It was the sound of hooves that woke Suga up at first. His neck and shoulders ached, making him turn over back into his pillows. But the sudden yelps of loud voices had him crashing to the ground, his eyes pulling open when his skull bounced against nothing close to what could be a pillow. He blinked away the blurry haze of sleep. Juniper had risen to his feet which was why Suga ended up bouncing the back of his head on the flattened grass. He wasn't in his chambers. He had fallen asleep against his horse on the hard grassy floor. More talking made him rub his eyes quickly and pass several knuckles over his mouth. His entire hand wrapped around the hilt of one of the daggers at his hip as he slowly got to his feet, listening.
"Letting him slip away from us after he punched the wall was your mistake."
"How was I supposed to know the prince had a temper? He's a goddamn flower prince."
"You're as stupid as you look, you know that right? The entire palace is looking for him right now and the princess said she would skin us alive if we didn't report everything that happened."
"What she doesn't know for now, won't hurt her. It takes several days for a falcon to reach her, we find him before that."
Suga's eyebrows furrowed. The rough voices weren't ones he had heard before. Were they from the palace? There were far too many servants for him to know personally, but these didn't sound... they sounded hostile. Anyone from the palace wouldn't talk about him like that, he knew that for certain.
As quietly as he could, he pulled Juniper to his side, down another trail through the trees. Whatever those gruff voices wanted, it didn't make him want to meet them. He didn't know where the trail he set foot on led, but he prayed it wasn't circular. The thought of being outnumbered wasn't ideal. Being on the run didn't immediately include needing to fight anyone that got in his way. Moreover, he didn't want to cause any injuries to others, much less himself.
"Move quietly Juniper," he whispered.
Juniper snorted softly, his hooves muffled by the soft earth and grass underfoot. The underbrush wasn't thick compared to other parts of the forest, despite how close they were to the river. His heart beat loudly in his chest, eyes looking strictly at the boots of his feet as his mind ran around wildly.
From the snippets that he heard, Suga was being followed in the palace, and had been for quite some time. All of his movements were noted down and reported, sent by a falcon to... a princess? Impossible. All palace servants were from the city or the adjacent towns. They were only granted an audience if referred by others who had been working in the palace for at least a year. But Suga knew that they didn't know everyone that walked into the palace doors. Elvedare wasn't the type of place that was a victim to spies. No one ever cared too much about who was walking through the halls. Suga's mouth soured, dry and with a bitter assumption.
Elenora was having him followed. Ironically, it didn't strike him as a surprise. The rumours about how she plotted and planned were immense. Elenora was the brain that the Soma family had lacked within previous years. She was an equally skilled strategist compared to him, having actually been able to apply her knowledge in practice with all of the Somozan battles and coups she had been involved in since was a young child. Did she want him so badly that she would send spies to have him followed? How insane was she? It was even more horrifying to wonder how long this had been going on for.
She's dangerous, Suga thought with worry. Never mind the palace looking for me, if she gets word that I'm no longer there, things will go south.
"I have tracks!"
"Fuck," Suga muttered. He pulled Juniper out of the trees, the grassy shore of the river running wide. Hopping onto his back, Suga took off, hoping the sound of the river would hide Juniper's galloping long enough so that he could leave a false trail as far as they could go.
YOU ARE READING
Petals in the Ocean
FantasyKoushi Sugawara is a runaway prince. When decisions of his future are taken out of his hands, he makes the decision to leave his kingdom of Elvedare. On the way, as he plots to figure out how to save his home, he runs into secrets, dangers, and the...