The Lost Queen (Book 1 of The Lost Queen Series)

Chapter Seventeen

Kestrel smiled at her. It was the kind of smile you give a person when you don't want to push them over the edge.

Kai swung down from his horse and approached slowly. "Are you crying over a flower?" he asked, bewildered.

Seraiah wiped at her cheeks again, embarrassed. When Kai reached her, she offered the flower to him.

He studied it as if he was waiting for it to do something. "This is a regular flower," he said after a moment, dropping it back to the ground.

Seraiah watched it fall, floating gently down to come to rest in front of her. She picked it up again.

"It's not just any flower," she said, twirling it in her fingers. "This is Sterling's favorite flower. When she was younger, she would spend hours in the field behind our house, laying amongst them. They would cover every surface of our home when they were blooming. She even named our mule after them. Every time it stopped snowing and warmed up, she would always become hopeful that this was the time winter would end, and she could see the flowers again. So, to answer your question, no, I'm not crying over a flower. I'm crying because Sterling isn't here with me to see this."

When she looked at Kai again, she swore his eyes held a sheen of unshed tears, but he turned away quickly.

"We need to keep moving," he said. "There's a stream up ahead where we can camp for the night."

Seraiah tucked the flower behind her ear and stood to follow him. He helped her mount Kestrel's horse before returning to his own. Now that they were out of the forest, the horses were no longer restricted to a walk.

"Hold on," Kestrel warned her, before a second later pressing her heels into the horse's sides.

Seraiah yelped and grabbed onto Kestrel for dear life as the horse took off at full speed. Just when she thought she'd gotten used to riding a horse and might enjoy it—this happened.

Kestrel let out a whoop. "Isn't this fun?" she shouted back to Seraiah.

"Sure. Fun," she answered. She didn't think Kestrel heard her, as the wind whipped her words away. She risked a glance down at the ground and immediately wished she hadn't. Squeezing her eyes shut, she whispered to herself, "Please don't fall off. Please don't fall off. Please don't fall off."

Eventually, the horses began to tire and slow, before coming to a stop.

"We've arrived at our campsite," Kestrel announced, tugging on Seraiah's arms. "You can let go now."

Seraiah dropped her hold and looked around to find another beautiful view. They were on the banks of a creek. Its waters were crystal clear as it bubbled happily over rocks worn smooth by years of rushing waters. It was much larger than she had anticipated. When Kai had said they would be camping near a stream, she had expected something that was barely a trickle of water.

This looked deep enough to bathe in.

Scrambling down off the horse, Seraiah made a beeline for the water. She knelt on the muddy bank and dipped her fingers in. To her disappointment, it was ice cold.

So much for that bath she had been dreaming about. The air here was warm, so she'd assumed the water would be, too. Her fingers were numb when she pulled them out.

Then again, perhaps it would be worth freezing to get the smell of blood and beast off. Even with a change of clothes, she could still smell its reek clinging to her skin. A dip in the water might help, even if she didn't have soap.

She was about to stand and inquire if the others had any soap when a wave of icy water splashed her. Sputtering, she used her sleeves to dry her face. When she looked up again, she found Kai standing on the bank next to her, looking rather amused.