would be cherishing. Protecting. How can you?”

“I am the unseelie king.” Those words were matter of fact. “You should know what it means. I have no weaknesses.”

He couldn’t afford any.

Rydekar didn’t care for Rissa. She’d given him no reason to like her, thank the gods. But he fully comprehended that he could and would grow to adore her with ease. Another day. Another week. How long would it be before the good of his kingdom came second to him?

If she’d been what he needed, a true queen, he would have moved heaven and hell to tie her to him. As things stood, the best thing he could do for himself and his kingdom was to let her disappear.

Khal was speechless for a moment. Unfortunately, he recovered. “I always knew you were heartless. I never realized you were foolish.”

On that note, Khal walked out of the room, banging the doors on his way out.

Rydekar returned to the window. The pale horse and its rider were outside the keep, galloping over the bridge. His eyes narrowed on the knight on the brown steed to Rissa’s side.

Rydekar managed a smile that didn’t reach his eyes as he felt Nyla’s approach. “What did we say about knocking before entering my study?”

The child ignored him. “Where is Uncle Khal going?”

Rydekar frowned.

“He said goodbye to me. I don’t like when he’s going away.”

The child had serious abandonment issues.

“We had a disagreement. He’ll be back shortly.”

Rydekar was quite certain of himself, until his eyes caught a familiar figure rushing through the courtyard.

A page brought Khal his fastest horse. Mounting the beast, his cousin set off at full speed, charging out of the keep.

Rydekar kept watching. The horse he’d given Rissa was a stallion who might have been difficult for an inexperienced rider, but she managed him beautifully, and he’d serve her well. Khal’s horse strained to join her, until she realized she was followed and slowed to meet him.

They exchanged a brief conversation, and then, all three riders resumed their ride together.

Rydekar couldn’t make sense of his own feelings. Some betrayal, some amusement, a pinch of admiration. Khal had some guts to blatantly defy the will of his king.

It looked like Rissa had a second companion. One Rydekar did trust.

“You’re smiling,” Nyla noted.

“Am I?”

He was genuinely surprised to find that she was correct. He was overall quite pleased with the development.

Although he might have to kill Khal on his way back, all the same.

The Other Side

Used as she was to the milder weather of Volderas and its surrounding lands, Rissa might have hated traveling in the cold of winter, but the crisp white touching her cheeks didn't bother her, and she loved the light of the sun over the snow covered ground.

"By the old gods!"Khal didn't share her perspective. "It's colder than a witch's tit. And trust me, I've sucked one or two of those."

Teoran snorted. The autumn prince and the unseelie prince didn't seem to get along, though Rissa wondered whether they were purposely at odds simply based on their belonging to different courts.

They were on their second day's ride out of the Old Keep. At Khal's insistence, they were sticking to smaller, sinuous paths that led them away from towns, cities, and courts. Teoran disagreed with that decision, but he reluctantly led the way when Rissa supported the unseelie man's choice.

It wasn't Teoran's fault; he didn't know the true purpose of their voyage. Stopping at every lord's keep would have delayed her, and made their trip all the more unpleasant.