He put a hand to her shoulder and she nodded. For now, the furry monster was hers to care for. She understood Harrison’s need for caution, but she couldn’t worry about that right now. She let the horses rest as long as possible and then stood.
Aerity made a clicking sound with her tongue. “Come along. You’ve had your breakfast.” She took a swig of water from her pouch as the creature came cantering up. “Can you pass him up to me once I’ve mounted? He’s getting a bit . . .”
“Large?” Harrison lugged him up into his arms as Aerity took to Jude’s back. Then the creature licked Harrison’s cheek, and the man craned his head away. “Ugh. Don’t get used to the taste of me,furball.” Harrison looked down into its face. The beast lay comfortably on its back in Harrison’s arms, happy to be cradled. His tongue lolled to the side. “By the seas, you are rather cute in an ugly sort of way, aren’t you?” Harrison sighed and passed him up to a giggling Aerity.
They rode on for hours. In the afternoon, Harrison held out a hand and stopped, signaling Aerity to do the same. He seemed to be listening. In the distance, she could scarcely discern the sounds of a running horse.
“Into the forest!” Harrison pointed to the Kalor side where they’d be better hidden. They rode until they were far enough in to still peer out.
Minutes later a fine horse with two riders pulled up and halted abruptly where they’d left the path. Aerity squinted. The man seemed to be pointing at the ground, trailing hishand toward the forest where they’d fled, as if he were tracking them. Aerity’s heart gave a pound.
“Wait a moment,” Harrison whispered. “Is that . . . ?” He stared hard a moment longer and then his face beamed. “Tiern Seabolt!”
“What?” Aerity sat up straighter, and as she looked she surely recognized the straight brown hair, pulled back, and the Lochlan tunic. And he seemed to have a lad with him . . . with a hair covering?
Harrison burst back through the forest with Aerity on his heels. They were greeted by Tiern’s arrow pointed straight at them. But the lad in front grabbed his arm and shouted, “That’s Lieutenant Gillfin! And Aer!”
Aerity recognized the voice immediately, and it wasn’t a lad at all.
“Vixie!”
The sisters slid from their horses, Aerity less graceful with the creature in her arms, and they sprinted for each other. But when they got close, Vixie shrieked and jumped back, pointing.
“What the seas isthat?”
“Oh! Don’t worry, it’s . . . Furball. He’s only a babe. We saved him. Or stole him. Both, really.”
“But whatisit?” Vixie’s face was scrunched in confusion and disgust. Rather than explain, Aerity set down the creature and hugged her sister senseless.
“I have so much to tell you,” Aerity whispered intoVixie’s head covering. They clung for what seemed like forever. Then they pulled away, surveyed each other, and said simultaneously, “You’re filthy.”
Aerity laughed, but Vixie’s face darkened quickly. Warning bells rang in the older sister’s ears.
“What is it, Vix? Why are you here?”
Vixie’s eyes watered. “It’s Mum and Papa. They’ve been kidnapped by Kalorians.”
Aerity felt the ground tilt beneath her and a heady rush of blood. She grasped Vixie’s shoulder. Both Tiern and Harrison leaped down to join them.
“Kidnapped?” Harrison went straight into military mode, his eyes alert. “Do we know for certain they’re still alive?”
“Nay,” Tiern said. “We only know they were taken nearly a week ago.”
Aerity was going to be sick. She pressed a hand over her stomach. “What of the rest of the family?”
“Is Lady Wyneth well?” Harrison broke in.
“We don’t know,” Vixie said weakly. “We left to find you before it happened. The Kalorians had just shown up. We weren’t there for any of it. We just heard of the kidnapping from two soldiers in Dovedell.”
“Oh, seas.” Aerity’s eyes roamed the dirt at her feet, searching for understanding, seeking answers and wisdom. If only she had been there. She felt riddled with painful guilt for abandoning her family at such a time.
“Why were you away from the castle?” Harrison asked.
Vixie chewed her lip sheepishly. “I was coming to search for you all. But that doesn’t matter now, does it? Aer . . . you’ve got to act as ruler until they are found.”
Her gut clenched further.Ruler.All eyes were on her as they processed that information. Her mind reeled. Lochlanach had been attacked by an outside force. The throne was empty. The kingdom vulnerable. And only one person could rightly rise up and fill it.
Her.
