CHAPTER 23 #2
“Master Elias and his wife raised me, all right?” the weapon-smith snapped, whirling around. “I have no siblings, my parents are dead, and Master Elias’s son and I don’t get along. And he’s the closest thing I ever had to a brother.”
The young guard looked taken aback by the outburst. Sakura felt her own eyes widen, but the older guard behind them looked as if he’d expected it. Perhaps he had; he’d been traveling with Keenan for much longer than either of them had.
Keenan opened his mouth as if to say more, looked up at Sakura, and slammed it shut. “Excuse me.” Then he stomped off into the trees beside their path.
Sakura stared after him. He’d done the same thing back at the winter castle, when she accused him of being a thief. Immediately after, he had agreed to take on this quest to escape her. What might he do this time, alone in an unfamiliar mountain range with only a worthless map to guide him?
Lifting her right leg over the pommel and freeing her left foot from the stirrup, she turned in her saddle and hopped off.
As out of practice as she was, the hard rock jarred her knees through the thin layer of dirt.
A loose stone under her right foot rolled, almost leading to disaster.
But she caught herself against Aya’s side before she landed in an undignified heap.
“Hold these,” she commanded, shoving the reins at the younger guard. He fumbled his book, but he managed to snatch the reins before they hit the ground.
“He needs space,” Oliver murmured.
“I won’t crowd him,” Sakura replied. “I’m simply ensuring he doesn’t lose his way.”
Bunta trotted along beside her, but she didn’t hear any footsteps or hoof-beats to suggest the others had followed.
The sounds of spring surrounded her as she plunged deeper into the forested area.
Birds singing, squirrels chittering. A light breeze swirled around her, rustling the branches with their tiny leaf buds.
She slowed, forcing herself to hear and appreciate it.
The outdoors wasn’t her favorite place, but spring was beautiful.
And the way-finder negated the need to follow on the weapon-smith’s heels. She should do as his friend advised and give him some time alone before she caught up.
After several minutes, she noticed a dull roar at the edge of her hearing. It grew louder the farther she walked. Curious, she picked up her pace. She could see a change in elevation ahead, but the ground beneath her feet remained mostly level.
The air smelled moist, like when she stepped outside on a misty morning. The noise changed to a tumbling, crashing sound, and something white and moving appeared through the trees.
Her breath caught as she stepped out onto a large rock and found the source. She’d seen a painting once when visiting one of her friends, but she’d never ventured far enough off the road to see one herself.
“A waterfall,” she breathed. Three waterfalls, the middle one pouring over the edge of a twenty-foot cliff and the other two spilling out of holes in the dark wall, splashing off rocks jutting out from the side and filling the air with a light spray and rainbows in the dancing sunlight.
She had never seen anything so beautiful.
Her eyes followed the water down to the pool at its base, where it gathered before bubbling away into a mountain stream.
And pacing along the bank was a young man with short brown hair and a week’s worth of stubble on his scruffy chin, hands fisted at his sides and eyes fixed on the ground in front of him instead of on the beauty above.
Keenan stormed past, oblivious to her presence. Sakura watched him march around to the cliff face, where he pivoted and dashed a hand through the cascading water before setting his fists on his hips and dropping his head back.
She slowly approached him. His eyes were closed, and his chest expanded with deep breaths before he released them through his flared nostrils.
The churn of the waterfall covered the sound of her footsteps.
She took advantage of the opportunity to examine him unobserved.
Little droplets of moisture dotted his jerkin and face, but if he noticed, he didn’t seem to care.
One spot on his shoulder gathered into a large enough drop to roll down the hardened leather and splatter onto the ground below.
She felt a strange desire to offer comfort, but she had no idea how. If she set a hand on his arm, would he slap it away? If she spoke, would he growl and storm off again?
Why did she even care?
That question hung in the air, tormenting her as the crashing of the waterfall faded into the background of her thoughts. Mother wanted her to manipulate him. Use him for her own purposes.
But it hadn’t been Mother’s orders that drove Sakura after him.
A splintering crack in her perfect image sucked the air from her lungs. A princess wasn’t supposed to feel anything for commoners beyond basic responsibility. A queen had to display a powerful, unwavering front to maintain the respect of her people. She couldn’t—
Her spine straightened, but it was an external show of strength meant to stiffen her resolve.
No matter Mother’s plans, the expectations of everyone around her couldn’t simply be ignored.
They weighed on her, squeezing her ribcage until she struggled to draw breath against the overwhelming pressure.
She shouldn’t be here. No matter the benefit to her hopeless cause, because the opposing forces were too great. She would break if she stayed.
Fisting her hands in her skirt, Sakura spun away from the weapon-smith. If he didn’t return in a timely fashion, she could find him with the way-finder later.
But his quiet voice stopped her.
“You shouldn’t have followed me,” he said, barely audible over the waterfall. “I left for a reason.”
She turned back, surprised. Keenan wasn’t looking at her, but he no longer appeared upset.
“When I get angry, I—” His hands pulled at the edge of his jerkin. “You shouldn’t have followed me,” he repeated.
“No, I shouldn’t,” she said, lifting her chin.
She felt the crack in her image straining against the conflicting forces of her wishes, Mother’s plan, and her people’s expectations, and reached for the cool logic that had always served her well.
“Bunta saw a rabbit running from his fears. I decided it would be prudent to follow so he did not become lost.”
Keenan’s hand dropped. He stood still for several heartbeats, digesting her words, before his head whipped around, his brilliant blue eyes flashing. “Now I’m a rabbit?”
Curses. She hadn’t meant to stoke his anger.
But then his lips twitched, and he dropped to a knee beside the pool. “Come on, Princess. You could at least have made me a fish.”
“Why would I—”
She gasped when the drops of frigid water hit her skin. Keenan grinned and started to stand, but the stress of the last few minutes finally bubbled over. It needed an outlet, and none of her usual pursuits could provide it.
So she reached out and shoved him in the chest.
His arms flew out to the side, pinwheeling in an effort to keep his balance. One hand shot forward as he tipped back, grasping desperately at her for support.
But her stance had never been strong, and he was much heavier than she was. He teetered on the bank for a moment more, and then they both tumbled over the edge and splashed into the water.