Page 33

BEGIN

A s the days passed, Emryn got more comfortable with her position and the construction work began in the city, following the outline of her plans.

Brutus got bigger, standing almost to her waist and the kennel master took over feeding him when the kitchen despaired of having enough scraps to take care of him.

The hunts approached, Emryn settled into her tutors, and started having riding lessons with Cas. Her governance tutor was a kindly older man that was introduced to her as Charles, and he seemed quite satisfied to have her address him as such.

Her etiquette tutor was the queen’s seamstress, which made sense at least to Emryn, and Lady Holbrook was the sort of tutor that brooked absolutely no nonsense and was apt to settle Emryn with some mending while she lectured her on proper forms of address.

Which Emryn appreciated, she’d always learned better when her hands were busy.

The palace dancing master was also after her, but those lessons were nearly fun. He simply observed as her and Cas danced together. Correcting her form and her steps, but otherwise just letting them be.

In short, Emryn’s days were quite full, and she was due to in Council today to hear about the progress on the plan for the city. The workers were busily making traffic difficult, but the magi were attempting to hold the destruction and distraction to a minimum.

And after the council, was supper with the court.

Emryn turned from her dressing table as Shana finished with her hair and rose, only to come face to face with Cas who was standing in the doorway with a bunch of star-like, white blossoms in his hands.

“The gardeners sent these for you.” He said with a smile. “They’re called star magnolias and they smell delightful.”

She went to him, raising the hem of her skirts just slightly. They truly did smell lovely, and Cas tucked three into her hair until she was surrounded by the scent of them.

“You look lovely, dearest.” He smiled, moving to take her arm. “Shall we go to supper?”

“Council first,” she said, nudging at him. “Or did you forget lunch again?”

“I had a letter, Emryn,” he said carefully. “It went through the college, but they found nothing.”

“Oh?” She turned to face him. “What’s the matter, Cas?”

“There’s trouble on my estate, and I am going to have to go out there to fix it.”

“Alright?”

“I wanted to know if you would come with me?”

She nodded, “I have to, Cas. The bond wont stretch that far.”

He nodded, shoulders relaxing. “Thank you, Emryn.”

“Cas, I won’t let you be in pain, and that’s what would happen if you tried to go too far. I’ll go with you and perhaps I can help?” She reached up to touch his cheek.

He turned his head, planting a kiss right in the center of her palm. “I’ll need your help, Emryn. The core of the trouble seems to be that there’s a recurring sickness in the people.”

“That I can fix.” Emryn nodded firmly. “I specialize in the recurring.”

“And I’ll also be looking at causation and how we prevent it from returning,” Cas said, cupping her cheek. “We should go to council. We have to leave in the morning.

They were up with the sun, in the saddle and out the gates a bare hour later with what felt like half the palace guard hot on their heels.

And by midday, Emryn was in pain. She’d never been in the saddle this long and her legs and seat ached with the unaccustomed stretch.

By the time the retinue stopped for lunch at a rather charming little wayside inn, Emryn wanted to cry a little bit. But she hid it; the stable master had given her a jar of cream to use and she would be fine at the end of the day.

“I’ll show you some stretches, Highness.” A voice came from behind her. Emryn turned to come face to face with the captain of her husband’s guards.

“Thank you,” she said with a nod. “That would be very kind of you.”

The captain showed her the stretches, and while doing them made her want to cry, by the time they were back in the saddle, she did feel better.

But that was all gone by the time they made the inn where they were going to spend the night. It had been hours and when Emryn’s feet touched the floor, her legs went straight out from under her and she fell to the floor.

In front of the Mother, the Guard, the inn workers, and her husband.

“I’m alright,” she said hurriedly, trying to get back to her feet. “I’m simply not used to it yet.”

Cas walked over, helping her to her feet and then into his arms. “I should have thought, forgive me, Emryn.”

“I don’t mind, and we’re in a hurry.” She kissed his cheek. “The stable master at the palace gave me some cream to help with the pain and the stiffness.”

They had supper, and Cas helped her with the cream, making Emryn blush bright red the entire time he was touching her legs. He’d never said anything about taking her to bed, so she gritted her teeth and ignored the feelings in her body.

Besides, he was preoccupied with worry for his people. And that wasn’t something that she was going to try and get in the way of.

It took a further two days to get to the manor that sat in the middle of Cas’ lands, right next to a large-ish village. She dismounted, head ringing with the scent of illness and grabbed her skirts to go and handle it.

But Cas stopped her, standing in her path when she would have simply marched off. “Let’s get your escort sorted first,. Emryn. And maybe some lunch.”

“Alright,” She shoved the feeling away and made herself focus on the meal that was placed in front of her.

She didn’t make the village that day. Cas wouldn’t let her go without an escort and the soldiers were all exhausted from the journey.

She would begin in the morning.