temper. Nor was it Degg, who had poked at him with smug, relentless jabs since leaving the palace. Never did such things touch him. Only someone Aerax cared for could affect him.
Those people numbered very few.
Instead what fired his impatience was this journey away from Koth. He had dreamed of leaving the realm since barely able to walk, and yet now his only thought was of returning to the island so he could truly be forever done with it.
And everything he saw was haunted by Lizzan. The loss of her was an ache that never eased. Every reminder was a knife in his chest.
It was she whom Aerax ought to have been with now, not these councilors and guards. He ought to be finding his way to her, not hoping to return to Koth.
If that made him foul-tempered, Aerax cared not. With Lizzan exiled, he had no friends left in the realm. And he was glad she was gone from that spider’s trap of an island, though her absence was like an endless chasm within him.
Still . . . Aerax would have given anything to see her again. Which was likely why he saw her everywhere he looked.
The raucous calls from the trees around them quieted. Rare lightness lifted through Aerax’s chest when Caeb prowled out of the tangled foliage and onto the road. The silver on his harness glinted in the sunlight, powerful muscles rippling under white fur dappled with pale gray.
“There he is,” said Lady Junica, before adding with a soft laugh, “It seems that he was unlucky in his hunt—and you are spared a bath.”
Amused, Aerax grunted his agreement. Usually after a hunt, Caeb returned with his muzzle and chest covered in blood. But no washing would Aerax have to give him this time.
Standing in the road, the big cat looked back over his shoulder and regarded the periwag. Nearly as tall as Aerax’s horse, with a powerful chest and forelimbs combined with explosive speed, Caeb could easily take down even a beast of the periwag’s size—and had, when he’d encountered herds of the untamed animals. Yet this one he could not eat.
Aerax gave a small shake of his head and the cat turned away as if he’d never given a thought to devouring Lady Junica’s mount. Instead he batted a clump of grass, then leapt straight upward in an attempt to swat a brushfly from the air, its segmented body as long as Aerax’s arm.
Caeb seemed more like a kitten than a fully grown snow cat on this journey. Away from the boredom of the palace, the cat explored and investigated everything—and hunted often, as he and Aerax once had.
Now Caeb trotted ahead, where the road widened into a clearing. Here the caravan had stopped, the travelers leaving a wider array of footprints that led to a stream and to the edges of the forest, where they’d waited in the shade until starting off again. Caeb sniffed at a few of the tracks—then rolled on them, as if covering himself in the scent.
Aerax watched him, frowning. Never had the cat done that before. Caeb took an interest in many scents. But rarely did he care for human odors, except for Aerax’s . . . and Lizzan’s.
Hope constricted through his chest. He urged his mount to the edge of the clearing, calling himself a fool. Everywhere he saw her. Because everywhere he wanted to see her.
Yet this was no trick of his eyes. Here was a print of a bare foot, and he would have known it was Lizzan by the shape of the heel alone. Or by the curve where the arch met the ball of her foot. Or by the sweet dimples that were impressions of her toes.
The first time he’d seen that print, her foot had been smaller—as had been his own. His voice had only recently deepened when he’d come across a dark-haired girl in a finely woven tunic and brocs, fiercely hacking at a tree trunk with a dulled sword. It had been a sight both unexpected and amusing, so he’d stopped to watch. He hadn’t anticipated her speaking to him, let alone imploring him to take up one of the other swords she’d brought with her, so that she could practice fighting with it.
Aerax could not help her. But he had not told her why, at first. Instead he’d given other reasons.
He had said that he only knew how to hunt and had no experience with swords. She had said they