As Maya’s horse cantered closer to the group, she was waylaid by one of the lords from Sunvaara, Prince Ilya Patel. With his bright blue eyes and long black hair bound with a tie at the nape of his neck, the man was a contrast to the blonde Drakkan lords around him.
Just like Maya herself, with her black hair and her dark eyes, which forever marked her as somethingotherin this country.
Also like her, Prince Ilya was the child of a union between Sunvaara and Drakazov, and she wondered idly if his childhood had been as fraught as her own.
“Lady von Rakhmonov,” Prince Ilya said, bowing his head. “How are you enjoying the hunt?”
“Well enough, my lord,” Maya said, trying not to sigh impatiently. She wished she could push past the man to talk to the Crown Princess. But the Sunvaarans were special guests of the Tsar, and it would not do to be impolite to guests of the Tsar, especially when Maya was here with a goal of her own in mind, which depended entirely on royal backing.
“That is a design of your own making, is it not?”
Maya raised an eyebrow, and then followed his gaze. “You mean my crossbow?” Maya smiled, hefting the weapon in her hand. “Yes, this is an experiment I’m working on.”
“Fascinating,” the prince said, as his eyes followed the movement of her hand. For once, a man’s gaze did not move to her face, or her body, but stayed firmly on the weapon in her hands. Maya’s heart leaped. It was so rare to find a man who was interested in her inventions and nother, that she found herself warming to the prince.
“Would you like to see it?”
At his nod, Maya handed the crossbow over to the prince. He sighted along the line, running his fingers over the barrel admiringly.
“Excellent work, if I may say so,” he said, smiling. “You are very talented.”
“Thank you, Prince.”
“Indeed,” a low voice came at her side. “The Lady is very talented.” Another gloved hand reached out. “May I?”
Schooling her face into a neutral expression, Maya placed the crossbow into the hands of the Crown Prince of Sunvaara. The man smiled politely enough, with just a hint of that entitlement that seemed common to royalty, butsomethingabout the man made her wary.
“Excellent work,” Prince Sekhar said, handing it back to her a moment later. “And you designed this yourself?”
“Thank you, Your Highness. I work with a team of several senior artificers and mages, but this is one of my first solo projects.” She paused. “Iamtrying to branch out into other areas, not just weaponry.”
“I see.” The Crown Prince smiled at her in clear dismissal, already turning away to Prince Ilya. “I look forward to seeing what else you come up with in the future.”
Maya sighed. Of course the Crown Prince would only be interested in her weaponry. She was sure one of the terms of the alliance with Sunvaara would be a sharing of their military capabilities, which included the magically powered armaments and defences that the Drakazov army was famous for.
Which was why she needed to speak to the Crown Princess of Drakazov. Maya hoped Princess Annika would be more forward thinking than her father, the Tsar.
As Maya urged her horse forward, Lord Menshikov smiled at her, his eyes lighting up as he saw her. He’d made his intentions very clear over the winter, if she gave him any encouragement at all, the man would start courting her, which was thelastthing Maya wanted. Really, she was almost twenty seven. Well past the ‘marriageable’ age, according to high society. Most lords would have given up on her by now, why was Ivan Menshikov proving so persistent?
With a quick bow of her head and a fake smile, Maya urged her horse forward past the lord so that she might approach the person at the head of their hunt.
Crown Princess Annika looked over at her as she approached. Despite herself, Maya slowed down. The Princess’s ice blue eyes and her long, light blond hair added to the Ice Princess look, but now, as her gaze rested on Maya, there was only mild curiosity in her eyes.
“Lady von Rakhmonov,” she said pleasantly.
Maya’s heart kicked. For the princess to acknowledge her, it meant she was open to a conversation. This was her chance!
“Your Highness,” she dipped her head as she moved closer. “I hope you are enjoying the hunt.”
The Crown Princess hummed in reply, and Maya took the chance to come up next to the princess.
“A moment of your time, Crown Princess?”
“Go on.”
“I request an audience at the palace to present to you my latest invention.”
“Oh, a new invention?” The Crown Princess’s eyebrows went up. Her eyes flicked to her Sunvaaran counterpart, and she dropped her voice. “I did not know you were working on anything at the moment. Is it another weapon?”
