A Queen of Gilded Horns (A River of Royal Blood #2) - Amanda Joy Page 0,93

fell behind and I sat down to rest my feet. I told you I would go to Sher n’Cai, Eva. I am not going to slip away in the night.”

Eva sighed. “I know. I believe you. I want to, but . . .”

Isa understood the feeling. She wasn’t quite ready to abandon her distrust either. “How about I let you know the next time I am planning a betrayal.”

Eva smirked. “Isn’t a defining aspect of betrayal that it comes by surprise?”

“I suppose I should rescind that offer, then,” Isa said, shaking off the snow settling in her hair and cowl. She was back to her natural golden curls and she didn’t miss how Eva’s eyes tightened at the sight.

“Why, Isa? Did Mother . . . make you use glamour?” Eva asked, voice soft. This was a conversation for their ears only.

“She never forced me to do anything,” Isa whispered. “Is it so surprising? I always wanted to be just like her.”

“I always thought you wanted to be like yourself. I never thought . . .” Eva shook her head. “Your true face is a high price to pay to be like Mother.”

If Isa had any Gods to pray to, she would have thanked them when the boys broke apart, cutting their conversation short.

Dthazi punched Aketo in the gut. “That is for leaving without telling me.”

Seeking retribution, Aketo grabbed his brother’s antlers and flipped him onto his back. Dthazi swept Aketo’s feet out from under him and pinned him almost casually. “Don’t tell me you’ve been away so long you think you can best me now.”

“Unlike you, brother, I never underestimate my opponents.” He escaped Dthazi handily and pulled his brother to his feet. “Please let me introduce you. This is Princess Evalina and Princess Isadore.” He added, with a significant look, “Lei’s daughters.”

Isa wanted to protest, but she held her tongue, because the words felt like truth.

Chapter 23

Eva

Aketo and Dthazi chattered in Khimaeran as the two led us to the cave mouth. Kelis and Falun had come looking for Isa and found us all, and Isa didn’t bother to hide her grin while I chastened them. Anali had circled back to collect my cousins, and after greetings were exchanged, Dthazi took the lead.

After about five minutes of walking we reached the entrance. The ground around the opening was free of all vegetation, but what I thought were massive pillars of ice dripping from the top of the cave turned out to be vines with fat white flowers and rubbery leaves I had never seen before.

Ice coated the petals, but their sweet, almost fruity scent filled the air. I reached out to grab one of the flowers, frost melting beneath my fingertips. “How?”

“The land doesn’t always play by the season’s rules in the North,” Aketo explained.

“Our great-mother says it’s because Myre’s ancient and strangest magicks retreated into the mountains after the Great War,” Dthazi added, smiling at the disbelief in our eyes. “Even in deepest winter, some flowers never stop blooming.”

“Come on,” Aketo said, pulling back the vines so they could duck inside.

It was warmer inside the cave, but only just. Ice crusted the walls near the entrance, and beneath the frost, the gray stone glittered faintly, as if it were embedded with jewels.

The deeper into the cave they got, the more pronounced the glittering became until the walls actually glowed, lighting their path forward. When Osir asked Dthazi about the light, he explained that old fey magick made the crystal embedded deep in the stone light their path. Out of respect for the ancient fey and Godlings who had built this place and made a network of these caves, they didn’t question the strange intricacies of Sher n’Cai. They simply counted them as a blessing from Khimaerani that after centuries the magick still held. I wondered if Baccha would know anything about it, but the city that had once been here might’ve already fallen by the time he was born. He’d said he grew up in isolation.

Isa and I walked beside each other, but we barely spoke. It required all my concentration to follow Dthazi and Aketo’s conversation, but I certainly wouldn’t have had anything to say to her otherwise. In the weeks since we left the Arym Plain, I had thought of a hundred different things to say to my sister, yet every time I tried to speak to her, some other need presented itself. I happily took on any minor task to distract me from her and the