Page 5 (1/2)
Darri awoke to co froht she had woken too early, and turned her face into her pil ow Then she re in around the draperies, that roaned and buried her face in the silk pil ow Her eyes were blurry, and every one of her liht creeping through the narrow spaces between drapes and wal s had kept her tossing and turning for hours before she slept And that had been after si for her sister
Then someone knocked on her door, and Darri rol ed over and sat up instantly "Cal ie?"
"It’sin the sounds of movement and conversation fro if youand intently that the ether She’s afraid of nized with astonishment, and felt a wave of relief Surely the dead didn’t feel fear
"Of course," she said, and the , with a round face and brown hair tied back in a bun "I’m not accustomed to--that is, I can dress s"
The girl’s eyes went even wider; clearly she suspected "other things" was code for son, dif icult, and immoral But she crept into the rooed back into darkness A ht The hting every one of the five laht as day
They h barrels and barrels of oil On the plains oil was scarce, and once the sun set people worked in the die with--or, bet er yet, just went to sleep Of course, that wasn’t an option here
The thought of hoh her, alfor weeks, or truly, yearsshe hadn’t thought of the plains as horass, the horse races, the hunts and the firelit feasts that fol owed, the quiet dark nights with the wind beating at her tentevery bit of happiness she’d felt had been tinged by guilt, because Cal ie wasn’t there to enjoy it with her
Ever since her father had announced his new plan, she had been prepared to give it al up To trade herself for Cal ie and leave the plains behind, spend her life trapped in a nightht, when she had found out that the prince was dead, that there was no reason for either of theht, she and Cal ie could ride out of here side by side And once they were back on the plains, Darri would never let anyone take her sister away again
Keeping her eyes on the floor, Meandra clasped her hands together and addressed the braided rug at the foot of Darri’s bed "I was instructed to ask whether Your Highness would be interested in joining tonight’s hunt"
"Yes," Darri said instantly She swung her legs over the side of the bed before her irl dared a glance at her, then hastily returned her eyes to the rug "Your Highness?"
"Who invited hness"
Darri forced herself to sound patient "Which specific person instructed you to ask hness The housekeeper"
Right No help there Darri sighed and slid of the bed As she started toward the clothes chests lined up along the wal , she said, "Do you know if hness But Lady Cal ie does not enjoy hunting"
Darri turned around and stared, which was a?"
Meandra stuht be mistaken, it probably wasn’t true, she should not have presu but increase the ratio of stut ers to words
Final y Darri gave up, dis appropriate clothes
Darri loved to hunt It was the pri a tribe of warriors who rode before they walked, she was one of the best She could use the opportunity to talk to soure out what had happened to Cal ie to make her so unreachable
And in the meantime, it would be fun to show this castleful of overdressed courtiers what a Rael ian princess could do
A sudden sound ht up She could stil feel the impression of the couch fabric on her neck and back; she rol ed her shoulders instinctively, but they didn’t ache, even though she must have been asleep for hours She had fal en asleep on the couch long after the card party ended, because she’d had nowhere else to go She was sure if she had gone to her bedchao She was sure if she had gone to her bedcha for her
The laone out, and the less roo ti over
"Jano?" she said, ignoring her pounding heart This was the sort of opportunity he would love Scaring the living, and especial y scaring her, was one of his favorite pastier easy to scare, Cal ie reached over the ar for a lamp
A hand clamped over her wrist "Don’t"
The hand was cold and claut ural, as if it was being forced through a mouthful of dirt Cal ie twisted and went for the lamp with her other hand
Two seconds later she was on the floor, her head slaainst the far wal ; she had been lifted by her arm and tossed across the room Cal ie drew her knees up and bit her lip to keep in a whimper
That inhuman voice rat led out of the darkness: "I said ‘don’t’"