A Queen of Gilded Horns (A River of Royal Blood #2) - Amanda Joy Page 0,90

reason. I expected we’d come upon it an hour ago, but we must be close now.” Snowflakes covered Aketo’s curls, but he was at ease in the cold. “We can continue as one or split up.”

“Separating seems a bit reckless, all things considered,” Isa said. From the eyebrows raised in her direction, her input clearly was not wanted, but she refused to care. Aketo had promised them warm beds when they made it through the caves.

“Princess Isadore is right,” one of Eva’s cousins, Osir, murmured in his rich baritone. Snow was gathering on his antlers and Isa fought down a laugh at the sight of it. “We could easily become lost in this.”

“A fair point.” Anali sighed. “And yet, we waste time and risk being caught out here the longer we search.”

Eva nodded. “Agreed.”

“I’m with Kelis,” Isa cut in.

Once again every head swung her way. Eva was first to react, her expression caught between annoyance and mild curiosity. Her gaze shifted to the bloodkin woman. Wondering, perhaps, if Isa was interested in her. “Very well. Anali, Aketo, and I will continue north; Osir, Lirra, and Tavan will venture farther west; and Falun will go with you two to retrace where we have already searched, if that is all right with all of you.”

Falun glared at Eva—since the beginning of their trek up the mountain, he’d avoided Isa like she carried the plague—but after smoothing away a grimace, he offered no complaints.

“I’ve no problem with holding the Princess’s leash,” Kelis said with a grin, her fangs flashing in the sunlight.

Isa rolled her eyes. She had briefly entertained the idea of flirting with Kelis, but then recalled some courtier explaining that bloodkin liked to drink from their partners. Much as her recent experiences had done to show her how little she knew about bloodkin and khimaer, she was not quite ready to investigate whether that rumor was true.

Aketo taught them a birdcall to use in case they found the cave and they agreed to meet back here in an hour.

Despite Kelis’s cheek, the woman did not care to hold on to Isa’s leash very tightly—that or she rightly guessed Isadore was too smart to take her chances with the mountains—because after a while of tracking their path back through the snow, she and Falun let Isa slow until she trailed far behind them.

Ahead of her, Falun helped Kelis climb over a massive fallen tree. When Isa came to it, she sat, swearing she would stop just long enough for her blisters to cease their pulses of pain in time with her heartbeat. All she wanted was a big platter of moon and sun pastries from the palace kitchens and a steaming pot of tea. The cold made her thoughts sluggish and strange.

She heard Kelis in the distance calling for her to hurry. Falun replied, and though Isa couldn’t quite catch his words, she doubted they were kind.

How long was she going to stay on this course? Long enough to sate her curiosity about the Enclosure at least. She would need to escape at some point. This strained silence could only last so long, until everyone realized she was the lone barrier keeping her sister—her powerful, blessed sister—from the throne. The goal of escaping her sister felt less and less pressing every day. Ternain seemed so far from here, and for a moment, Isa imagined what if would be like if her fate was not chained to the throne.

She pictured Myre’s salt-crusted northern coast again. She could march north until she forgot Princess Isadore had ever existed. Lord Baccha said he’d lived in Dracol for years; maybe she could forget herself there too. If Baccha had managed to hide his identity, surely she could.

When Isa first heard the crunch of boots on snow behind her, she assumed it was Kelis and Falun, circling back to retrieve her. “Come to collect me?”

She climbed to her feet, wincing as the pain in her feet began again in earnest. She heard a sharp intake of breath behind her and froze. Had a soldier caught onto their trail?

Three things struck Isadore as she in turn gasped: Kelis was far beyond her sight now, she was armed with only a single dagger, and she was completely alone.

Remembering the Entwining loosened some of the tightness in her chest. Her life, at least, was not in danger. But there were so many other things to consider.

Isa unsheathed her dagger—the same one she’d taken from Kelis many weeks ago—and spun, words