I must get away from the smoke before the horses panic and I lose my already-tenuous control. I kick again, but she takes only a few quick steps before settling back into slow, useless plodding.
More arrows spear the brightening sky. Storm’s voice booms across the tiny valley, menacing and curselike. He’s intoning something in the Lengua Classica. Then a giggle bubbles from my throat when I realize it’s a silly rhyme about poppy fields and drunk sheep.
Panicked shouting, an order for archers to fire, and suddenly the northern sky glows with a nimbus of burnt orange. Buildings block my view, but I know something burns. My eyes sting, with shameful tears and from smoke, as I kick my useless mare again.
Hoofbeats approach from behind, and I twist in the saddle. It’s Belén. One fist is clutched in the mane of a tall dapple gray, the other holds the reins of a smaller chestnut. “Elisa, we have to move!” he yells.
“I can’t!” I say helplessly. “She won’t—”
Belén races up to me, leans over, and thwaks my mare on the rump. She jerks into a trot, and suddenly it’s all I can do to keep my seat without losing control of my extra mount.
We reach the tethered camels, which are rolling their eyes and tossing their heads in panic. Belén leans down with a knife and cuts them loose, and they gallop off. I watch them go mournfully, wishing I was riding one of them instead. Belén leads us slightly south of the village, and once we’re out of sight, we start switching back along a rocky slope, gradually circling north toward our rendezvous point. I lean forward over the mare’s neck to keep my seat on the incline.
For the first time since we decided to become horse thieves, real fear stabs my gut—but not for me. What if someone doesn’t make it? Mara is used to these hills and gullies; she stands a good chance of disappearing into the scrub and slipping away. But Storm is a stranger here, ill suited to the dry and dusty climate. What if I have sacrificed him? What if we get to the rendezvous point and he is not there?
My heart twists. Storm and I have gone from enemies, to uneasy allies, to grudging friends. I would never tell him so, but I am fond of him. Being queen has taught me that loyal friends are in short supply, and I’m not willing to lose even one of mine.
We reach a narrow gulch, half covered in bramble. Belén brings his horse to a halt, kicks a leg over, and slides off neatly. He grabs my mare’s bridle to hold her steady while I dismount. “We lead the horses from here,” he whispers. “We must go quietly.”
He sets off with his pair, and I follow. The gulch is barely wide enough for two horses, and they bump each other nervously as we travel. I stare at the hindquarters before me, expecting a kick to the face at any moment. But then my mare whuffs into my hair, blasting my neck with moist air, and all I can think is, Please, please don’t bite me.
The area is a warren of buttes and brambles and gullies. Were it not for Belén I would be hopelessly lost. We take several turns, climb two ridges, circle a giant jutting butte—all the while suffering the onslaught of tumbleweed and manzanita. My cloak protects me from the worst of it, but my cheeks and hands are raw with scratches. A grudging respect for the horses begins to grow inside me. Their skin is so much more delicate than that of camels, but they plod forward, unperturbed.
Belén stops and holds up three fingers—a signal for me to be silent while he scouts ahead. I’m supposed to duck out of sight whenever I’m left alone, but this time there is nowhere to go. Instead, I peer past the horses’ rumps to see what has stalled us. Our tiny gulch has become impassable, blocked by creosote and dried yucca stalks and bushes I can’t identify. He quietly parts the branches of the thicket and disappears inside, leaving me alone with all four horses.
The sun is high now; we’ll have to find cover soon, or a clear path to run. Birds serenade the brightening day, and something rustles in the brush beside me. A lizard, I tell myself firmly, even though this is viper country.
Belén materializes out of the thicket. “It’s safe,” he says. “Mara and Storm are there.”
I wilt with relief.
The bramble is too thick for us all to go at once, so he leads the horses through one at a time. When at last it’s my turn, he pushes the thicket aside and I squeeze through, my hair and clothes snagging on branches. He follows after, letting the branches swing back, and I find myself in a tiny canyon of sandstone that is barely large enough for four people and their horses.
Mara and Storm sit at the other end in the dry grass. Mara is doing something to his upper arm.
“Are you injured?” I ask him.
He nods. “I was nicked with an arrow. It’s quite painful.”
Mara rolls her eyes. “It bled a good bit,” she says as she wraps a strip of cloth around his arm. “But it’s shallow.”
“Any trouble getting here?” Belén asks. “Were you followed?”
Mara stands and rolls her shoulders. “I don’t think so. But oh, you both should have seen it! Storm was marvelous. And when he started yelling in the Lengua Classica, everyone panicked, and all their shots flew wide—”
“But did you see any trackers among them?” Belén presses. “Anyone we know? We should put as much distance between us and the village as soon as possible, just in case.”
Mara scowls at him. “All the best trackers and scouts joined our Malficio, remember? Most of them are with Queen Cosmé now.”
He flinches to hear the name of our former traveling companion—and his former betrothed. “It only takes one, Mara.”
They all turn to me for the final decision.
“Storm, can you ride injured?” I ask.
“More easily than I can run with these cursed manacles,” he says.
“Then we go.”
As we’re mounting up, Mara leans over and says, “I hit a pigsty. With my arrows. None of the hutas burned down, I swear it.”
Belén sidles over and adds, “And I did not set the stable on fire. A little banging on the stalls did the trick just fine.”
A quick look of understanding passes between the two of them. “Thank you,” I whisper. “Thank you so much.”
Belén leads us to the east end of the tiny canyon and a narrow opening there. We travel single file through a dry arroyo, then up onto another ridge, where we pick up the pace. Galloping, I learn quickly, is a lot smoother and less frightening than trotting, and my lazy mare grudgingly keeps pace so long as Mara’s mount nips at her heels.
I allow myself a secret smile. We did it. We became horse thieves. Now we’ll be able to cover twice the distance each day.
We’re coming, Hector.
4
HECTOR
WHEN I was fifteen, Alejandro released me from service for a summer, to crew on my older brother’s ship. Felix made me learn two dozen sailor’s knots. So I know the one binding my wrists is a type of clove hitch, designed to tighten my bonds if I strain against them.
I’ve tried to keep my wrists relaxed, but the rocking gait of my horse tightens them anyway, leaving my skin bloody and my fingers numb. If by some miracle I escaped, I wouldn’t be able to grasp a sword to fight my way free.
Even so, I am not helpless.
The true power of a Royal Guardsman lies in observation, and they have not thought to blindfold me. Overconfident fools.
Our path leads deep into the Sierra Sangre at a steady incline. Sage and juniper have surrendered to taller pines that block out the sun. I like their tart, lemony smell. I close my eyes and breathe deep of that smell—the sharpness cuts through the pain and helps me stay alert, though I’m careful not to reveal it.
The pine trees have other uses too. Every morning, my captors make tea from pine needles. And last night, one of them peeled back the bark, exposing fleshy white pulp that he scraped into the campfire pot to thicken our soup. Now I’ll be able to survive in the forest, even if I’m unable to escape with provisions.
We ride single file, with me lodged in the middle. We left Selvarica a full company of fifty men, far too many for me to slip away from. But most of the others have peeled off, called by Conde Eduardo to other tasks. Now only twenty remain. Of those, ten are my countrymen. No, not countrymen. Traitors.
I understand the traitors enough to elude them. I know their training. I can use it against them. But the other ten are a puzzle.
They are Inviernos, though they have unusually dark coloring for Inviernos, with burnished skin and black hair. Spies who have passed as Joyans for many years. But now that I’ve seen them up close, I’ll never mistake them again. They are too beautiful and too forthright to be anything but our ancient enemy.
Nor will I underestimate them.
Franco, the leader of this expedition, rides ahead of me. He carries himself like a warrior, as if barely holding himself in check, ready to explode into movement at a moment’s notice. He spied in the palace for more than a year and is as versed in Joyan court politics as he is the art of assassination. He almost succeeded in killing Elisa.
My jaw clenches tight. I’m determined not to think about her. Sometimes it’s a good thing, like when I need a memory to warm myself to sleep, or a reminder of my resolve. But it’s too great an indulgence when I’m deliberating, planning, observing.
Instead I focus on Franco’s neck, imagining my hands wrapped around it, my thumbs crushing the life from his spine and windpipe.
As the sun drops below the tree line, the thin air frosts. Two of my captors help me dismount. They drag me by the armpits to a nearby pine tree and tie me down.
It’s the perfect place from which to observe their camp. The traitor Joyans and enemy Inviernos are supposed to be allies on this mission, but they skirt one another with care. Every night the Joyan tents end up clumped together, apart from the others, and their eyes narrow and shoulders stiffen each time they follow one of Franco’s orders.
It’s an angry, resentful alliance that could burst into conflict at the slightest provocation. I haven’t figured out how yet, but I plan to be the provocation.
Once camp is set up, they send a different interrogator to me than usual, but the questions are the same as always.
“Has the queen learned to call God’s fire with her stone?” he asks. He’s the shortest Invierno I’ve ever seen, with round, childish features and a wide-eyed gaze. I know better than to believe him harmless.
“I don’t know.”
“Does the stone speak to her at all?”
“I don’t know.”
“Has it fallen out? Or does it still live in her belly?”
“I don’t know.”
I see the blow coming, but my dodge is weak and slow. The Invierno’s fist glances across my cheekbone, sending daggers of pain into my eye socket.
“God despises liars,” the Invierno says.
I blink to clear tears from that eye. It’s going to swell shut, but it’s nothing I haven’t dealt with before. I say, “Why would the queen share any of that with me? I’m just a guard.”
“You must think I’m stupid. You’re the second-highest ranking military officer in the kingdom and a Quorum Lord.”
I shrug. “The queen is a very private person.”
The Invierno raises his fist.
“Hit me all you want,” I say. “Pummel me to death, in fact. My answers will not change.”
The Invierno steps back, frowning. “You must love her very much,” he says, not unkindly.
It’s hard to keep my face nonchalant. Because every time someone mentions her, I can’t help but consider the wondrous, new possibility that she might love me back.
Be ready, she said. I’ll come for you.
Oh, I’ll be ready. These traitors will be shocked at how ready. And then they’ll be dead.
5
BY the time Belén calls a halt, my legs and rear scream in pain. It’s as though all the muscle and sinew have been rubbed away, and my entire existence is bone grinding against my granite block of a saddle.
Belén dismounts and reaches up to help me down. I try to lift my right foot from the stirrup, but my body won’t obey.
“Elisa?”
I grit my teeth. “Can’t . . . move.”
He laughs. “Stand up in the stirrups first. Get as high on your toes as possible. It will return some movement to your muscles.”
I do exactly as he says, and it seems to help. But just as I’m swinging my leg around, my thighs seize with cramps, and I topple into his arms.
“See?” he says in my ear. “Not so bad.”
I whimper.
He helps me straighten up. “Walk around a bit. Maybe gather firewood. Then we’ll practice. Otherwise it will just be worse tomorrow.”
Worse? I doubt such a thing is possible, but I nod and start limping away. I should learn how to mind the horse, how to rub her down and maintain the tack. Tomorrow, I tell myself. I’ll ask someone to teach me tomorrow.
“I didn’t realize you were in such pain,” Mara says. She has leaped nimbly off her horse, unbothered by the lack of saddle. “You should have said something.”
“We can’t afford any more delays!”
She sighs. “Oh, Elisa.”
“What?”
Mara stares at me, a strange expression on her face. She opens her mouth, closes it.
I raise an eyebrow. “Just say it.”
She takes a deep breath. “Once only, and then I’ll never bring it up again.”
I force my voice to remain calm. “You can say anything to me.”
“Here it is, then.” Another deep breath. “You’re risking a lot. For a man. I know you love Hector. We all do. But he’s just one person.”