Page 14 of The Lionheart’s Bond (Bonds of Dusk and Dawn #1)

ISIDORE

I t caught up with him the next morning. He was sore everywhere. He hadn’t moved that much ever before, and now he was paying the price. Still, it was a rewarding sort of pain, a reminder that, for once in his life, he had tried something, and it had done well. He was looking forward to more training.

But the previous night revisited Isidore in more ways than that. Flashes of water, of desire, of hunger and tenderness later, the feeling of Judel’s goodnight kiss. He smiled to himself as he got dressed. Light flooded through the windows already, too late to see him go now.

Someone knocked at the door before regret or impatience settled in his chest.

‘Come in,’ he called.

The door opened, allowing in Queen Nahel.

‘Your Majesty.’ He bowed. ‘I… I could have come to you, if you needed me.’

‘I’m fully able to call on whoever I need to see by myself,’ she said, not angrily.

‘Of course, Your Majesty.’ He tried not to smile.

‘I have a job for you.’

Isidore lifted his eyebrows.

‘I hope you won’t object to earning your keep.’ She punctuated her sentence with a questioning raised eyebrow.

‘Of course not, Your Majesty.’

Queen Nahel nodded and waved a hand, indicating for him to follow.

Once downstairs, they came close to Judel’s room. For a moment he feared she had heard about their encounter last night and was about to confront them both about their behaviour, but then remembered the prince would be in no state to be told off at the moment.

Instead, they turned around a corner, and down a few steps, into the kitchen. Cooks and servants busied around with doughs and meats, flour and spices riding the draft coming from an open back door. The kitchen staff bowed and curtsied as the queen walked through their tables and only returned to work when the queen and Isidore stepped outside.

The courtyard was a small space in between tall walls, but it was not empty. Animals lay in each corner.

Isidore covered his mouth. A little hedgehog sat into a box, peacefully eating a cabbage leaf.

‘That’s Ponar?’ he asked, looking at the queen wild-eyed.

She nodded.

‘You haven’t met some of my brothers, but this is Merudel.’ She leaned over a small cage, a nest in the corner. A little field mouse sat curled up, licking its minuscule paws. ‘Arte, you met,’ she says, now pointing at a perch higher up. The barn owl looked down, dignified, with its white, heart-shaped face and black eyes, overseeing everything under him, until its eyes closed once more.

‘He doesn’t speak much, Arte.’

Nahel smiled softly, her eyes on the animal perched above them.

‘He hasn’t said a word since that day. Since his…’ Her voice died away, leaving whatever she meant to add unsaid. ‘He’s free to fly around as much as he wants but he mostly stays here.’

‘Have you…’ he started but didn’t dare finish his question for fear of forgetting his place.

‘What?’

‘Have you tried to find a way to break the curse? Sorry, I know it’s a stupid question. Of course you have.’

Queen Nahel laughed without any joy.

‘We haven’t really. We don’t even know what happened. Where would we start?’

‘A practitioner would know,’ he said distractedly, as his eyes returned to the silent animals around him.

‘A practitioner?’ The queen frowned.

‘Sorry, that’s the Kaletian word. A witch, you say here, don’t you?’

Nahel nodded, bringing a finger to her lips in concentration.

‘Would they?’ Something flashed behind Nahel’s eyes and sent a chill down his spine.

‘I… What about the hare?’ he said, rushing to the cage on the ground. ‘Is it also one of your siblings?’

Whatever Nahel might have been thinking was quickly forgotten and she now came to introduce her brother Naran.

‘They’re too small to be left to wander in the wild like the other ones. Judel, Neisha, they’re big, strong animals, as are Hina and Kan. Nel is a fox, but he keeps to the castle and rarely ever wanders. He’s too smart to get caught. They all can defend themselves and with the hunting ban, they are safe to go out by themselves, but the rest…’ She didn’t need to finish the sentence for Isidore to understand. He couldn’t help noticing it was also the youngest of the brothers, and probably the only ones who would take her authority as a maternal figure. The rest were likely too old for that.

‘You want me to take care of them?’ he asked, suddenly realizing.

‘If it’s not too much trouble. We wouldn’t want you to have escaped serfdom as an animal caretaker only to fall into the same situation here. If you don’t like this, I have many other jobs that need done, but I thought you would enjoy this better.’

Isidore looked at each one of the creatures, trying to see the human in them. They were well looked after, with clean cages and fresh food. Far better than any of the animals Lord Torell kept, despite all his efforts. And the wounds he might suffer from the shifted princes were unlikely to result in his death.

He smiled.

‘It’ll be my pleasure, Your Majesty.’