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I held my breath and lifted my foot out of the ain, it wasn’t on the sa before It was on so alive

I’d tried to stay awake for the rest of the night after I’d been roused by the drea to let Sabara infuse me with her et to me, to try to manipulate me, even if I couldn’t be certain it was intentional

Although with Sabara, everything was intentional

No ht it, sleep had eventually clai of snow that coated everything like frost It didn’t stick, and it no longer fell from the sky, but the chill never left the air And as we cli ers felt like icicles as I clutched the reins

The horses we’d been provided were sturdier and ed ones I’d trained on at the palace Even their coats felt thicker beneath ertips, as if they were bred for this hostile terrain Everything they were outfitted in was dark and fashioned fro them look as ferocious as the land they traveled

By the end of the first day of riding, every bone and every muscle in my body ached, my back most of all I did my best not to complain, or even to wince, since I kne i My comfort couldn’t be a consideration

When we stopped at a trickling glacial streaht of the dreaht of it often, despite my best efforts to push the dead queen from my mind

As ed toif it was really hers If it was truly awithother than revulsion

I’d feared for the child in my dream My heart had stopped and my skin had puckered with dread for her

I didn’t want the little girl in the river to be Sabara

And I didn’t want to waste any aze on me, almost as often as he watched the new riders who’d joined us I think he trusted those who accompanied us even less than he trusted Florence and his son, Jere too, although whether it was by her choice or by Florence’s order, I didn’t know She hadn’t been given her own ht fit in the saddle, but she didn’t see the two of the in her seat so she could talk to Jere to him, and told him stories I still didn’t kno they were related, if at all

As we stopped to , I slid fro tree, the only solid thing in sight I could cling to for support I bent over, my back deformed like an old woman’s, and I refused to release the tree lest I collapse

"Are you sure we’re going the right way?" I asked Zafir beneathbefore my face, I knew the question was unnecessary We werenorth

"We should be at the ferry by nightfall tomorrow," he answered, a wry smile on his lips "Since the rest of our party was presumably on that train, they’ll likely arrive at the summit ahead of us" He didn’t voice the part I worried about--the part about a turncoat in their ht be, especially considering that Brooklynn knew each and every one of those we’d traveled with, that she’d hand-chosen each of them specifically for this task because she trusted theelina’s

"You two doing a’right?" A voice interrupted us, and I ju hter

"Floss," he insisted for the hundredth ti the name out "You surprised me"

"Just checkin’ on you to make sure we’re not ridin’ too fast" He eyed me suspiciously "You seem a littleHow do I put this? Wobbly in the saddle"

I nearly choked on his generous description ofabilities I kne I must look to theseit kindly I glanced uneasily at Zafir "We’re arded me apathetically "If you say so, Your Majesty"

Florence’s--or Floss’s, rather--eyes ide and he flapped his hands wildly in front of Zafir’s face, shushing him insistently "Stop with the ‘Your Majestys’ already, and keep your face covered," he insisted, pointing atmy cheeks exposed "They already suspect she’s important" He tossed his head in the direction of the three riders escorting us--two men and a woranite hills themselves "They just don’t knohy, exactly"

My ad everyone would stop bowing and calling me Your Majesty from day one I was happy to be plain old Charlie once more