Page 74 of War Queen
They chased the hounds to the base of a sprawling tree, where the dogs barked up at their catch. Soren shifted his eyes upward to find a large mountain lion in the far branches.
“Look at that beauty!” Phillip exclaimed excitedly. He dropped down from his mount and pulled his crossbow.
Wait, wait, wait. “You’re going to kill it?” Soren asked.
“Of course I am.”
Was this man serious? “Are you going to eat it?”
Phillip chuckled. “I’m going to stuff it.”
“And for that, you’ll kill this animal?” Soren reached down to settle his destrier, who moved under the rage of its master.
The Aleon king eyed him in surprise. “I thought you enjoyed hunting.”
Soren did enjoy hunting, but… “This isn’t hunting. There’s no need. If you’re going to waste a life, let it be your own.”
Phillip’s smile fell from his face. “I see.”
Soren shifted his shoulder, readying to pull the sword from his back. Surely this would be the start of battle—where he would have to kill this king. He glanced around at the surrounding men. He definitely should have brought Calla with her bow. It would be hard getting out of this alone.
“What would you rather?” the king asked.
His question took Soren by surprise, and it made him pause. “What?”
“The morning’s still early.”
Soren snorted.Barely.
“What would you rather?” Phillip asked again. “Duck? Deer? What do you want to eat tonight?”
“Deer need to hang. You can’t eat them the same day you hunt.”
Phillip stepped closer to Soren’s mount, looking up at him. “Do you not see my effort?” he asked so that only Soren could hear. “Can you not manage a little of your own?”
No. He couldn’t. He didn’t want to. But Soren did promise Salara he’d hunt. He sighed. “How’s your grouse hunting?”
The corners of the king’s mouth turned up. “Did you see the aspens to the south?”
Obviously. “That’s why I ask.”
“Back to the castle with the dogs,” Phillip ordered out. “The lord commander and I will keep out.”
They would go alone?
“Majesty,” a fair-haired man beside the king said to him, a not-so-subtle warning—the only man of intelligence among them.
The king met Soren’s stare and gave a smile. “Let Queen Norah know that the lord commander and I will be out awhile longer,” he said to his men. “We’ll return later this afternoon.”
Soren clenched his jaw. If the Aleon bastard thought that reminding him about Salara would protect him… Damn the North gods, he might be right.Might.
The king’s men reluctantly started back toward the castle, surrounded by the flurry of barking hounds. Phillip swung up onto his horse, and then they turned and urged their mounts south, toward the aspens.
Norah stood on the balcony of her chamber, watching the mainway toward the gates of the city. She hadn’t been able to sit still since receiving the message that Soren and Phillip were hunting alone.
“Watching for them will only make them take longer,” Calla said.
Norah groaned and stepped back inside to pace the room. She stretched out her fingers to stop wringing them.
