“I was a child,” Eli spat. “And Sabre was a good man.”
“And what are you now?” Emile asked. “Please, enlighten me.”
“I can tell you!” Eli turned as Rey stepped forward. His face was still dangerously pale, but he was breathing slowly, evenly, clearly trying to stay calm. “I can tell you. But it’s a long story.”
“What’s going on?” Sabre asked. “I thought I heard—but it can’t be…this isn’t…”
“It’s all right,” Rey said. Eli could feel him building magic in the air around him as he spoke. “It’s a story that starts a long time ago, with a sword, and a king—and a knight-with-a-fox-who-needs-to-run-right-now-right-now!”
His clothes dropped to the mud with a wet smack as Rey transformed into a sodden, miserable-looking fox trying to shimmy out of a shirt collar. For half a second, Eli was as transfixed as the rest of them—and then Rey’s words finally registered. He broke free of Emile and Isiodore, raced across the muddy practice yards and picked up Rey, shirt and all. He didn’t even bother to stop and grab his sword.
“Run!” Rey shouted, paws flailing as he wriggled in Eli’s arms. “Just run!”
“That was your grand story?” Eli shouted, as voices called out behind him. “He has a gun!A gun!”
“Yes, but he hasn’t fired it yet, so keep running!” Rey kicked off the shirt, and Eli held the wet fox to his chest as he bolted past the stables. “Sometimes a story is grand and dramatic, and sometimes it’s justshut up and run!”
“He’s the king! Or he was the king! He has an army, Rey!”
“And we have a horse! Cut through that garden!”
“I can’t believe this,” Eli muttered, jumping over a low garden fence with Rey bobbing in his arms.
“Neither can I, you know. You were supposed to get Sabre, not reveal your identity to the most intimidating dom in Staria!”
Eli almost asked which one, but held his tongue. “I know it was a bad decision, but they already knew, and I was—I—Lord de Rue met me at the House of Onyx and we?—”
“We’ll discuss it later,” Rey said. His tail swished water in Eli’s face. “For now, we need to get out of Duciel. There are other honest men out there, Eli. Next time, we’ll just have to find one who isn’t connected to the man who had you hanged!”
“Sure!” Eli shouted, tumbling out of the garden and into the street. “No problem! Is this how all your tricks end up?”
“Honestly?” Rey tucked his paws under his chin as Eli pushed his aching legs and tried to ignore the burn in his lungs. “Yes.”
This wasn’tthe first time Rey had needed to make a quick exit from Duciel.
The first time had been when he’d accidentally kidnapped Queen Solange’s illegitimate half-sister—though kidnapped was a strong word, she’d practically strong-armed Rey into smuggling her out of the palace and off to Diabolos, where she became a disgustingly rich pirate queen and retired on an island full of attractive poets. Since Queen Solange had also kept her palace stuffed to the brim with poets and artists, Rey assumed it ran in the family. At least escaping Duciel with a half-princess had meant she had her own horse.
This time, Rey had to make do with throwing a hasty saddle on Unicorn, who stared at him balefully while Eli grabbed a bow and a quiver of arrows from the cart. There was no time to take more than they could carry, and Rey didn’t even have a minute to mourn the loss of his soaps, lemonades, ciders, and questionable love potions.
“What about Olivier?” Eli asked, climbing up after him.
“They’ll find him when they search the house. He won’t follow us,” he added, when Eli made a sound of protest. “I’ll explain when we’re safe.”
Eli adjusted his seat in the saddle as Rey transformed into a fox to take the weight off Unicorn. Rey burrowed under Eli’s shirt, close enough that he could feel the frantic beat of his heart, and Eli paused to smooth down the fur between his ears before he urged Unicorn onto the street.
He’d never considered why Unicorn had stayed with him so much longer than other horses. He’d thought she just had a long life, but now, as she carried them easily through the rainswept streets, he remembered the countless times he’d murmured compliments as they traveled together;beautiful horse, perfect horse, the best horse in Staria.His magic had worked on her just as it had on Olivier, but he hadn’t trusted his own power enough to notice it. Somehow, he’d turned her into a story of her own.
“I know you don’t like the rain,” he whispered to her, as Eli guided her down the winding street, “but you can do it, beautiful girl. Perfect girl.”
Unicorn tossed her head as thought to say,Of course, and?
Eli was quiet as they left Duciel. The good thing about being just a man and a fox on a horse meant they had a temporary lead while the former king went about organizing the behemoth of the palace guard, and the city guard certainly hadn’t received word of a fugitive. Eli kept his hood up over his red hair as they passed through the gates, and they both breathed a sigh of relief when no one surged forward from the guard posts to stop them.
“They’ll be out in force soon enough,” Eli said, turning Unicorn toward the north. The road diverged there, taking several side paths to neighboring villages.
“I’m used to being on the run,” Rey said. “You could say I’m uniquely suited to being chased by the palace guards.”
“Lucky us,” Eli said, and his mouth twitched in the ghost of a smile.
