Chapter 8
Chapter
Eight
The following day, Alina traveled with the prince’s group into the nearby town of Alton.
It was a journey of some hours, so they left before the sun.
Alina wasn’t fond of early mornings, but this time she welcomed it.
Leaving before the twins rose was an excellent way to get out of answering any shrewd questions regarding her new role.
She’d barely seen Benji in particular since she’d agreed to help the investigative team, and when they had crossed paths, she’d seen in his mutinous expression he had some things he’d like to say to her at the first private opportunity.
An opportunity she wasn’t eager to give him.
The captain had offered to secure her a carriage if she preferred, but Alina was glad to ride with the rest of the group. She’d loved riding when she was younger, but hadn’t had access to her own horse since her parents had died.
She met the group outside the inn in the chill of predawn, stifling a yawn as she made her greetings to the sedate roan mare she’d been assigned.
She heard a confident tread behind her, but didn’t turn, keeping her focus determinedly on the horse. Her mood would rise with the sun, but for the moment, she was too tired to be social.
“Good morning, Alina.” It was the prince’s voice.
“Morning,” she mumbled, still not turning.
“Would you like help mounting your horse?” He was annoyingly cheerful for the hour.
Alina glanced behind her at last. Xavier was dressed in a black jacket with two lines of silver buttons running down his chest, and light metal bracers on his arms. His hair was mussed, as if he was also feeling the effects of the early morning, but it just made him look more dashing, irritatingly.
“I can manage,” she said, in begrudging answer to his question.
“Are you sure?” He reached out and lifted the end of her braid, the movement casual and shameless. “Your braid is crooked.”
“Yes, well, it’s a little hard to get it straight when I can’t reach all the way down without flipping it over my shoulder,” Alina said shortly. She flicked her hair out of his grip. “I don’t have the luxury anymore of two maids to dress my hair each morning in the latest style.”
“I like your hair like this,” Xavier informed her. “The latest style is fussy and distracting.”
“Distracting from what?” Alina demanded.
“The natural beauty of your features,” the prince replied promptly. “Long and simple hair is much more flattering. You shouldn’t change a thing.”
“Actually, I’m thinking of cutting it short.” The waspish words were as childish as they were untrue, and Alina was doubly annoyed with herself when she caught the prince’s grin as he turned away. Thankfully her moment of irritation evaporated as the humor of her own moodiness broke over her.
“You’re a wretch, Your Highness,” she said on a sudden laugh.
Seizing the skirts of her emerald dress, she swished them abruptly back and forth, using the resulting Dust to lend extra strength to her movements as she pulled herself into the saddle.
Only once she was comfortably settled did she finish her thought, her eyes laughing reproachfully down at Xavier, still standing by her horse.
“And I won’t let either you or any shears get to my hair. Plaguing me so early in the morning is hardly chivalrous.”
The prince laughed as well, as much surprise as humor on his face as he looked up at her. “I think you’re the wretch, Alina. I happen to be very experienced in plaguing women, as you call it. But you’re determined to make me look a fool by refusing to respond with the least predictability.”
“Yes, I suppose you expected to get under my skin,” she said indulgently. “But if I reach the point where I can’t laugh at myself anymore, then I’ll deserve whatever plaguing I get.”
Xavier shook his head, a smile still on his lips as he mounted up as well.
The group was soon moving, and as she’d predicted, Alina’s spirits lifted as the light steadily grew.
They cleared the small town in no time, and thanks to the deserted roads, they were able to travel at a canter for a long stretch.
When the increase in other travelers required them to slow their pace a little, Alina found herself riding alongside the prince.
“It’s nice traveling with an armed escort,” she said brightly. “We don’t need to be careful of other travelers, and everyone else gets out of our way. We’ll make excellent time.”
“Yes,” Xavier agreed, one hand steadying Zuzu on the horn of his saddle. Apparently the anzu wanted a break from his cloak pocket now the pace was more moderate.
“I haven’t ridden in a long time,” Alina went on. “I’ll be saddle sore by the time we get there, probably. But it’s worth it. I’ve missed it.”
“You’ve missed being saddle sore?” Xavier asked, amused.
“No,” Alina laughed. “I’ve missed the freedom of a good gallop.”
“Especially a stolen one,” Xavier agreed. “I just about beggared myself slipping bribes to the stable boys to not turn me in every time we snuck out for an unsanctioned ride. Do you remember that waterfall we used to ride to?”
The casual reference to their past caught Alina off guard, and she took a moment to answer. When she did, her voice was light, however. She wasn’t eager to go too deep into those memories.
“I do.” She smiled. “But not with an armed escort, as I recall. You were very good at giving your guards the slip even then.”
“Even then?” Xavier’s brows lifted in inquiry.
“Well, according to rumor, you’ve perfected the skill in recent years,” Alina told him with a smile.
“I won’t attempt to guess how many lovely young ladies you’ve awed by now with your prowess in riding at a full canter behind those falls.
It was quite a feat. I was always worried you’d fall in, horse and all. ”
Xavier didn’t show any pleasure from the compliment. “My life seems to be discussed in great detail around here,” he said, his voice a little short. “In spite of how far we are from the capital and how highly unlikely it is that anyone has accurate information to share.”
Alina laughed. “You have no idea. You’re a common topic of gossip here, and no doubt in every corner of the kingdom.”
“A hazard of the crown,” Xavier said. “But surely those with any sense would know better than to believe vague rumors from sources with no credibility.”
Alina frowned at his tone. By those with any sense, did he mean her? Was he really going to criticize her over his reputation?
“It’s not foolish to believe rumors that line up with what you already know from your own personal experience,” she retorted.
“Your own personal experience?” The prince half turned in the saddle, his eyes piercing her. “You’re going to tell me with a straight face that I was some kind of outrageous flirt when you knew me?”
“Do I need to remind you of the things you said to me?” Alina demanded. “Please don’t make me.”
“To you,” he repeated. “Not to every skirt that swished past me, which is how you’re making it sound.”
Alina knew she should just shrug off his unfair overreaction to her words. But the conversation was rapidly deteriorating to a place she hadn’t expected, and she wasn’t prepared, either for the prince’s emotions or her own.
“Not in front of me,” she said tartly. “But didn’t you, within days of me leaving the capital, create some huge scandal when you were caught kissing the daughter of Baron Runsky?
That fair-haired girl from the south-west. As I recall, all the boys our age in your father’s court were vowing they’d compete in her honor as soon as they were allowed to enter the tournaments.
But she was famously difficult to impress. You found a way, it seems.”
Xavier was silent for a long moment. “How do you know what I did or didn’t do after you left?”
It wasn’t exactly a denial.
“I didn’t go from the capital straight to being a tavern wench,” Alina said with a bite.
“When we first set up our new home on the far side of the forest, we were still moving in the same circles. Another wealthy family from my father’s merchant guild passed through not long after we arrived, and the daughter of the family was very eager to tell me all the gossip from the capital. ”
The prince’s brow was stormy, and Alina regretted bringing any of it up. She’d assumed he’d boast in the conquest, or maybe just laugh it off. His surliness was unexpected and, as always, much more unsettling than his studied charm.
“I’m not scolding you,” she assured him. “I have no reason to, and I’m sure you get plenty of that from other quarters.”
“You’re very high and mighty,” he said, ignoring her attempts to soften her words. “But I’m sure this other girl went away with plenty of gossip of her own.”
“Not from me,” Alina said, unable to keep the hurt out of her denial. “I never said a word about…well, anything. Not to a soul.”
She found Xavier’s eyes on her, dark and compelling. She had the sense that she was being searched, then his features softened just slightly. He turned his gaze forward.
“I haven’t been back to that waterfall for many years,” he said. “And when I did go, it was alone.”
Startled, Alina snuck a look at his profile. Was he telling the truth? It had been a very romantic spot, there was no doubt about it. She would have assumed he’d swept many a girl off her feet there.
Captain Mitchell rode up on the prince’s other flank, and Alina was happy to rein her horse in and drop back a little.
She felt eyes on her, and turned her head to see Charles, the prince’s personal servant, giving her a very thoughtful look.
He looked discomposed to be caught watching, lowering his head in a respectful gesture.
The only reassurance she could manage was a faint smile.
She needed time to regroup before she could be friendly again.