My boots land nimbly on the snow as I jump down from the carriage. Sail gives a soft curse behind me, but he doesn’t argue, doesn’t try to get me to go back. I like that about him.
“Where are the other guards?”
He points. “Up ahead on the hill where they can get a better vantage point.”
I nod swiftly as we make our way through the snow. As we pass by the saddles’ carriages, women’s heads pop out the windows, straining to see what’s going on. The drivers wait steadfastly on their benches, keeping the horses from becoming too anxious as their hooves paw at the snow.
Rissa is one of the women leaning out, but she surprises me when she calls my name. She hasn’t spoken a word to me since I saw her in the throne room that night, when King Fulke demanded our attention. “What’s going on?”
“I’m not sure yet,” I tell her honestly.
Her blue eyes flicker around the dark landscape, though their lanterns bloom light from inside the carriage.
“If you find anything out, let us know.” She pulls her head back inside without waiting for my reply, conversation between Rosh and Polly immediately striking up in quiet murmurs.
I blink at the window for a moment before moving on. I don’t know whether to be glad that Rissa was willing to talk to me or offended at her brashness.
Sail looks over at me and smirks, though he says nothing. “What?” I ask.
He gives an easy shrug. “Nothing. I’m surprised you didn’t ask for a book, is all.”
I frown. “A book?”
“Yeah, to chuck at her head.” Sail barks a laugh at his words, and my mouth pops open before a grudging, embarrassed laugh escapes me. “I was trying to help her!”
Sail laughs so hard that he loses his breath. “Remind me not to ever ask for your help, Miss Auren.”
My lips pull up into a smile from his teasing. “Ass.”
“It’s my favorite story of yours.”
I groan and wipe a hand down my face. “You guards are a gossipy bunch. Does everyone know?”
Sail grins. “Yep.”
I shake my head. “Great Divine.”
His chuckle tapers off. “Don’t be embarrassed. I like that story.”
I give him a glare, but he holds up his hands. “Not just for the reasons you think,” he explains. “To be honest, I wasn’t sure I wanted this position—to help escort you to Fifth Kingdom. Sure, back at home, I was just on outside wall watch. Boring as hell and cold enough to freeze your ba—er, I mean, to freeze,” he corrects with an embarrassed grin shot my way.
“You can say balls, you know,” I tease. “You don’t have to be careful or censure yourself. I’m just a saddle, after all.”
But Sail shakes his head. “You’re definitely more than just that, my lady. And you should make sure people treat you as such.”
Sail’s words startle me, my smile slipping off as the conviction of his words put something serious between us. Something heavier than the lightness we usually keep.
“As I was saying,” he goes on, filling the awkward silence. “I wasn’t sure I wanted this placement, even though it was going to be a huge advancement for my rank. But then, this lot that Digby chose, we started talking. Trading stories. And that was when I heard about you tossing that book at poor Miss Rissa’s face.” He shakes his head with a snicker. “Some of them thought you were just being a…”
“Bitch?” I offer.
A sheepish look is sent my way. “Right. But a few of us reckoned what you were really up to, how tired Miss Rissa was. We figured it out.”
“Pleased with yourselves, hmm?”
“Immensely. But that was how I knew I made the right decision to guard you. Because you aren’t what some people say—you aren’t some stuck-up, spoiled snob of a saddle, sitting in her tower and sneering down your nose at everyone while you polish your gold skin.”
I grimace at his visual.
“No, you cared enough about getting Miss Rissa out of a tight spot, so much so that you risked looking like the villain. You did something, a little rough, sure, and probably not the most well thought out plan, but you acted. You didn’t just stand by.”
“I gave her a bloody nose,” I deadpan.
Sail just shrugs. “You also made it so she got to retire for the rest of the night.”
I look away. “Well, that was my goal. Though, like you said, the execution was a little rough.”
“See?” he challenges, as if I just proved a point. “You’re different. And you don’t deserve to have such a rough time of it.”
I eye him as we trudge through the snow, tucking my hair behind my ears. I’m touched, to be honest. For the things he’s saying, for the way he sees me. But I don’t know how to respond. I’m not good at opening up, at speaking any kind of truths. Why would I be, when for my entire life, I’ve worked to suppress everything?
Sail must see my struggle, know that I’m getting trapped beneath the weight of his observations, so he does what I’ve come to love about him. He lightens the mood once again, managing to put a smile back on my face and settle us back on easy, even ground.
“Word of advice, though? Maybe no more book chucking.”
My lips curl. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
The two of us finally reach a crest of a small hill where I see everyone gathered ahead, their shadowed silhouettes lit up by the lanterns they’re holding. My hair whips around from the wind, trying to escape my hood, so I quickly stuff it back under as we approach everyone.
Most of the guards are still on their horses, but a few of them are on the ground talking, though most everyone is looking straight out at the horizon in the distance. I find Digby with a cluster of guards at the very front of the group, his face trained forward.
“What are you looking at?” I ask, sidling up next to him.
A slow, heavy sigh escapes Digby before he turns to Sail. “What is the king’s favored doing out of her carriage?”
Sail scratches the back of his neck nervously. “Well, see, what happened was…umm, she—”
I cut him off so he doesn’t get into trouble. “It’s not his fault, I insisted. What’s going on?”
Digby sighs again, but surprisingly, he answers. “Scouts told us they saw a disturbance in the snow.”
“Like…footprints?”
He shakes his head. “Like movement, far ahead. Snow shifting.”
“What would cause that?”
The men share a look, and one of them says, “Avalanche.”
My eyes widen.
“That mountain there,” another guard explains, this one with a thick beard the color of caramel. He raises his hand up so he can point in the direction he’s referring to. “Though we’ve been watching it and haven’t seen anything. Another scout went ahead to where the movement was noted to see if they could hear anything, find any warning that the mountain is going to cut loose.”
I squint where he indicated, but all I see are the black-lined crests of mountains ahead. And before us, all around us, are the Barrens. The wide open, frozen grounds between Sixth and Fifth Kingdoms, nothing but an iced wasteland stretching miles and miles.
“Could an avalanche reach us?”
“Yes,” Digby answers grimly.
Caramel beard explains, “We got a lot of extra snow and movement from the storm. An avalanche from that mountain would come clear across the Barrens. The flat ground is slick, nothing around to block or make it slow. If anything, it would help it gain speed. It would reach us easily.”
I swallow hard, a cold lump to land in my stomach.
“What if we wait here and monitor things?” Sail asks.
“We wait, we risk more exposure, more use of supplies,” Digby begins. “Sitting ducks for the snow to swallow.”
Caramel beard speaks up again. “And we have to go through that valley. It’s the only way to cross into Fifth Kingdom.”
I rub my hands up and down my arms as more of the cold seeps in, exposed as we are on top of this hill. “When will the scout be back?”
The guards share a loaded look. “That’s the thing. He should’ve been back already.”
