Kingdom of Sea and Stone (Crown of Coral and Pearl #2) - Mara Rutherford Page 0,70

was my first bonded horse. I got him when I was three years old.”

My mouth dropped open in shock. “You learned to ride when you were three?”

Roan eyed me strangely, like maybe I was joking. “I could ride before I could walk, Nor.”

“Oh.” I rolled onto my back, staring up at the stars. I wondered what my life would have been like if I’d been born in Galeth instead of Varenia. I would have had my own horse like Titania, of course, and I would have been trained in combat rather than the art of wooing a husband.

“What were you and Adriel discussing earlier?” he asked. “I saw you talking by the river.”

“Medicine, mostly. She said she wants to make me her apprentice.”

Roan sat up a bit. “What, in Galeth?”

I shrugged. “I have no idea.”

He watched me for a moment. “And what do you think of that?”

A deep sense of exhaustion washed over me, and I released a heavy sigh. “I was raised to be beautiful, to be a good wife, to be a mother someday, perhaps.”

“What about what you want?”

I turned my face toward him. “I wanted to leave Varenia, to see the world and experience all it has to offer.” And in doing so, I had caused pain and hardship for the people I loved.

“Has that changed?”

“How can I think about what I want when I have to save my parents, to make sure that Ceren is stopped from hurting more people?”

“We all have things we have to do, Nor. But once everyone is safe, surely your parents will be able to look after themselves. Zadie has Samiel. And Talin and his mother and sister will be there to keep the kingdom safe.”

I considered his words for a moment. I had envisioned that future, yes.

“And in that case...” he continued “...what will you do?”

I closed my eyes, frustrated that he once again seemed to know what I was thinking. “I’m trying to take things one day at a time right now. I could be dead from an arrow tomorrow.”

“I’d never let that happen.”

I opened my eyes and turned to him. “Oh no? You’re going to prevent any possible harm from coming to me until I arrive safely in the south?”

I could see his jaw feathering in frustration. “That’s why I’m here, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know why you agreed to come.”

He was quiet for a few minutes, and I wondered if he had fallen asleep.

“I understand taking things one day at a time better than most,” he said softly. “After I left home to join the elite cavalry training, all I did was try to survive one day, and then the next, and the one after that. I didn’t think about my future or becoming the head of a fort. I didn’t like to think about the future at all.”

I waited, listening to the soft sounds of breathing coming from the other humans and animals around the fire. Roan didn’t seem to need anyone, but Adriel had said he felt emotions more strongly than most. Of course it would have been hard to leave his family.

“It’s obvious that Talin loves you, Nor. And if he does win this war and return to his life as a royal, I’m sure he will marry you and be happy to keep you at his side like the trophy you were raised to be.” There was nothing cruel in his tone, but I could feel tears at the back of my throat. “But somehow I don’t see that making you happy.”

“You have no idea what will make me happy,” I whispered.

“You’re right, Nor. I don’t. But the real question is, do you?”

* * *

Sometime that night, I dreamed of Ceren.

He was just a boy, but I recognized him immediately. He looked to be no older than ten, his white-blond hair brushing his shoulders. His skin was so fair he seemed translucent, like some deep-sea creature not made for the sunlight, which suited him well to life at New Castle. He was playing in what looked like a nursery, based on the toys surrounding him. He picked up a wooden practice sword and spoke to a child on the other side of the room.

Talin was a little smaller than Ceren, but not as much as he perhaps should have been considering he was two years younger. His hair was a mass of glossy brown curls, and his blue-green eyes cut quickly to Ceren before darting away. Ceren had asked him to play. And Talin