CHAPTER 21
Sakura
It was gratifying to see the bewildered respect on the weapon-smith’s face, even if she would be as lost as he was without the way-finder.
She briefly considered revealing the source of her knowledge, but Mother had strongly warned her against it.
“It will ruin everything,” the queen had cautioned.
“Who needs a princess for a wife when one can earn a king’s ransom by finding anything a seeker desires?
Even if he has no interest in adventuring, he could sell the pea for untold wealth. ”
Keenan didn’t strike Sakura as the type to seek wealth in such a way, but he also wasn’t trying to marry her. If he had the pea, he and Oliver would subdue the guard from the winter castle and escape to find their other friend.
The shadows cast by the peaks behind them had stretched out to the base of the mountains in front of them by the time Oliver finally called a halt.
Sakura inhaled slowly, controlling her instinctive sigh of relief.
Despite her claim that she could ride all day, her body did not appreciate the mix of riding and walking that she’d endured.
The three days prior hadn’t inured her against the rougher paths they’d traveled since catching up with Keenan and Kagemori.
Patting Aya’s neck, she whispered a soft word of gratitude, then looked around for someone to help her dismount. But Oliver and Keenan had already begun setting up camp. She turned her attention to Kagemori, who had just set Kasumi down.
He glanced at Sakura, gulped, and spun away.
She pursed her lips. She hadn’t hopped down on her own since that ride with Hari, Daichi, and Kasumi when they visited the home of an old inventor.
The eccentric man’s courtyard had been littered with his creations, both functional and failed, and she’d been too excited to wait for either her brother or his guard.
But it had been more than three years since then, and her muscles hadn’t been stiff from a full day in the saddle.
Curses. Which would cause the greater harm to her dignity: drawing attention to the fact they were ignoring a princess, or tumbling to the ground when her skirt caught or her legs didn’t?
“Keenan.” She kept her voice aloof. Calm, controlled, not neglected. “Could you help me down?”
He looked up, but he didn’t respond or set down his work.
“Please?” she added after a moment. She really wanted to be free of her seat.
His eyes remained on hers as he finished his knot before walking toward her. Their brilliant blue locked her in place, intent but not admiring. Her hands clenched around the leather reins while she waited for him to reach her.
“A request and a please,” he said, stopping an arm’s length away. “Elevating a single peasant above the others? Or lowering yourself from your lofty position?”
“Will you make a princess stay on her horse?” she retorted, her cheeks heating a little at his accusation. “Or may I dismount now?”
“Of course, Your Highness.” Sweeping her a shallow bow, he took another step forward and wrapped his large hands around her waist. “Forgive me for making the princess wait.”
“I didn’t mean—” She cut off when he hefted her from the saddle before she could free her foot from the stirrup. “Wait!”
He didn’t stop, pulling her down and forward. She cried out when the stirrup twisted the wrong way. Her waist was level with his, but so were her feet.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, trying to hold herself up.
“Princess? What’s wrong?” he asked, his voice suddenly worried. “Why are—”
Aya tossed her head and sidestepped as the reins pulled her around. Sakura quickly released the leather straps. But the horse kept moving, upset and frightened by the uneven weight and the strange pulling at the saddle.
“The stirrup!” she gasped out, too distressed to reprimand him for his haste. It was her own clumsy fault anyway. “Aya, calm down. It’s all right, Aya!”
The tension in her voice did nothing to convince the horse to relax. Aya jerked farther away as Keenan stepped forward to ease the strain on the saddle. It was a good thing he was so sturdy, or her horse might be dragging her across the mountainside by now.
Sakura tightened her grip, pressing her cheek into his shoulder and trying to stop the twist in her knee.
Kasumi’s quiet voice joined the soundscape. Aya calmed and stood still, allowing Keenan to catch up and free Sakura’s foot.
“Are you all right?” he asked, holding her upright as she sagged against him. “Can you stand?”
Not until her legs stopped shaking. But since she’d already betrayed enough panic, she eased herself back, settling her weight onto her own two feet. Keenan’s hands loosened, but he didn’t remove his support.
Sakura tipped her head back to look at him. He stared down at her with concern, his brilliant blue eyes wandering over her face while his fingers twitched at her sides.
For a senseless moment, she wished that she could forget everything her mother had taught her, accept the prophecy, and stay right where she was.
“Your eyes are amazing,” she murmured.
But instead of smiling, Keenan scowled and dropped his hands. “I need to finish setting up camp.”
He—what?
Sakura watched in surprise as he stormed back to the tent he’d been working on. She hadn’t expected a compliment to drive him away.
Her knee twinged as she took Aya’s reins from Kasumi, but she ignored it, stepping carefully to avoid a limp as she led her horse to a decent patch of grass and set out a picket line.
Once Aya was happily grazing, Sakura removed the saddlebags and saddle so she could brush the horse down after the long day of riding.
Strictly speaking, it was servants’ work. But she’d done it before when she didn’t think anyone would notice. And since her four companions were busy, they would each assume someone else had done it. It would be fine.
A soft sound behind her made her jump. Whirling, she saw Oliver digging in one of his saddlebags. His eyes skimmed over her before returning to his task.
“What are you doing?” she asked, the words coming out more harshly than she’d intended. “I thought you were helping Keenan with the tents.”
Lifting a thick pouch as evidence, the guard replied, “He tore his stitches.”
“He—” She set a hand on Aya’s side and turned to look at the weapon-smith. He was sitting on the ground with his left sleeve rolled up to the elbow. “Mother made him spar a few days ago, and he didn’t hurt himself then.”
“Must not have used that arm much.” Oliver gave her a respectful nod and walked away.
Sakura returned to running the curry brush in gentle circles through Aya’s coat, keeping her back straight as if it were perfectly normal for a princess to care for her own horse, but she kept one eye on the Darics.
Oliver said something too quiet for her to make out, then poured something on Keenan’s arm.
The weapon-smith winced and looked away.
The guard performed a similar service for something small in his hand before bending over the wound.
She whipped her head away and focused her attention on Aya’s bay hairs. Unbelievable. The middle-aged guard was sewing the cut right there. Where anyone could see.
A tingle ran through her middle. She leaned against Aya’s side, willing her knees to not give out as a fuzzy sensation blurred the edges of her mind.
Logically, she knew that the physician must have done the same thing, else Keenan wouldn’t have had stitches to tear.
But needles were for fabric, for making or repairing clothing and for working needlepoint.
Not skin.
When Keenan’s sharp intake of breath reached her, she threw an arm over Aya’s neck. She would not faint. She would not lose her dinner. She would behave with the decorum of—
Couldn’t Oliver have waited until he could hide Keenan away in a tent? Or at least until Sakura could hide herself away where she would have no knowledge of the needle or the reason for the weapon-smith’s distress?
“Your Highness, are you all right?”
Sakura dredged up a calm smile and turned to face her maid. “Of course. I thought you were preparing our supper?”
“I was,” Kasumi acknowledged slowly. “But you looked…ill.”
“I’m fine.” Straightening, she swallowed the rising bile and gave Aya an awkward pat. “I wanted to ensure my horse was not injured by the weapon-smith’s clumsiness.”
The maid opened her mouth, a strange look crossing her face, and then closed it again. “Perhaps you should check on him instead,” she said after a moment. “It is what most women in love would do, even if they are concerned by a difference in station.”
Such boldness should have outraged her, but Sakura’s stomach roiled at the reminder of nearby events. And that was worse. “Excuse me. I’ll be back shortly.”
Grabbing a fistful of her skirt, she hurried into the thin stand of trees as quickly as she could while maintaining the perfection of her stride.
As soon as she felt hidden, she dropped to her hands and knees and squeezed her eyes shut.
Bird calls and the scurrying sounds of small animals in the branches surrounded her.
The rich, pungent smell of decaying leaf litter filled her nostrils as her fingers dug into the shallow dirt. A twig poked her palm.
She shook it off before it could turn her mind to sharp objects piercing the skin.
Her stomach gradually settled, and with it, her breathing slowed. No one was hurt out here. No injuries were being mended. She was fine.
“Princess Sakura?”
It must be safe to return if he was wandering the trees looking for her instead of letting his friend treat him like a dress that caught the one errant nail in the entire stable.
Pushing herself to her feet, she brushed her hands off, then flicked the dirt from her skirt. She folded her hands at her waist, calm, proper, and perfect. On the outside, at least. “Over here.”
The weapon-smith soon appeared, his eyes scanning her from head to toe. “Kasumi was worried. Nothing ate you, then?”
She drew herself up. “They wouldn’t dare.
” It was a ridiculous statement and she knew it, but she didn’t like the way his blue eyes had changed from concerned to assessing.
She told herself that they couldn’t see what she’d been doing in the trees, but something about the way his eyes lingered on her knees made her wonder.
“At least take the fox with you next time,” he said gruffly, gesturing with his hand as he turned back toward camp. “He might scare off some of the other animals, and he can help us find you if you get lost or hurt.”
“I’ll take that under advisement,” she replied primly. Gathering her skirt, she minced over to him and wrapped a hand around his right elbow. His veiled concern was a positive sign. And she did have her instructions, no matter how unskilled she was in their execution.
Keenan glanced down and sighed. “We’re in the middle of nowhere. Do you really need the assistance?”
“Something might eat me if I stray too far,” she said blandly. “And the ground is quite uneven.”
His eyes strayed back to her knees. “Did you fall on the way out here?”
When she followed the direction of his gaze, she saw a small patch of brown that she’d only smudged instead of wiping clean. “I tripped over a loose rock.”
“Are your hands all right?” Without waiting for an answer, he picked up her free hand and turned it to examine her palm. When he dropped it and reached for the other, she tightened her grip on his arm.
“I’m fine,” she stated firmly. “It was only my dress.”
He shook his head and began walking again. “If you say so.”
She hadn’t gone far, so it wasn’t long before they popped out of the trees into their little camp.
Sakura lifted her chin, ignoring the guarded eyes of Keenan’s friend and the averted gaze of the younger guard as she swept in on Keenan’s arm.
To win his affections, she would have to let the others see her interacting with him. Favorably.
Therefore, she shouldn’t let Kasumi’s pleased expression bother her, either. She was following the orders of the queen of Ryuni, and if she succeeded, it wouldn’t matter if she favored a weapon-smith.
Her throat tightened. To assuming the throne someday. But it would still matter. A queen had to be perfect, and Mother had made it very clear that royalty shouldn’t befriend the ones who served them. She most certainly shouldn’t favor one.
Not that she did. And she wouldn’t.
Why did Mother have to choose him for her to trick?