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PATCHWORK PRIDE

Lady Estora Coutre slipped quietly into the corridor and eased her chaiddy sense of freedo was early yet, and none of her attendants had risen, nor had her s who had traveled over sea and land to be present during this momentous ti to her like limpets to a rock would be abed for hours yet They had not been born and raised on the sunrise coast as she had, where the days started much earlier

Alone She was finally alone

Except for the Weapon who peeled away fro rather accustoht jangle the nerves of her relations ere unused to them, to her they had become almost invisible They stayed out of her way and remained silent unless addressed directly They would not report her earlysojourns unless she ordered them to, which, of course, she would not

Trained to safeguard members of the royal family to the death, their code of honor held discretion sacred It was not their place to comment on or question the actions of their wards, but to protect She found it inconceivable, however, that they didn’t have the odd conversation or two a themselves about what happened in the course of their workday In any case, she doubted she had given theossip about thus far

She drew a shawl over her head and walked along the corridor, hoping none would awaken and note her passage, or insist they accompany her, or try to redirect her, or fill her ears with inane chatter It had been almost too much to bear these last couple months Was this how her life would be from here on in? She feared it would be so

Fortunately no one burst through a doorway to ruin herIt was as if the castle itself slumbered The air did not stir and the corridors were dusky and quiet Peaceful Soon enough it would awaken, bri fros, and there would be much tiresome activity Best to enjoy the solitude while she could

Zacharyin the coh she sensed he liked it no more than she In fact, the two of them were so constantly surrounded by others that they were rarely able to speak with each other, and certainly not privately They would never get to know one another until their wedding night If even then the throngs let them alone…

In their brief exchanges, Zachary had been kind and courtly, but distant, just as she supposed she had been herself Thisof nobles was an aard tradition It was, her s had been done for hundreds and hundreds of years Herday Over tirown fond of one another, and had even found thy partnership It would be the same for Estora and Zachary, her mother assured her

Estora had always known it would be this way She had known since she was a little girl that she would be paired with a , however, was not the same as the reality

Choice was never a part of my life

No, this is what she had been born and bred for: to be the wife of so more Had she been born mindless, the outcome would have been the same

Do any of us really have any choices, or are we all pieces on an Intrigue board, moved to action by someone else’s will?

The thought brought to o The two of theardens and she had just revealed to Karigan that the king signed her father’s contract of an that she envied her for her freedom, the freedom to do as she wished, and to marry whom she wanted

It had been a mistake Estora should have known better No one chose to be a Green Rider, one was called to service A , as she understood it An irresistible, unyielding call that could break your mind if you failed to heed it It did notwith your life—the callas one of his ers Choice was not involved

She paused at an intersection of corridors, deciding she would head for the outdoors to listen to birds and breathe the free air She turned down the corridor that led past the kitchens and to a servants’ entrance

She tugged her shawl closer, and passed a servant pausing along the corridor to yawn He rubbed his eyes and forged on in the opposite direction

Pleased he hadn’t even noticed her, she continued on her way It was odd, but the more people crowded around her, the lonelier she felt The only reason they flocked to her was because she was to be queen with all of that rank’s attendant power, not because they cared about her as a person Since that day in the garden, Karigan had behaved the opposite of everyone else by avoiding her, and it hurt She’d turn in the other direction if by chance they met in a corridor, and she even declined foran had been the one person who offered Estora genuine friendship with no conditions attached, and she missed it

If only F’ryan were still alive, she would not be so alone She felt his loss as keenly as if it had happened just yesterday and not two years ago; and in the deep of night, when she was most lonely, she still wept for him Wept for her lost love, wept for the emptiness in her heart She held on to herher to Earth;in his eyes