Page 95 of The Kingdom of Flames

“Try another step, Celestine.”

She kept her hands out, showing she wasn’t a threat. Eyes locked on Garo, she took one small step closer. The young colt tensed.

But he didn’t move away.

“Good,” Lord Azure’s voice was low, gentle. “Just stand there. Let him know you. Look at him, let him look at you.”

Garo stared at her, then broke away and bent low, eating at the grass in the field. Celestine watched him. The muscles on his flank rippled, his hoof padded at the ground, digging up grass for him to chew.

She watched him for a long time. After a while, she felt grounded. Like her body was returning to her. Everything was in this moment.

The smell of horseflesh near her, the soft pad of his strong hoof, the sound of the wind combing the grass. She felt for the first time in forever that she was not floating above the ground but tethered to it. Her toes dug into the black earth.

I am here. I am here right now.

The entrapment she had endured, the boundaries she had felt prodded, pushed, and finally shattered—fell behind her. When Tristien had worn his circlet, all she thought of was the terror of the future.

Right now, all that remained in her world was this horse. Watching him eat, feeling the ground beneath her. The wall encased around her threadbare soul didn’t crumble. It didn’t shift. But for a moment, she felt as if she was being rescued again by James and Lapis, one single brick shifting away.

“Good, very good.” Lord Azure’s voice broke her from her spell.

Celestine looked back, seeing the Lord of the Blue Banner smiling. She turned back to Garo.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

Garo paid her no mind. He continued eating. He was a horse doing what he needed or wanted to do. There was no bridle upon him, no collar.

Slowly he turned away, meandering to another part of the valley to eat. Celestine did the same, sensing their session was at an end.

“Would you like to sit awhile?” Lord Azure asked her.

“Yes,” Celestine spoke.

“May I sit with you?”

“Yes.” Celestine hunched down in the grass, bringing her knees to her chest. Azure sat to her left, and for a long time, they watched Garo eat, then move, then eat again. He whinnied, taken up by his energy, and galloped around. His flesh rippling, his mane as dark as his eyes.

“Beautiful,” Celestine said.

“To look upon, he is another horse. At a glance. But when you stare at them,” Lord Azure spoke and picked at a long strand of grass. “They are magnificent. They sense the earth. There is no other creature so tethered to it.”

They kept watching until he disappeared over the horizon. Celestine sat and watched, and Azure sat as well, not close to her.

But not far.

In the evenings, sometimes they would speak. Sometimes not. Azure seemed to know not just what she wanted, but what she needed.

Azure told her about his land and people. He told her about hunts he had been on and the deeds of knights living here. About wars they had fought, always with sadness in their hearts. They were a martial people, but they did not live for it like the people of the Red Banner. This alternate world was so like, and unlike her own.

Azure put more wood onto their campfire. “The young are encouraged to travel, as are the elders. To see the other banners, the other realms, where allowed. Many return with new tales. We are not traders or merchants, but we love to be seen.”

We love to be seen.

It was an interesting concept. Or idea. Celestine felt as if there was a collar around her voice sometimes.

Celestine had nightmares every evening, and it was always the same.

She was walking back into the realm of the Yellow Banners. No one lined the fields. Nobody guarded the manor.

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