Zadie was. I wished the idea of marrying and settling down in a cottage like this one sounded appealing. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to be loved and accepted by others; if anything, I wanted that more than ever. Why else would I have returned to Varenia, if I hadn’t believed I might finally belong?
But in this house that Zadie found so cozy, I couldn’t fight the feeling that the stone walls were closing in on me, that the roof over my head was a barrier, not protection.
That I may never find a place that truly felt like home.
11
Kester was there at first light, as promised. I had slept like the dead, with not a single nightmare to disturb me, and there was no news of Ceren from the border. But if he wasn’t here, he could be anywhere, and somehow that was almost as terrifying.
We filed back across the valley on our horses. It seemed Galeth, or at least the part we’d seen, was designed entirely for travel by horseback. The valley would have taken well over an hour to cross on foot, and there were hitching posts and mounting blocks next to every cottage.
Titania clearly remembered her home. She knew the way without any help on my part, and she seemed more at ease than she ever had on the road. As we made our way up the mountain path to the fortress overlooking the valley on one side and the mountain pass we’d used to escape Ceren on the other, she picked her way daintily around stones and cracks.
“So, how did you come by Landrey’s horse?” Kester asked me. “The last time we saw Landrey, she was heading south.”
“Talin purchased Titania from an innkeeper in Riaga,” I explained. “All they said was that she’d been left there, and no one ever came to claim her.”
Kester frowned. “Landrey never would have left her behind. She must have been stolen.”
“And Landrey? Is she all right?”
There was a long pause. “I have no idea.”
Unease crept over me like crabs scuttling on a rock. “That’s whose house we’re staying in, isn’t it?”
Kester nodded. She was clad in an undyed tunic and black breeches today, riding a chestnut gelding. She looked to be in her mid-forties, with skin weathered by the sun and hair cut short to her chin. “She wouldn’t mind,” she said, gentler than I would have expected. “Besides, you’ll be relocated tonight.”
“Relocated?” Talin asked.
“Roan will explain everything,” Kester said, ending the conversation.
The fortress was a large stone edifice running along the top of the mountain. It was narrow, with a walkway on top for archers and cannons, and little in the way of living quarters by the look of things. Galethians were posted at intervals on the wall. They weren’t mounted, but there were horses stationed at the bottom, ready to deploy if necessary.
A man on the hairiest horse I’d ever seen was waiting for us at the top. He appeared to be a few years older than Talin, with close-cropped auburn hair and piercing brown eyes above a slightly aquiline nose. A scar cut through one eyebrow, adding to his already rugged appearance. “Welcome to Galeth,” he said. “I’m Roan. I trust you slept well last night.”
He was speaking to all of us, which surprised me. Perhaps it wasn’t clear who was in charge.
“We recognized you girls based on your friend Samiel’s description,” Roan continued. “Without the flag, the rest of you would have been shot on sight.”
“Is Sami here?” Zadie looked around eagerly. She had been given her own horse this morning, brought over by Kester, who hadn’t seemed to like the idea of her riding double with Osius.
“He’s farther north,” Roan said. “You’ll see him soon.”
Zadie deflated a little, and I bristled on her behalf. I didn’t like the way Roan seemed to be withholding information. We weren’t the enemy.
Talin was similarly frustrated. He dismounted and approached Roan on foot and bowed, no small gesture from a royal. “I’m Prince Talin, second son of the late King Xyrus of Ilara. That was my brother, Ceren, who chased us to the border. He exiled me and—”
Roan held up a hand, cutting him off. “There will be plenty of time for that later, when our council convenes.”
“I’m sorry,” Talin said. “I was under the impression you were...”
He arched an eyebrow. “The King of Galeth?”
Kester snickered and Roan grinned, but there was no mirth in his eyes. “We don’t have a monarchy. We rule by council. I command