Time to Hunt
“Why does everything we do around here start before the sun is up?” I grumbled, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.
“You would think you’d be used to it by now,” Becka teased, giving me a cheerful smile, her eyes alight with excitement.
“I’m going to need to sleep for a week when I’m done with training. Even that may not be long enough. If you wanted me to stay up ’til dawn, I could do that, no problem,” I whined around a mouthful of porridge.
“It seems as though your ladylike manners have all but been forgotten,” Becka pointed out, giving me a little frown of disapproval. “Besides, once you’re done training, you’re going to be our queen, and I doubt that will allow you much time to sleep.”
I stuck my tongue out at her, not having the energy to argue over such things. I’d been doing my best to adapt to this lifestyle, and I was proud I could talk with my mouth full, no matter who complained about it.
“I think it’s about time for her to finally loosen the corset strings,” Cole argued, sliding onto the bench next to her.
“See, even he agrees with me,” I said, stuffing another spoonful of food in my mouth.
Becka shook her head and tossed up her hands. “I give up. No one should have ever let you two become friends. You were both easier to manage when you hated each other. Just keep in mind, mister, I was her best friend first,” Becka warned, getting up from the table.
“Hey, mouse, you in there?” Cole asked, tapping a finger on my forehead.
“Hmm, what?” I said, shaking myself back to the present.
“You’ve been holding that spoon up to your mouth like an idiot for the past five minutes,” he explained.
“It has not been five minutes,” I snapped.
“Whatever you say. Just don’t get lost in that big head of yours when we’re on the hunt. It could get someone killed,” Cole chided.
“Don’t worry, once I’m in the saddle, I will be more focused. I have a lot more to prove out there than any of you,” I assured him.
“I’m just lookin’ out for myself. I don’t want the someone who gets killed or hurt to be me.” Cole grinned as I punched him in the arm. “Come on, let’s get our horses ready. We don’t want to get left behind.”
I tossed my bowl into the sink and followed Cole. When we got to the barn, I felt Cole’s demeanor change immediately, his body stiffening and his hands clenching into fists. I peered around him to see what had made him so upset. Then I understood—Richard was back from his assignment.
“I see you’re still on babysitting duty there, Cole,” Richard said with a snide grin.
“What took you so long? I thought you said that assignment you went on would only take two weeks?” Cole shot back.
For some reason, I didn’t understand—Richard and Cole were each other’s nemeses.
They had been part of the same group of trainees as Becka, yet Richard was the only one who had been unable to become an accepted mercenary.
It had taken him an extra year for them to grant him his status, but he wasn’t awarded the clan’s crest. I learned this limited him to basic assignments, and he was barred from working on any sensitive cases, which pretty much meant he couldn’t have anything to do with me.
Becka told me he wanted to be considered for one of my personal guardians, but now that I understood what that meant, I knew I would never have considered him anyway.
“The job turned out to be a bigger task than anyone had anticipated. Bringing in a bigger haul for us, I might add,” Richard taunted, very satisfied with himself.
“Richard, are you joining us on the hunt?” I asked, stepping around Cole to keep the situation from escalating.
“I would be honored to join you on your first hunt, Lady Cassarah,” he said formally, giving me a little bow.
I raised an eyebrow at the greeting. “It seems you’ve picked up some courtly manners on your trip.”
Did he think acting like this would win me over?
“Yes, m’lady. I hope someday to be of service to you and thought it would be best to know how to interact with a noble woman,” Richard said, giving me what I think was supposed to be a flirtatious look.
I gave him a tight smile in return. “Well, shall we get our horses ready?”
I grabbed Cole’s arm and pulled him along, not leaving a chance for them to talk further as I dragged him with me to Inali’s stall.
“You can let go now,” Cole rumbled, pulling gently against my grip.
“Why do you let him get under your skin like that?” I asked, whirling around and glaring at him. “You know that’s why he says those things… he likes to see that he can upset you.”
“I can’t explain it, but ever since we were little, it’s always been like that with the two of us,” Cole said with a shrug of his shoulders.
I sighed and shook my head before I walked into Inali’s stall. I would never understand him. Inali snuffled me as I brushed her down, checking to see if I had any treats in my pockets.
“Sorry, girl. I forgot to bring you something. I would forget my own head this early in the morning if it weren’t attached.”
Giving up on finding anything, she went back to picking at the bits of hay left over from last night. I headed to the tack room to grab my saddle and found Richard lingering there as if waiting for someone.
“Lady Cassarah, I have a message for you,” he whispered.
“From who? Did my father reach out to you?” I asked, shocked.
“I know nothing about your family. It came from Queen Mary for you as Queen of the Mercenaries.”
My jaw fell open, and I’m sure I looked like a fish gasping for air. “Wait. What? The queen? How did you meet the queen?”
“Quiet. Not so loud… this message is for your ears only,” Richard hissed, stepping closer.
I searched his face, trying to discern what was going on. Why would Queen Mary have a message for me? I felt a knot of mistrust in my chest, making me feel that everyone in the clan was in danger.
“Crown Prince Gavin has been kidnapped, and she wants you to find him,” Richard whispered quickly, his eyes watching the door.
“Richard,” I said slowly, trying to get his attention.
When he finally looked at me, I held his gaze as I spoke. “How does the queen know I’m here? More than that, how does she know I’m to be your queen? Think carefully… these answers could potentially save or kill you.”
If he’d in any way betrayed the clan, there was no saving him, but if he had a reasonable explanation, then there might be hope.
“My mission was to join a small group of newly hired groundskeepers in the castle to get a feel for what was happening in the capital. We knew the king was unhappy with Lord Everett and demoted him from captain to just a commander in the castle guard. Lord Everett had been pressing the king to make a swift and hard judgment on us mercenaries after we supposedly kidnapped you and the dragon. The king agreed with him but lost faith in him when he went against the king’s orders and performed a raid of Royal City and killed any and all suspected mercenaries on sight,” Richard said.
He looked at the ground, unable to meet my gaze as he relayed the story.
“You're telling me that Lord Everett killed innocent people because the mercenaries supposedly kidnapped me?” I asked through clenched teeth, trying to keep my anger in check.
“Yes, m’lady, that’s what I’m saying. After he did that, the king removed him from power, and he didn’t take it very well.”
“I imagine not. So how does the queen fit into all of this?”
“I was in the stable getting ready to send a messenger pigeon reporting back when the queen walked in. Her guards stole the bird away from me before I could let it loose. I’d used our code, so they had no idea what I’d written, but they still guessed who I was writing to,” Richard explained.
“Did you tell the queen I was here? Why does she want to speak to me? I don’t understand what this all has to do with us,” I pressed, still not following where the story was heading.
“M’lady, it’s no surprise to anyone in the castle that the owner of the black dragon would be anywhere but here.
It may not be common knowledge to the rest of the kingdom, but the royalty still remembers the last war with the mercenaries.
The queen knows. I’m sure that’s why they thought about making you a candidate for the prince.
They’d hoped to keep you out of our clutches and under their control,” Richard said, tensing at the sound of someone walking by.
“That makes sense, I guess, but what did the queen want? Why would she risk talking with me?” I questioned, knowing that the window to hear this was closing quickly.
“They believe Lord Everett kidnapped Prince Gavin, and the queen wants you to find him and bring him back,” Richard hurriedly said just as Becka walked into the tack room.
“Oh,” Becka paused, coming to a halt as she looked between us. “I’m sorry, did I interrupt something?”
I looked over at her and smiled. “Not at all, he was just telling me how my parents were doing. He wasn’t able to talk with my father, but he was just sharing the goings on around the estate. I was asking so many questions we lost track of time. Let me grab my saddle, and we can be off.”
“Okay...” Becka said, but I got the feeling she didn’t really believe me.
I slid my saddle off its stand, draped my bridle over the seat, and headed back to Inali.
My mind was bursting with the information Richard had just shared.
Lord Everett wouldn’t dare to kidnap the king’s son, would he?
If he had any hope of getting back in the king’s good graces before, there was no chance now.
Why would the queen think we would be willing to help find her son?
We were definitely not on the sort of terms where she could ask for a favor like that.
“Vasin, do you know anything about the prince being kidnapped?”