The Rebel Prince (The Season Series #3)

Chapter 23 - Part 1

It seemed that a good night's sleep was all my mind needed to sort itself out. All the nuggets of conversation that I'd been unable to puzzle out before had slid themselves into place, enlightening me at least a little as to what the prince and princess likely had planned for me.

Beatriz had been right to worry about my penchant for negotiation, especially if my assumptions about Frederico's plan proved to be true. He'd made a judgement call when he'd ordered her to save my life, probably hoping that by helping me, I'd help him. He didn't need to know that I intended to do whatever it took to topple Dulciana's stolen throne. Instead, I'd let him think that he still needed to buy his alliance with me.

After all, with what I'd gone through in Ardalone, I wasn't leaving without bargaining for as much as I could from its rightful king.

But my mind's orderly cataloguing of facts was interrupted when I found myself shaken awake by the crown prince, before the pre-dawn sky had even tinged purple.

"We must be going," Frederico had said, his words a harried whisper. Somewhere in the dark of the forest, horses whickered. Fisting the sleep from my eyes, I found it far easier to rise than I had last night, the world coming into focus, albeit dimly, far more quickly.

"Wear this," Frederico said, tossing a bundled up dark cloak my way. It was heavier than I expected, a sword lurking in its folds. I didn't have time to contemplate why our campsite had already been cleaned up, all traces of the fire washed away and the saddlebags packed, nor why they'd suddenly gifted me with a weapon.

Something was wrong.

"Hurry up," Beatriz hissed, extending a hand to me from where she sat astride a horse, a dark hood already pulled over her head. Frederico had already mounted his own horse, sparing us little more than a glance before disappearing between the dark trees.

"How did I manage such a privilege?" I asked the princess, attempting some levity as I settled myself in behind her.

She said nothing, instead urging her horse forward after Frederico's. I lurched, unaccustomed to riding two to a saddle and, tempted though I was, unwilling to grab hold of her waist.

"Hold on," she snapped over her shoulder.

Well, that solved that.

I tried not to clear my throat as I did as she asked, forcing my mind to think of a great many other things than the position I now found myself in, straddling a horse with Beatriz between my legs. Or the way her waist felt beneath my hands.

Thankfully, cleared as it was, my mind was all too happy to oblige. Namely by seizing onto the fact that, for once, Beatriz hadn't risen to my sparring. And that we were riding very quickly through the darkened forest.

I risked a glance back over my shoulder, but the trees were silent save for the sounds of our horses, Frederico's shadow slowly coming into focus in front of us as the sky began to brighten.

"We seem to be in quite the hurry," I whispered.

"Stop talking," Beatriz whispered back.

Our silence soon ended, as we burst free from the trees onto a road, no more than a few paces later. Frederico had already taken off at a gallop, thundering hooves the only sound in the pre-dawn silence. Beatriz did not wait, forcing me to hold her even tighter as I jostled and bounced around behind her.

As the sky turned pink, Frederico finally slowed his pace, the trees thinning to reveal the roofs of a town between the whispering grassy knolls. He left the road, skirting the backs of the buildings until we came upon one that was unmistakably an inn.