“Doesn’t matter.”
We turned quiet, both of us looking at the blanket of stars. One streaked across the sky, a trail of light shining behind it. His body had warmed the blanket that was draped over us both, and that made it easy for my tired eyes to close, to fall asleep with him next to me.
On the second day, I was sore. Really sore.
I’d never ridden a horse so long. And I’d never slept on the ground the night afterward either.
As if he didn’t experience the same discomfort, Huntley didn’t mention it, and he climbed back on that horse, ready for another day. Queen Rolfe and Geralt and Mace were the same way, not giving a complaint before they set out again.
The mountains remained on our left, and the landscape started to thin out into open fields with green grass, weeds, and occasionally flowers. The air was still cold, but at least now it was mild, not burning your nose every time you took a breath.
It was too challenging to talk on the ride, so we didn’t say anything, and I sat behind him with my arms locked around his waist. We stopped for the night, had a meager dinner, and slept hard because we were so tired. The third day was more of the same, and I was relieved this trip was only a couple of days rather than weeks.
I knew we were close to our destination when we approached enormous stone gates. They were so tall I could see them from leagues away. With the height of a mountain, they must have taken decades to complete.
“Is that it?” I said into his ear.
“Yes.”
The gates were attached to a rocky outcropping, the rest of the city hidden from view by the stone. It was a lot more fortified than the outpost, which was surrounded by a simple wooden fence that was just tall enough so a yeti couldn’t climb over.
I wondered if they had yetis out here.
Geralt pulled a flag from his saddle, bright red, the color of blood.
That must have been a signal to open the gates because they slowly started to move.
A queen should be escorted by an entire army, not just three men and a woman who wasn’t allowed to carry weapons, but maybe that made her trek across the open safer since she would look like a nobody instead of a somebody.
“Yetis aren’t going to be able to get inside there…”
He gave a chuckle.
“Did I just make you laugh?”
“Hardly a laugh.”
The gates fully opened before we arrived, and the horses rode through the open doorway and brought us into HeartHolme. The stables were first, along with slingshots fitted with enormous boulders, quivers of arrows all along the walls, ready for use. It was a battle station rather than an entryway.
HeartHolme immediately felt different from the outpost, just by the way Queen Rolfe and Huntley were treated. The horses were taken away, and men in uniforms with a feather crested on their chests came forward to assist her. They gave her water, a tray of cheese and fruits, and removed her fur cloak, replacing it with a regal one. Huntley was treated the same way, like royalty.
They weren’t sure what to do with me.
Queen Rolfe and her guards stepped into a carriage waiting for her arrival that took her away, down a stone pathway between buildings and shops. It couldn’t have been more different from the outpost, which was earthy and open. This was a city hidden away by the stone, opening into several streets with homes and shops, a place established long ago. People walked the pathways, women carrying bags of fresh baguettes and produce. Kids played in the street, chasing one another into alleyways.
It reminded me of Delacroix.
Huntley walked up to me, his fur cloak and thick breeches replaced by an outfit far more kingly. Dressed in all black with gold chains across his chest, he carried his short swords at his hips and his ax across his back. Even in the city, he was armed, ready for anything.
I looked him over, liking the way the sleeves covered his thick muscles snugly, the way his clothes fit his body like they were made just for him. A black cape hung behind him, flowing over his broad shoulders nicely.
He gave a nod in the direction we were going. “Come on.”
I joined him, still in the clothes I’d arrived in. “So…this is HeartHolme.”
“Not what you were expecting?”
“It’s…big.”
“I told you there were a lot of us.”
We walked through the streets, moving up a slight incline as we went higher from the ground level. When the road curved a different way, I saw it. The castle was at the highest part of the mountain, visible because of its grand size, but also its elevation above the rest of the city. The blue sky was behind it—and nothing else. “Is the castle on the edge of a cliff?”