Page 19 of Cage of Destiny
“What do you mean byforming an attachment?” Allyssa asked.
“Savenek met awoman.”
Her brother was in love? Thiscertainly complicated matters. Did her parents know?
“Given his identity, Ididn’t support the match. We had some nasty fights over it. Hecouldn’t understand why I refused to let him present himself formarriage. I couldn’t have kept him from marrying her much longer.The second I started to consider the possibility of him living anordinary life, Rema and Darmik showed up.”
The image of her brother standing onthe balcony next to her mother was seared into her mind. She’d beenso consumed with what her brother looked like, who he was as aperson, that she hadn’t stopped to think about what her brother wasgoing through. Being ripped from the only home and life he knew,thrust into court with parents he didn’t know, people he had noconnection to, everything he knew and loved gone. Her chesttightened as she thought about it from his perspective. Would hehate Allyssa for doing this to him? Would he blame her? He probablydidn’t even have a chance to tell the woman he lovedgoodbye.
When Allyssa was little, shemistakenly believed that things would get easier the older she got.How wrong she had been.
She said, “If I decide to returnhome—”
“You mean when.”
She almost rolled her eyes, but knewhe’d yell at her, even though she was walking behind him. “If Ireturn home,” she said again, “what happens to you?”
“Rema said we’d discuss itlater.”
“What do you want tohappen?” He could live at the castle and serve as an advisor to herfather. That way, Nathenek would be closer to Savenek.
“I honestly don’t know. Noone has asked what I want.”
A chill came over Allyssa. She knewexactly how that felt. “We are both tools to our kingdom. Now thatwe are not useful, we may be cast aside.”
***
Allyssa and Nathenek skirted aroundthe outside of the village until they came to a field with horsesroaming around. Allyssa waited at the fence, watching the beautifulanimals while Nathenek went to the barn to speak with thecaretaker. After a few minutes, Nathenek returned with twohorses.
“You can ride this one,” hesaid, handing her the reins to the gray one with a white mark onits face. “That’s Savenek’s.” He mounted a brown mare.
Her brother’s horse. Another piece ofhim for her to know. “What’s its name?”
“Horse.”
She burst out laughing. “My brothernamed his horse Horse?”
Nathenek grinned. “That’s Savenek foryou.”
Her heart squeezed. A joker with asense of humor. Another part of him.
“What’s the matter?”Nathenek asked.
She climbed onto the saddle.“Nothing.”
“We can’t pull this offunless you’re all in,” he said. “You must be sharp. Nodistractions.”
Leaning forward, she stroked the sideof Horse’s neck. “I’m not usually this emotional,” she said.“Sorry, it won’t happen again.” She would push all thoughts of herbrother aside. Her focus had to be Jana and the task ahead. Oncethey eliminated the evil woman, Allyssa could return home to bewith her parents and meet her brother. She would wear the crown andtake her rightful place as the future ruler of Emperion.
***
Allyssa and Nathenek rode hard andfast over the next week, heading for Jontis. Nathenek proved to bean easy traveling companion. They woke before the sun rose,trained, ate, and then rode all day. Allyssa enjoyed working withhim. He taught her tricks for getting out of a scrape in a swordfight, and how to attack when her opponent least expected it. Inshort, he taught her to fight dirty. In return, she showed him whatKerdan had taught her in Clovek. Since they were going into Russek,she thought it best Nathenek know the army’s unique fightingtechniques.
On the seventh night, they stoppedearlier than usual, not wanting to cross over into Russek in theevening. They found a quaint spot nestled under the towering treesfar enough away from the trail not to be seen. Nathenek rubbed downthe horses while Allyssa refilled their water containers at thenearby creek. When she returned to the campsite, she plopped ontoher bedroll.
“Why do you keep doingthat?” Nathenek asked. She scrunched her forehead in confusion,having no idea what he meant. “Your shoulder. You’re always rubbingor touching it. Why?”
Closing her eyes, she took a deepbreath. She hadn’t even realized she was doing that. When shetouched her shoulder, memories slammed into her—the explosion, thewood shard impaling into it, Eliza beating her, the escape, herinfection, almost losing her arm, and the break-up. It was all tiedtogether.
