CHAPTER 1
I woke from a sleep that might have been death if not for the fact that my heart still beat. I looked at the sky and laughed. My vision was a swirl of colors and nonsense. My mind, for the first time, was no longer my own.
—Entry from the private diary of Jerris, Dragonbound
SERAE
“Faster,” I gasped. Any faster and my heart might burst. Not to mention the bruising to my rear. But I needed to finish first. “Faster!” I urged again, louder this time.
“I’m coming for you,” Tam shouted from behind. He was definitely gaining. “You don’t stand a chance!”
“Nearly there, girl.” I leaned in low over my mare’s neck and urged her on.
Merria shouted something in the distance—I ignored it.
“Just a bit more.”
Tam was right on my tail, his cropped brown curls flopping with each bound.
If he wanted, he could reach out and slap my mare’s rump.
I had a bad feeling he might try to do just that, considering our last race, when he spooked her to steal the lead.
I urged Copper on, leaning farther into the saddle.
My rusty red mass of waves streamed behind me in the wind.
In a last spurt of effort, we pulled ahead of Tam and his stallion, leaping across the makeshift finish line.
I whooped and turned in my seat to flash him a victorious grin.
“All right, you may have beaten me this time, Cavendaffe, but don’t think I’ll let you off that easy.
You’re lucky I happen to like the view from second place.
” He pulled down the sleeves of his blue doublet, which he’d bunched to the elbow while riding.
His mother would definitely have words to say about the wrinkles it left.
“You’re the absolute worst, you know that?” I straightened my copper-wire glasses and ignored the heat in my cheeks.
“What? I was talking about Copper.” He pulled up close and patted her flank.
I led Copper to the shade at the forest’s edge, where trees lined the path like a natural barrier.
Merria galloped by on Silvertail, the old family gelding.
She brought him around and laughed merrily, her pale skin flushed with exertion.
“Well done, Serae! I would never dream of riding that fast, especially not sidesaddle.”
I heard the jab in it. I always rode astride, skirts bunched up in the middle, much to our mother’s chagrin.
It was one of Merria’s many baiting points, but that was how our brother taught me to ride.
Plus, it was the only way I had a chance at beating the likes of self-righteous, always-on-top Tam.
“Let’s go, you lot, or they’ll start luncheon without us. Serae’s certainly had enough sun.” Merria flipped her honey-blond ringlet curls over her shoulder and kicked Silvertail into a slow trot. She rode down the forest’s edge, spine straight and curls bouncing.
Tam kept his eyes on Merria until she was out of earshot, then he turned back to me. “Her loss, never getting a proper ride in.”
“You’re rotten.” I scowled down at my tan hands and forearms. Fair skin was the mark of a lady, who should spend her days indoors being demure and respectable—and bored to tears.
Together, we guided our horses down our makeshift racing track, this time at a calm, steady gait.
“Then again, it would take a lot of convincing to get any man between her thighs. I’d certainly never try it. I prefer more willing partners. Someone equal to the chase.”
“Do you, now? You’ve always struck me as an easy catch.”
“Oh, ho! You wound me. My eyes, like my heart, do not so easily wander.”
“And here I was thinking we were talking about thighs.”
Tam’s voice dropped an octave. “I’d much rather be talking from between yours. When can I see you again?”
The heat in his warm brown eyes was more stifling than the afternoon sun. I almost had to turn away. “Have I left you begging?”
“And desperate, too.”
I chuckled. Tam was certainly an attentive lover. Our betrothal had yet to become actualized by our parents, but I would still happily enjoy the benefits of Tam between my thighs. “Whenever you’re next clever enough to find us time alone together, I suppose.”
He winked. “Tonight, it is then.”
“Tonight?” I pulled up short, and Copper whinnied. “How?”
Tam cocked his head. “Do you not know?”
I shook my head as we steered around the bend. The large white canopy housing our luncheon tables came into view.
“My family is to stay at the manor this evening. The margrave invited us and the Ingletons. He didn’t tell you?”
“No, not a word.”
“Hmm. Maybe he’s caught onto us after all.”
I laughed and tugged at my sage-green skirts, still bunched beneath me.
“All of his grand designs are for Merria. I doubt I’ve even crossed his mind in the past month.
” That thought made me pause. Copper took the chance to nip some berries by the path.
“Do you think he means to formalize things tonight?” A chill swept over me that had nothing to do with the afternoon breeze.
Tam was silent for a while, looking as if he were carefully considering each word before speaking. “Would that be so bad?”
I froze for a heartbeat. “Do you trust him?”
“Your father?”
“No, Naton.”
“What does he have to do with us?”
My head whipped to Tam, who gave me that look—the one that suggested more than I wanted to hear. “Oh! I was thinking of Merria.”
“A habit too many have. She would be well matched with that pompous twit. That would certainly serve them both.”
“She is my sister.” The clinking of silverware against china permeated the air. Luncheon had indeed started without us—but not without Merria, of course. “Bale won’t be happy,” I said as we reached the stables.
“Then he’ll have to settle for one sister well matched.” Tam smiled, holding my gaze as he dismounted. He handed his reins off to the stable lad and moved to my side.
I rolled my eyes but indulged him, kicking my feet out of the stirrups and swinging my leg over. He grabbed my waist and eased me down. As soon as my boots hit the ground, he pulled me flush against him.
“Serae.” His voice was a ghost against the shell of my ear.
“Would you not like to be Lady Fethersen?” He turned me at the waist, lips finding mine in an insistent kiss.
“Would it not please you to run my home?” He trailed kisses down my neck.
“Would I not please you in every possible way, again and again?”
Tam would—that was never the issue. How could I explain the way the boxed-in life of a woman grated at me? Marriage to my dearest friend was more than I could hope for, but marriage itself? I settled for saying, “I do look good in blue.”
“To match your eyes.”
I chuckled. “Are they not more green than blue?”
He ignored me and continued his trail of kisses. “Have I not demonstrated my devotion?”
“Why, Lord Fethersen.” I flashed him a coy smile. “Do you mean to take advantage of me?”
“Of you, never.” His grin turned feral. “Of every second alone with you, absolutely.” He leaned in to claim my mouth again, but there was no time for this.
I pushed him to arm’s length. “Later. Hold that thought for tonight. For now, it’s luncheon, and I’m certain within moments we’ll be missed.”
No sooner had I spoken the words than Brig, Tam’s youngest brother, popped out from behind the stable doors. Every bit of him, from his mop of light brown hair down to his yellow tights, was covered with leaves. Stick in hand, he whacked each piece of wooden railing he passed.
“Mam says you’re supposed to be at the table.”
“We’re coming, you little menace. Where are your brothers?” I asked. Between Brig and Tam were two twin boys who were usually within a wooden sword’s reach of each other.
“Mam won’t let them up until they’ve eaten their full pie.”
“And you finished yours?”
“‘Course. Hiyah!”
Brig’s stick cracked against the back of Tam’s knees, eliciting a great yelp and leaving a dusty line across his navy trousers.
I grinned as I turned toward the lunch table and the boredom it promised—or worse, considering Merria and her wagging tongue were there.
I pushed my glasses up my nose, did my best to wrangle my hair, and set off down the pebbled path with Tam limping at my side.
The afternoon played out exactly as expected.
Merria’s tinkling laugh rang out as she declared, “I wouldn’t know what to do at an archery line.
It’s Serae who used to dress in trousers and play at shooting targets.
” There, she was wrong. The one time I’d tried to dress in trousers as a child, I was forced back into the house by Mother until I came out properly dressed in a skirt and bonnet.
Lady Fethersen smiled at me in apology with the same kind brown eyes she gave to her son.
Her dress today was bright blue, veering away from the traditional navy of her house, and silver ribbons threaded the brown curls piled atop her head.
“Lady Cavendaffe,” she prompted, “do tell me about these gorgeous flowers in your hair.”
Beside her, my mother beamed. Her bliaut was an elegant yellow trimmed with black that screamed Cavendaffe.
As an extra adornment, black jewels dotted the yellow flowers pinned around the gold cercle atop her head.
“I shall send Kiral to give your ladies a lesson. Even Lord Cavendaffe agrees her skills are unparalleled across the kingdom. Isn’t that right, Tychon? ”