Chapter 16 Jess #2
Once I found my leather riding clothes, I quickly changed and slipped out of my room.
I wanted to avoid attention, and this was the most common-looking outfit I owned.
Besides, the Royal Guard wouldn’t think twice about me going out for an evening ride, even this late.
With the war brewing between Mother and me, I fled the Palace most evenings.
Careful to avoid contact with my brothers, I crept down the hallway toward the door at the end. I prayed for silence as I pulled it open, peeking through to ensure no one was in the Throne Room.
Nothing stirred.
I raced toward the opposite wall and sucked in one last breath as I stared at the towering golden doors. Two Royal Guards stood vigil on the other side. They stood between me and freedom.
Tossing back my shoulders, I raised my nose into the air and threw open one door.
I was greeted by crossed pikes blocking my path.
“Princess, forgive us, but where are you going without your guards?” A stern, chiseled man in gleaming armor peered down.
“Where I am going is none of your concern. If I needed guards tonight, I would’ve asked for them. Clear my path. Now!” The last word cracked like a whip.
I was the spitting image of my mother.
I also knew I was technically too young to give a Protector orders, but I had never been afraid to push boundaries when it suited my mood.
The cocky guard’s eyebrows rose, then knitted. He looked to his partner, who shrugged, then snapped his pike upright.
“I’ll be late. Don’t wait up,” I said with a coy smile over my shoulder, then hustled toward the outer door that led to the stables.
It was nearly 2300, and darkness cloaked the night sky.
The stable boys would already be settled into their rooms at the end of the stalls, so I expected an easy getaway.
Still, I crept as quietly as possible, offering each horse a small piece of apple I had stashed in a pouch on my belt.
I rubbed their noses affectionately, and each pressed into my palm.
I often struggled to understand people, but my Gift made connecting with wildlife easy.
I’d often wished I could talk with them, but was grateful for the empathic connection that allowed me to share emotions.
I made it to the stall that held Dittler, my Cretian stallion. Only five Cretians existed throughout the Kingdom, one owned by each of the principals of the royal family. Dittler’s sheer size made the stable masters jealous, and his quicksilver mane shimmered in the light.
He was my baby boy.
I pulled the last of the sliced apples from my pouch.
Dittler lapped them up, careful not to nip my skin.
It always amazed me that a beast so full of raw power could be gentle, even loving.
While Dittler chomped, I gave him a quick brushing and placed my saddle on his back.
I laughed to myself as he danced in anticipation of the ride to come.
“No racing tonight, baby boy. We have to be quiet, okay?” I rubbed the inside of Dittler’s ear with my thumb.
He cocked his head and huffed in ecstasy.
I scanned the stalls before mounting and trotting out of the stables. Thankfully, the grounds remained quiet and still.
We cleared the perimeter of the highly manicured Palace grounds, entering the large forested area. Dittler slowed and glanced back as if questioning the wisdom of a trek into the woods at night.
“It’s okay, Dit. We’re going to see Danym. You like him, remember?”
The image of sandy brown hair flopping in front of eyes the color of new grass made my skin tingle.
I passed a series of hunting stands mounted high in trees where Father and my brothers spent hours hoping to spot something to shoot.
Moments later, I reached my final destination: a clearing by a stream that trickled down from a neighboring mountain.
Danym sat waiting on a boulder, staring into the bubbling water, when we rode up.
As I watched him, a nervous energy rippled through my chest.
Dittler let out a snort.
Danym’s head snapped up, and his smile lit up the forest.
A little over six feet tall, Danym’s boyish features had yet to yield to his burgeoning adulthood, belying the strength he’d built through hours of practice in the ring.
Despite his smooth skin and full lips, the thing that made my heart skip was his smile.
Wide and bright, the boy’s smile made his eyes sparkle and me lose all sense of time or reason.
Danym stood, brushed his leggings, and sauntered over to give Dittler a gentle stroke on the neck, barely looking my way. At last, his head rose, and he extended a hand. “May a humble subject offer Her Royal Highness assistance?”
Spirits, he has to stop looking at me like that.
Please, don’t let him stop looking at me like that.
Those voices had warred in my head since the day we met.
I tried to think up a clever retort, something that flowed easily with my brothers or with Father—and especially with Mother—but Danym had cast a spell, and I couldn’t speak.
I nodded, smiled, and took his hand, allowing him to help me down.
I stumbled as I landed, forcing him to wrap me in his arms and pull me close to keep me from falling.
Oh, that worked well. I have to remember that one! I smiled inwardly.
Danym stepped back and gave me a formal bow. “Welcome, my lady. May I tether your magnificent horse?”
I gave Danym my most regal glare. “Oh, my boy, of course, but be careful. He is a keen judge of character, and we’re still deciding about yours.”
Danym grinned, and my knees nearly gave way.
Once Dittler was cared for, Danym led me around the boulder, revealing glasses, a bottle of wine, and a small wooden plate containing cut meats and cheeses spread across a neatly laid blanket. In the center of the plate was a delicate shell of chocolate.
“You think of everything, don’t you?” I reached up and gave him a kiss, dropping all pretense. He cradled my head as our lips pressed together.
We sat and talked, enjoying the cool evening.
Danym caught me up on news outside the Palace and the routine of his days, and I carefully avoided venting about Mother.
After a brief pause to feed each other a bite of chocolate and pour more wine, Danym reached up and moved a stray lock of hair from my eyes.
“I’ve missed you. I know the Palace can be a crazy place, but I worried when I didn’t hear anything for nearly a week.”
“I’m sorry. It’s been awful. All they talk about is who they’re going to marry me off to. Now they’re even thinking about that old duke from Huntcliff!”
“Lord Parna?” He nearly spat his wine. “The one who picks his nose and farts at court? They call him ‘the ostrich’ because he can stick his head up his own—”
“Danym!” I slapped his arm.
He laughed. “Well, that’s what they say. Is your father seriously considering him? Isn’t he thirty years older than you?”
“Yeah, but he’s a Duke. They’re worried about securing alliances, and trade, and who knows what else. I get it. I will be Queen, and my hand is a powerful chip, but I hate being treated like some cow at the auction. I should have a say in this. No,
I should decide who I want to be with—who I want to rule with.”
He wrapped his arms around me again, and I could hear his heart quicken. There was no sound in the world that calmed me like Danym’s heartbeat. I felt safe with that rhythmic thrumming and his arms around me.
Why couldn’t my parents see that Danym was who I was meant to be with?
An eternity passed before he pried me away, holding my shoulders in his hands at arm’s length.
“I love you, Jess Vester. We’ll find a way to be together, but I need to get back before my father realizes I left. It’s not easy being the High Sheriff’s son. It’s like he knows when I’m up to something without even asking.”
I nodded. “I need to get back, too. Mother would love an excuse to confine me to the Palace—and she has an entire army to keep me there if she sets her mind to it.”
Danym helped me mount again, giving me a kiss on the curve of my neck as he lifted me up. I shivered at his intimate touch.
This boy will be the death of me. Spirits, I love him.
As I prepared to ride back to the Palace, trying to linger as much as possible, Danym packed up the remnants of our picnic.
As I finally rode off, he started his trek back to his father’s estate.
The moon was now high and full in the sky, but despite its best efforts at lighting the forest, neither of us noticed the man standing in the shadows nearby.
He muttered a few words and disappeared, leaving no trace of his presence in the woods.