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Chapter six

Nerys

T raveling wasn’t nearly as grand as the stories said. Walking gave blisters. Saddles gave a sore ass. After a night and day of travel, Nerys had more than her share of both.

“We have ten minutes to rest,” Fina said to her once they reached their first stop, a wooded enclosure next to a stream.

The ground here was worn and grassless—a sign of the many travelers and horses who had passed through.

Geese rested on the opposite bank, basking in their weedy paradise before traveling south for the winter.

It would’ve been an idyllic stop, if Nerys’s hands weren’t numb from gripping onto the saddle where she could—there was no way she was going to hug Fina to stay on the horse. She’d sooner fall.

“Fina,” Idris said, “we’re going to eat. A full meal.” Idris hopped off his horse and worked at unpacking a saddlebag. He had changed into breeches, shirt, and doublet, plain indistinguishable from other travelers, if a bit wealthier.

Fina scowled. “Fine. You have twenty minutes,” she snapped, right before she leapt off the horse.

Now wearing a dress, Fina seemed to have taken the time on horseback better than her.

Of course, Fina had actually ridden one before.

Nerys had not. At least Fina’s dress fit her—Nerys’s was far too tight. And short.

“Why can’t we rest?” Nerys asked, bracing herself for hitting the ground.

“It’s not like anyone’s bothered us.” True—they had received curious glances, but nothing besides.

People were probably too distracted with their own concerns to heckle three riders, and they stayed on somewhat populated roads, which didn’t lend itself to banditry.

“We’ve been lucky.” Fina scoffed as she dug through her saddle bag.

“It’s one thing to ride by peasants on a horse—another to try to bluff soldiers for more than a sentence or two.

” Fina did have a wheezy Cerdorani accent—very noticeable.

Fina nodded to Nerys. “You want to try talking to them? After how your time with the army went?”

“Not really.”

“You have a lot of work to do with this one, Idri. She’s going to reveal herself for sure. ”

“We’ll discuss this later,” Idris snapped, not for the first time that day. To Nerys, he said, “You’ll be ready—I’m not sending you to court otherwise.” Who was he trying to convince? Fina, Nerys, or himself?

Nerys merely nodded. She was far too tired to argue.

With a grunt, she slid to the ground and landed with a jolt.

At least her legs held. Nerys took a few hesitant steps like a newborn colt.

Her ass throbbed, her back spasmed, and her head felt like she had seven mugs of beer too many. She needed a nap.

Yet, they were in the woods. Hidden. Was this her chance?

Trees and darkness awaited mere yards into the thicket. Nerys could try to escape while they were distracted. Take a horse and go, ride somewhere where there was no war, no kings, no death.

There was no point.

Such a place didn’t exist. But it would be better than living with enemy spies.

Like any good travel companion, Nerys walked over to the stream, crouched down, and bent to scoop fresh water—where Adilette’s brutalized face stared back at her in the reflection.

Nerys screamed and lunged backwards, landing on her back. Idris and Fina ran towards her, panicked. “What is it?” Idris asked, searching for danger, his hand on his sword’s hilt.

“Fuck, Idris,” Fina said once she realized no one else was there, “you found a lunatic. Or she saw a spider.”

“Silence.” Idris glared at Fina. “What happened?” he asked Nerys.

At a loss for words, Nerys shook her head. “Nothing. I’m just tired—I thought I saw something.”

Fina snorted. “See? Lunatic.” Matter apparently settled, Fina left them and went back to her food, or horse, or whatever the hell she was doing before.

But Idris was still staring at her. “I’m fine. Really.” She sighed. “I’m tired. I haven’t slept well in days. Weeks, if we’re being honest.”

“You can tell me.”

“I am. It’s been…I just need to rest.”

“If you insist.” He reluctantly left, giving one more backwards glance before he left her alone.

She couldn’t run—there was no way she would make it far. A two-legged donkey could catch her in her current state. She’d leave later. Surely, there would be another stop to rest .

Then again, was it possible that Adilette wanted her to stay with them? Was that why she appeared? Or was this sighting merely a figment of her exhaustion?

“I don’t know what to do,” Nerys whispered to nothing.

It wasn’t until nightfall that the three 35 of them arrived at their ultimate destination.

By this time, Nerys was so sore from riding on the horse—and hugging Fina’s waist like sap on tree bark—that she didn’t notice the journey was at an end.

That is, not until Fina jerked the horse to a stop and rudely shook Nerys awake like shaking a spider from a bedcover.

“We’re here,” Fina said.

“What?” Nerys forced her foggy, gunk-filled eyes open.

“Let go of me,” Fina snapped, shrugging off Nerys’s arms. When did she hug Fina? And Fina actually let her?

“Sorry.” Nerys let go. Fina hopped off the horse, not offering a hand to help.

Not surprising—Fina had barely spoken to her the entire day.

During the second stop they made to eat and rest the horses, Fina had taken Idris aside and started another argument.

It was about her, if the words “girl,” “insipid,” and “peasant” were any indication.

Unfortunately, Nerys wasn’t lucky enough for them to leave her behind.

Now that they had gotten further and further away from potential danger from the army, Nerys was left with the fact that she had to leave them, and soon.

There was no way that she, a peasant, was going to last at court long enough to kill the R?ll.

As much as he may deserve it. There was no possible way Adilette wanted that for her—death while serving Cerdoran.

Groaning, Nerys rubbed her eyes and dismounted, trying not to collapse as her legs absorbed the impact. Though it was night, and the forest smothered any moonlight, Nerys took the chance to see where her saviors—captors—had brought her.

Other than an endless sea of flora, they were in front of a house, if such a place could be called that.

Based on its two stories and glass windows—Nerys counted five—it was a nobleman’s home, or at least that of someone quite wealthy.

It was far larger than anything in Raven’s Crest. Wait, there were more than five windows.

There were also towers, peaked roofs, multiple chimneys…

who owned this house? While it was lo vely, all she wanted was food, a bath, and bed.

In that order. A glow illuminated some of the windows, hinting that people were inside.

Where there were people, there was food. Usually.

“Where are we?” Nerys asked Idris, who fluidly dismounted. As for Fina, she strode towards the residence like a ruler entering their domain, not giving either of them another glance. Idris let out a long sigh as Fina disappeared into the home, slamming the door behind her.

“This is the home of a friend,” Idris said, “the lady who’s going to help you get into court. Well, her hunting lodge, to be more precise. She isn’t here now.”

“This is a hunting lodge ?” Nerys wrinkled her nose—how could anyone need that much room to bask in animal slaughter? Idris gave her a wry smile. “Who else is here?” she asked.

“No one.”

Nerys looked back at the windows. “Then why are the windows lit?”

“Oh, the servants.”

“Ah. So, there is someone.” Typical—only a wealthy person would forget that servants were actually people.

Nerys moved to follow Fina, but Idris held her back with a light touch on her shoulder.

He leaned close and whispered in her ear, warming her skin.

Her rebellious heart leapt at his sudden closeness, the intimacy.

No, that was the last thing she needed now.

“Listen, while the servants know of us, and they’re deathly loyal to our host, don’t mention anything else around them. ”

Nerys whipped her head towards him. “What? Why?”

Idris’s lips set in a line. “They wouldn’t betray their mistress.

Not willingly. But that doesn’t mean someone else couldn’t make them talk.

And then…” He trailed off, letting Nerys piece together the bloody result.

“The less they know the better. They think we’re our host’s distant cousins. It should stay that way.”

“Understood. What do I tell them if they ask?” Heat rose to Nerys’s cheeks.

An amateur question, but she had never dealt with servants before.

All of the hired help in Raven’s Crest were local people, helping local people, with mundane, subsistence-y things.

What if the servants thought she was Idris’s mistress?

Or Fina’s maid? It was hard to say which possibility was worse .

Idris paused, his attention drifting to the house, at the empty windows staring like them like hollow black eyes. “They won’t. Or you can decline to answer. Their job is to serve—not to ask questions.”

“If you say so.” Nerys reached into her pocket against her chest, where she had tucked the crystal rose she took from her home. It was gone, along with her money. Nerys frantically checked one pocket, and then another. And another. Fuck. Did it fall off when she was sleeping?

“What is it?” Idris asked.

“No-nothing.” The last thing she needed was to explain the rose to Idris. She didn’t need fake sympathy, or to confess how she had lost literally everything she had left, little though it was.

Idris let the matter rest. His eyes drifted to the house, seemingly deep in thought. Nerys turned to look at what caught his attention—and then her breath caught in her throat.