Page 55 of Warrior Princess Assassin (Braided Fate #1)

Then Garrett glances over. “If you think that’s bad, just wait until he accidentally punches you in the balls,” he says dryly.

“That was one time , Gar—”

Captain Zale whistles through his teeth, and they shut up.

“ Thank you , Captain,” Lady Charlotte says primly. But Jory giggles.

Callum looks at me again. “So how about it?”

I still can’t quite make sense of this. Maybe he really did knock me off the horse. “How about...what?”

He glances at Garrett and then back at me. “We’ll have a few days’ leave in a week or so. Provided no one from Astranza shows up to kill you all, do you want to go earn a bag full of silver?”

I stare back at him. Last night, they all wanted to kill me. Two days ago, I wanted to kill them . Someone from Astranza presumably wants to kill all of us. But now Ky’s men want...Well, I’m not sure, exactly. This must be like the slavers—they see me as a means to earn a little extra silver.

But there’s a tiny phrase that Callum said. We’d look out for him .

My heart thumps hard against my ribs.

Roman looks back. “Did he say yes?” he calls from the front of the line. “Because I’m in. I’d pay to see that.”

“You’re all insane,” says the captain. “You couldn’t pay me to go to Mossnum.”

“He hasn’t said anything yet,” says Callum.

“Because you broke him,” says Garrett.

“Would you shut the fuck up—”

The captain whistles at them again.

Jory is looking back, studying me, her expression bemused. Honestly, I’m sure mine is the same. Do I want to go fight with random strangers I’ve never met in some city I’ve never seen?

Probably not.

But Callum is looking at me again, waiting for an answer. I think a lot of them are waiting for an answer, including the princess.

And in that moment, I’m struck by the fact that I’ve been given a choice—a true choice, for the first time since I can remember. No chains, no threats, no orders, no assignments.

The king is looking back now, and I realize he’s curious about my response, too.

They might be violent and vicious, but there’s something different about the people here—or at least his soldiers.

Something very honest, very real , that I crave.

It’s the exact way the king was able to convince me to release him.

There are no slavers in Incendar .

My chest has grown a bit tight, and I have to shake it off. I cast my gaze forward and shrug, keeping my voice nonchalant.

“Sure,” I say to Callum. “If we survive that long, I suppose it could be fun.”

He whoops. “Man, I bet we’ll need to rent a wagon for all the silver you’ll take in.”

That makes me smile. “You’ve only seen me fight once. You might need to rent a wagon to bring back my body.”

“Please.” He starts rattling off on his fingers. “You blew through the king. Then Nikko. Then you—”

“He did not blow through me ,” Ky snaps. “That was—”

“Right, right,” Callum calls. “You were ‘disarmed.’” He flicks his eyes skyward. “I forgot.”

That startles a laugh out of me—and I can’t remember the last time that happened.

“You were chained to Ky, and you killed those assassins.” Callum jerks a thumb at his friend. “And Gar won’t even tell me how you did that to his neck.”

“It was the chain,” I say.

Garrett heaves a sigh. “Here we go.”

Callum’s eyes light up. “The chain ?” He looks at the other soldier, and he gives him a wolfish smile. His voice turns sultry. “Did you like it?”

“Not a whole lot, no.”

Lady Charlotte whips around. “Gentlemen, please .”

The soldiers go completely silent, but their eyes are still sparking with devilry.

Jory is smiling, though, glancing between them, and her cheeks turn faintly pink.

I’m not sure what about the expression is so unfamiliar, until I realize that she looks happy— and that feels so rare .

We’ve had so many secret moments, but it’s been so long since we were together, like this, with wind and sky and easy companionship around us.

I don’t know if the soldiers feel it, or if they’d even understand it.

But I do. In my heart, I feel her emotion as strongly as I feel my own.

For all our differences, Jory and I have always had one thing in common: our aloneness. Our solitude. She was my only friend, as I was hers. When she demanded truths from me, I thought that might have erased all of it. I thought I might have lost all of it.

But to my surprise, she doesn’t seem to judge me for it—and it’s clear that the king doesn’t. Somehow, they each have the talent to wake something inside of me, a flame I thought I smothered years ago. When I was with Jory, I knew how to keep my distance. I knew how to lock everything away.

Out here, with the two of them, that somehow feels impossible. I’m still raw. Bare.

But maybe it’s like the brand. Maybe it needs to breathe so it can begin to heal.

BY MIDDAY, THE terrain begins to change, long valleys of dried grass giving way to steep hills lined with granite outcroppings.

In some spots, the trail is so narrow that we have to ride single file, and at one point, I think we’ll need to dismount and lead the horses through.

But these Incendrian horses must be used to the footing, because they step carefully, and we ride on.

It makes travel slow, however, and I can’t escape the prickle on my neck that reminds me someone is on our trail.

We’ve gone more than a day without any sign of more Hunters, however, and the tense anticipation among the soldiers seems to be melting away.

As we descend into yet another valley, I wonder how far we are from the king’s palace in Lastalorre.

It would probably be easier for an assassin to attack while we’re traveling, before we reach a location thick with guards and servants.

Then again, I consider how I would approach this assignment.

I’m not sure I’d want to risk confronting six soldiers out in the open.

A skilled archer could do it from a distance, but we’re all in armor, making that tricky.

One failed shot would give a Hunter away.

When we stop at the base of the valley to water the horses, the scent of distant smoke is stronger.

I wonder if Incendar always smells like this, or if it’s some effect of the king’s magic baked into the very earth.

I lift my gaze to scan the sunlit hills surrounding us.

There are times when I can see for miles, but sometimes in these valleys, the line of sight is interrupted by the crest of the next hill.

A Hunter would probably struggle to find cover out here, since we all—

“What are you doing?”

The king’s voice interrupts my thoughts, and I blink in the sunlight. I’ve hardly spoken to him since we woke, and my thoughts are still tangled up in the space between finding him on top of Jory—and finding myself curled up against him.

Every time I earn his attention, it sends little sparks through my veins, and I’m still not sure what to do with it. I shrug and keep my focus on the terrain. “Thinking about how I’d kill you,” I say.

He doesn’t take the bait—though I’m beginning to think he never does. He follows my gaze to the hills surrounding us. “How would you?”

“We’re too exposed—but a Hunter would be, too. If it were me, I’d wait for a city, or nightfall, or both. Somewhere I could make an attack without being seen, and without triggering a response.”

“They didn’t attack last night.”

“You posted a sentry—and you fell asleep beside the fire. You weren’t alone.

” I don’t mean that the way it sounds, and I have to look away again before warmth crawls up my neck.

“There was no easy escape route from the ravine, and anyone following will know we defeated the last Hunters. It would’ve been a risk to attack there. ”

He considers this. “We’ll be in Lastalorre before dusk.”

I offer half a shrug. “It’s easy to hide in a city. Out here, a Hunter wouldn’t have many options. I think the greater risk would be in Lastalorre.”

Roman has overheard our conversation, and he leads his horse over. “What are the other options?”

Before I can answer, a sharp sound pierces the air from the east. We freeze.

Jory looks over, her eyes a little wide. “Was that a scream?”

Just as she says it, the sound echoes again. Definitely a scream.

“Mount up,” says Ky. “We’ll check it out.”

But I grab his arm before he can turn for the horse. “There was another option.”

He looks back at me, and as always, I’m startled by the intensity of his gaze, the way he seems to truly see me.

“Tell me,” he says.

That scream sounds again, and I realize the scent of smoke is even stronger. I look back at him. “A trap.”