Page 26 of Mountains of Mist and Magic

He jerked his eyes from her legs back to her face and nodded.

They walked through the castle silently. He couldn't help but feel self-conscious in her presence. This was definitely going to be a long journey.

Triston could smell the stables before he could see them. He approached the stalls, looking for Sea Breeze, his stallion. Sea Breeze was near the end of the enclosure, and Triston couldn't help but smile when he saw his horse.

“Hello there, boy,” he said, patting the stallion. “Are you ready to go?”

The horse neighed in response, and Triston opened the stall door. A groom came along to assist him, but he refused. “I'll put his tack on myself. See to Princess Julietta.”

The groom nodded, and Triston looked back to Julietta, who had a look of surprise on her face. He was confused as to what she could possibly be surprised about, but he didn't question it. He just murmured to Sea Breeze, brushing his jet-black coat before putting on the saddle blanket.

Julietta's horse was a pale tan color, with white dappled spots. The groom helped Julietta up on her horse, and Triston led Sea Breeze out of the stall and then threw his leg around his stallion and settled himself in the saddle.

“Are you ready?” he asked Julietta.

“I am,” she responded, and he kicked Sea Breeze into action, and the two of them left the confines of the Twilight castle courtyard.

The forest was dark and silent, and Triston felt uneasy as they trotted deeper and deeper into the blackness.

“Do you feel that?” he asked Julietta.

“What?” she asked, urging her horse faster so she could ride next to him.

“I just feel like…never mind.”

“You can tell me…” she urged.

“It feels…unnaturally quiet.”

Julietta looked around. “It's normally quiet in this part of the forest. The animals tend to migrate to the lighter half of the woods. In this area, they are mostly nocturnal animals. Around evening, they'll come out and it will be more animated.”

He nodded. “I guess I never thought about how it would be to live in twilight.”

“It's actually beautiful,” she responded, pushing a bit of stray hair out of her face. “I like the quiet. I ride through here as often as I can. I find comfort in the silence.”

“I do as well,” he said, glancing at her. For a second, a look of camaraderie passed between them, and Triston felt a tiny bit of…fondness for her. Or at least…something. He wasn't sure what it was, but he tried to dismiss it quickly and not dwell on it.

“How do you handle leading if you prefer the quiet?”

Triston bit his lip. “I think that I can put on a brave face, knowing that it's my job and duty. Almost like a mask. I know that at the end of the day, I can be…free. I retire to my room, and I'm just me. I know, that sounds crazy—”

“No, it doesn't,” she whispered, and he looked at her again. Her heart-shaped face was focused on the path ahead of them, but in the twilight, he could just make out her features. He noticed she wasn't really concentrating on the trail, but rather, looked deep in thought.

Julietta was…more intense than he realized. She seemed more complicated than he expected, more substantial. At first, he had just thought of her as another silly girl, full of frivolity like all the women he knew in his court. They would flirt and flounce around him, trying desperately to get his attention. He didn't know why he assumed Julietta would be the same. Triston found himself more curious about her than before.

“How do you feel, having your magic back?”

She grimaced, another reaction he wasn't expecting. “It's…okay.”

“Really? Most individuals would kill to have the powers you now possess.”

“That's just the thing—kill for. I'm afraid of…being used as a weapon. I saw what magic did to my parents, and I saw what magic did to my kingdom. I—I don't want that.”

He knew her father had died in a battle before her birth, but he never knew anything about her parents' relationship.

“What did magic do to your parents?”

“My mother had more power than my father, and he resented her for it. They weren't fate-bound, but rather, their marriage was a political alliance. It wasn't a happy one, from what I've heard.”

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