Page 35 of Nightingale

“Easier to kill when I know my targets better.” She shot back, and she knew that he heard the mask of sass that she coated it in.

“I think I should have clearly stated that my help in your rescue and release means that you have to forfeit killing my siblings.” He tsked in a false disappointment and took a hold of the stirrup as he unhooked the thin metal piece, guiding it into a lower position. “Anyof them.”

“Why?” Vrea asked as she cleaned each of her fingers individually, scrubbing at any of the sugary mess left behind from the fruit. “Want the pleasure of offing them yourself?”

“Perhaps you’d best gather your facts a bit more thoroughly, Princess. I’ve only killed one of my siblings, which only happened because of an accident.” He walked around Kohl, keeping one hand planted on the hindquarters to alert the horse to his whereabouts at all times. “And he was trying to kill me, so fair was fair.”

That was stinging pain in her head for him, at the fact that he hadn’t purposefully meant to spill blood that night but it had been a defense move, a quick action to save himself. It coursed through her veins like charged thunder and she connected with it, with the fear of ending one of her favoured brothers as they tried to end her instead.

“But what’s done is done. It’s not like I could go back into the strands of the past and reverse the effects of his own thoughts and actions. Raj was the one that started it and Raj was the one that paid the ultimate price.” Rian fixed the other heel hold, tugging on the leather and earning a pestering swish of a thick tail from the beast. “I did what I had to do, just as I willalwaysdo. I didn’t want to be the one bleeding out on the marbled floor.”

He paused, fingers tightening into a fist.

“I hate that we’re not only expected to kill our siblings, but scolded out of forming attachments in order to better prepare us for their death, urged to make it by our hands,” Vrea uttered softly as she unfolded a fraction of the truth for him to see.

He was right. If they were going to succeed in getting across the borders, then they needed to trust each other. It didn’t have to be fully, but enough to sleep without worry beside the other and wake in the morning. Killing Rian, Castil or the King could remain in her most pleasant dreams, but she’d tuck it away for the time spent in the real world.

“Even in this whole, war-ravaged world of ours, I find that to be the most barbaric thing out of it all.” She added.

“It’s not fun, for any of us. It doesn’t matter which side or house we come from.” He replied, leaning against Kohl with a propped crook of his arm. “HencewhyI’m trying to end this war. Maybe now you’ll better understand my reasoning.”

She did.

“I’m still allowed my reservations, but yes. I do. I don’t want this pointless war to dredge on for longer than it already has. So if you say you have an idea on how to stop it, then I’m all for it. Provided that it isn’t utter bullshit to get you close enough to Vasthold and wipe out my entire family, the Queen included.”

Rian barked out a rough laugh that came from low in his chest, “I highly doubt I’d get away with that.”

“You wouldn’t.” The female agreed, glancing back at the horses, aching to get back on the road.

He noticed, reading everything in her stance and asked, “Ready to start up again?”

Vrea lifted herself from the place on the rock, which had begun to dig its angular edges into places that held a lingering ache. “How long will we ride for before stopping for the night?”

“I figured we’d go till dusk and settle in the first mountain range. I can take the first watch whilst you sleep and then I’ll wake you in three hours so we can swap. With the first night over us, we should be closer to the Blacklegs.” He pondered outloud, scrubbing at his clean-shaven chin. “Unless you’d prefer the first watch?”

She shook her head. “I don’t care.”

Rian placed his foot in the stirrup and reset himself in the saddle, moving until he was perfectly in place. He gestured for her to do the same and she did, a warning look shot in his direction that told him not to order her about anymore unless he wanted to lose any part of him.

The Prince merely chuckled in a careless way and took a hold of the reins once more. “This is going to be a fun trip.”

Eighteen

They stopped for the evening as the sun began to disappear behind the mountain range in front of them, just as Rian predicted. Most of the ride had been nothing but pleasant quiet, allowing each of them to enjoy their own thoughts instead of caving in to the societal pressures of conversation for the sake of filling the air. Vrea appreciated that he didn’t push her to speak, and she left him to his own devices in return.

He led the horses over to the thin continuation of the stream that they’d followed for most of the day and hooked their harnesses to a nearby tree branch in order to secure them for the night. The water trickled and gurgled into a small pool, one that he assured her would end before too long. They’d have to find their way by other landmarks from that point out when they’d start up again in the morning.

During their ride, Rian suggested that they leave with the sun to gain as much light as possible and to not stay out in the open longer than they needed. Each of the twenty-seven nights could turn either way, depending on location and who was lurking out in the wild.

Vrea gathered the fallen sticks as he tended to their mounts, offering up apples and carrots to both as a reward for a long day and another to come. There weren’t many pieces of wood to find but once she’d collected them all and dumped them ina somewhat organised pile, she pulled a flint stick out from the nearest bag as Rian set it down beside her.

She inserted the end into the pile of sticks and began to turn it from side to side in her hands, rubbing her palms together as she tried to create their heat source for the night. It wasn’t frigid yet, there was no rain in the air to summon a cold mist but it wouldn’t be long before the autumn chill turned to a winter frost.

She hoped that they reached Niroula long before then.

Tendrils of steam danced upwards but no ember sparked, no flame ignited, no wisp of scarlet hissed to life. Vrea frowned down at them, pondering if she incorrectly remembered her brother’s lessons on how to start a fire in the wilderness. Before, when she’d made the trek across borders, she’d been accompanied by her mother’s men. They’d stayed by her side until she’d completed her task in Hawksmoor, escorting her back home and taking care of the menial tasks. Even if her hands had been soaked in crimson, she was still a royal heir and her mother commanded that she be treated as such.

Eamin had personally selected a group of sentries to accompany her on the last trip, ones that she hoped had run for their lives as soon as word spread that she’d been taken captive. The very last thing she wanted was for more blood of her people to be spilt on her behalf.

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