Page 19 of The Stallion & The Tigress
The course started at the palace gate andfollowed the trade road along the river’s southern banks, crossingthe river at its widest, shallowest point a league east of thecity.All Aleksi had to do was turn Zolotoy’s head toward the riverand the stallion splashed into the water while other riders had tocircle several times before their horses jumped in.Lasairhesitated at the shoreline and Brawn drew his roan gelding upbeside her, talking quietly to Sahar until she urged Lasair intothe water.He kept his horse shoulder to shoulder on the downriverside of Lasair, who didn’t act at all skittish as they waded acrossthe swift moving waters while Sahar kept her gaze steadfastly onthe approaching shore.
Once across and back on dry land, she exhaledslowly and gave Brawn a shaky grin before he circled around,waiting for the last of the riders to cross.Curious, Aleksi nudgedZolotoy closer to Lasair and cocked his head at the fine sheen ofsweat across Sahar’s cheeks and the whiteness of her knuckles.
“What?”she snapped at him.
Aleksi shook his head and said nothing, andthen chuckled low as she chuffed at him.“You told me not to speakto you again,” he said.“I am obeying your command.”
“You are insufferable,” she hissed, and urgedLasair into a trot.
Aleksi held Zolotoy back, admiring the viewof Sahar’s well-formed seat as the mare trotted ahead.Yago, hisswollen left cheek a satisfying shade of purple, cantered Tor tocatch up with Sahar, who took Lasair firmly in rein as the maretossed her head and gave the black stallion a wary eye and sidledaway.The mare had enough sense to keep the Wolf and his stallionat a distance even if the princess didn’t.
The group rode south and east across the lushriver delta at a slow gallop for another league and then turnednorth to a wooded foothill.They climbed the narrow path two horsesabreast and then the path widened as they rode across the hill’sflat top for a good league, affording them a scenic view of theverdant valley and seaside city below.
“So, Brawn,” the man called Jibalde theJackal called out, so named after his grandfather, the king who,legend had it, had gifted Sahar’s mother to Asad’s father.“Howmany times has the princess ridden this same course?”
“None,” Brawn said over his shoulder.“Thiscourse was set yesterday.”
“But the princess must know this area well,”the Jackal said.“I am sure she has ridden over it many times.”Hesmirked at Sahar as Brawn pulled his horse up with a scowl.“Itstands to reason,” he continued, “since no one knew she would enterthe races, no one would suspect her of preparing for such.”
“Are you accusing the princess of cheatingeven before the race is run?”Brawn asked, fingering the hilt ofone of his waist blades.Aleksi remembered where he had seen theman before.It was the first time he and Sahar had met, when he hadthought her and Halah unaccompanied.He had noticed Brawn’s scarredface and multiple blades as the man gave him the once-over afterSahar had walked away.
“No, no, of course not,” the Jackalbacktracked.He glanced at Taweel the Tall, his cousin and a princein his own right, who nodded his encouragement.“I am suggestingthat she has an advantage over the rest of us, living here, knowingthe area.”
“I live here too,” Munir said.“As do Ferozand Darius.”He pointed to the merchant’s son and another of theking’s guard.“Why are you not questioning our advantage aswell?”
“Because,” Aleksi threw in, “none of you wonthe race yesterday.A race honestly won by Princess Sahar withoutany help or interference from me, anyone or anything else.Anybodywho suggests otherwise,” he said with a scowl at the Jackal and theWolf, “I will break their face.Again.”
He glanced at Sahar, who sat erect and stillas a statue, her eyes glinting like green shards of glass withgolden flares.
“I do not need you or anyone else defendingme,” she said, her voice as brittle as her crystalline glare.“Ican take care of myself.”
“Of course you can,” Yago said smoothly.“Thebastard is attempting to win you over, to claim both you and yourlovely mare.”
Aleksi snorted.“I’m no fool, Prince Worm.Iknow a bastard has no claim to a princess.”
“In any other royal family perhaps,” theJackal said.“But remember, her father married a slave.”
Sahar drew a sharp breath in and her eyesblazed.“Who I marry, if I marry, is my concern, and my concernonly.”She razed the entire field of men with her fiery glare.“Ido not need, nor at this point do I want, a husband.”
Aleksi grinned, reveling in the fierceness ofher gaze, remembering the soft, surrendering heat of her kiss.“What about a man?”he whispered hotly as he rode past her.
“Princess Sahar.”Yago caught her elbow asshe left the dining salon after supper.“If I may, I would ask youto walk with me in the palace gardens.”
“Now?”
Between the three-league ride and theconstant pressure of the other riders’ scrutiny, the day had beenlong and tiring.Sahar had been looking forward to a hot bath andher soft bed.
“If now is inconvenient for you,” he said,letting go his hold of her arm with a slight bow, “then I willgladly wait until a time of your choosing.”
She started to say that perhaps another timewould be better, when she saw Aleksandr scowling at them from thesalon’s doorway.“Now would be fine,” she said instead, placing herhand on Yago’s proffered forearm and giving Aleksandr her back,missing neither his deepening scowl nor the Wolf’s smug grin.
They walked hand in arm down the hall and outinto the garden, garnering curious glances along the way, glancesthat would soon enough turn to conjecture and gossip.Sahar sighed,for it was the way of life in a palace, whether one was a servantor a royal.She peeked sideways at Yago’s patrician profile andwondered what life had been like for him growing up in his father’spalace, a man her father had hated for over twenty years, and whohad tried to kill her mother.Twice.
She let go of Yago’s arm and took a seat onthe bench by the lily pond.
“Is there something you wish to speak with meabout privately?”she asked as he sat beside her.
He laid his hand over hers.His palm andfingertips were smooth and his skin cool, unlike Aleksandr’slarger, calloused hands, which brought heat to her skin merelythinking about them.Mistaking her sudden flush, Yago twined hisfingers through hers.She waited to feel the heat spread throughher as it had when Aleksandr touched her, but all she felt wasawkward.Slowly, she pulled her hand from underneath his and foldedit in her lap with her other hand, giving Yago her best impressionof an ingenuous smile.
