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I CAN'T HIDE FROM YOU LIKE I HIDE FROM MYSELF
THE WAY TOOS ALTA WAS FULL OF PILGRIMS AND REFUGEES, so it was the perfect opportunity for Nikolai to make a show out of his arrival. Those riding at the front of the cavalry were seated on magnificent white horses and men on both sides of the column were holding high the flags with double eagles on them, as well as those with the image of a golden sun.
Alina looked beautiful, dressed in a golden kefta. That morning, Anya helped the Sun Summoner braid her hair and offered words of comfort she herself couldn't believe. Anya wished Alina didn't have to go through all his, but it felt good not to be the only one paralyzed by fear at the thought of Os Alta.
The morning was warm. Clothes clinged to Anya's back and the humid air was making her eyes teary. She hoped the whole ordeal would be over soon.
They stopped a short distance before Os Alta ― its gilded palace was mounting above, enormous and royal. Anya started moving around on her horse, craning her neck to see anything ahead.
"Would you stop wiggling around?" said Yakow, holding thightly onto the reins his nervous horse. "You're scaring my mare."
It really wasn't her fault the animal was so jumpy.
"I can't see what's happening."
"There's nothing to see." He was taller and had no trouble looking over the heads of others. "We've been stopped by the military."
"Does it look bad?"
He squinted. "I don't think so. I'm sure your dear golden boy will have no trouble charming his way out of this one."
He said it in an unashamed voice, probably loud enough for anyone around them to overhear. Anya considered strangling him where he stood.
"Would you stop it with that?" she replied in a hushed voice.
"With what?" The ridiculous half-grin on his face gave him away.
She was really going to snap and kill him one day.
"How many men are there?" she asked instead of further entertaining him.
"Many. I don't... Maybe even a thousand." Yakow shrugged. "I think that's Nikolai's brother?"
"What?" Anya exclaimed, drawing the attention of many people around. She cleared her throat. "Are you sure?"
"No. I mean, I've never seen him up close. But judging by his clothes and overall way of being, I doubt he could be anyone else. Definitely too young to be the king, anyway."
