Page 139 of The Blade in the Ashes
“Your brother is exactly what I expected him to be,” Ayanna answered, before her hand smacked down on my left thigh, leaving behind a sharp sting. “Although, I thought he would, at least, have better riding posture. He rides unevenly and leans to the left.”
“I do not.”
“You do.”
A growl was building in my chest. “What does a woman who has spent her life with her nose between the pages of a book know about riding?”
She snapped her head towards me, black hair slapping against my neck as she did and flooding my senses with vanilla. “Apparently, more than a soldier in the king’s army.”
“General,” I bit out. Usually that distinction wouldn’t matter so much to me.
She trailed her eyes down my frame. “If you say so.”
That hair smacked against me once more as she turned back to the front.
I shifted my weight, desperate to avoid being slapped with its feathery touch a third time and she snorted.
“There you go again, leaning too heavily to the left.”
Gods help me. “Stop talking.”
She moved once more, her thigh brushing against mine and this time I smacked my hand down over the top of her thigh, pressing down to hold her in place.
“And for the love of all that is good in the world,stop moving.”
“If a bird were to fly down from the sky right now and pluck my ears out I would thank it,” I complained to Antoni, before shoving another piece of overcooked rabbit into my mouth.
He grunted in agreement, his eyes watching the argument between Ezmie and Kent with undeniable disdain.
Elaijah shifted on my other side, shoving a stick towards the fire to keep the flames alive. “She is...”
I chuckled at his voice trailing off. “I warned you.”
He glared at me from the corner of his eye. “You did not.”
Ezmie stomped her foot, bending to pick up a log and awkwardly chuck it at Kent’s head. It fell to the ground two feet in front of her. The two of them just stared at it for a moment.
“That was not very mature,” he commented.
“I am a princess!” she shrieked, her child-like voice dangerously close to a wail. “I willnotsleep on the ground like a common pauper!”
“For Gods sake,” Michone groaned, massaging her temples. “Why doesn’t he just use his powers to calm her down?”
I snickered. Dragons were temperamental at best, but worse during the years when they weren’t quite children but not yet teenagers. The last time Kent had tried to calm her magically, she’d shifted in an instant and uncontrollably started spewing dragonfire at us. Then she’d tried to fly off only to fall asleep mid-flight and come crashing down onto a building.
The repairs had taken months.
For such a small girl, she shifts into a surprisingly large monster.
“Trust me,” I mumbled, picking at the dirt under my nails. “It wouldn’t help.”
“What are you four whispering about?” Ayanna demanded, approaching from the left.
She’d found a stream to rinse off in some time ago. Her black hair hung damply, and she twisted it around her fist, wringing it out so tightly thata stream of water trailed down her forearm. I watched those tiny droplets travel, noticing the way dampness stained her clothes.
Elaijah jerked his chin towards the argument before offering Myla a bite of his rabbit. She grinned and took it happily. The smaller of the princesses, at least, found this all to be a great adventure.
“Ezmie isn’t happy with our lodging for the night,” he explained.
