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Destiny watched as Mia slept. Dawn’s light slowly crept over the navy carpet and though she was a little tired, she hadn’t slept. She couldn’t stop thinking of Mia and what she would say to the Council when they convened at the Summer Solstice. Her breathing quickened when she thought of it. Would they approve of her intention to marry Mia?
Am I prepared for what happens if they don’t?
“I’ll make them,” she vowed silently. She reached into the pocket of her pants and withdrew a plain gold band. It had been her father’s ring. Her mother had had it melted and reshaped to fit Destiny’s finger. It was the ring she planned to give to Mia when they arrived at the manor after the Hunt. Another few candle marks before they left, more still until she sneaked away from the hunting party. She grinned to think of time alone with Mia where there was no need to hide. Mia stirred and she leaned forward to brush away her dark curls. Her brown eyes opened as Destiny pulled her hand away.
“Is it time to go?” she muttered sleepily.
“No, kitten,” she whispered. Smiling, she kissed Mia’s cheek, “go back to sleep. I’ll wake you when it’s time.”
She rolled over on her back and stretched. “But I won’t be able to touch you for the next three days,” she yawned. “Come and lay with me?”
She climbed into the bed beside Mia and draped her arm over her side. Mia snuggled into her and kissed the wrist of Destiny’s hand.
“Are you not tired?” she asked softly.
“A little,” Destiny answered, “but I will sleep after we’ve caught the stag.”
“And tell me again why you have to do this?”
“Tradition,” Destiny answered. “Each Heir must hunt the stag in the forest for the table of the house and for the feast to welcome the Council. It’s a show of respect to the ruler before me. Ceremonial, you could say. I must be able to provide for the household. If I were a normal princess, my husband would do this.”
“I see.”
“As soon as the deed is done, you and I are going away for a few days,” said Destiny, “blissfully alone by the sea.”
“The sea?” Mia asked her voice full of wonder.
“We have a house there. We would go in summer when my father and Richard were alive. I am weary of the castle, of having to love you in secret.”
“Only a little longer,” she smiled sadly. “Soon you’ll choose your bride and I...”
Destiny pulled her close and silenced her with a kiss. She could only pretend to ignore Mia’s warm tears as her own eyes overflowed.
* * *
THE FOREST WAS MISTY and dark, the hunting party moved slowly through the trees in search of the elusive stag. The sun was not yet high enough in the sky to shine light through the dense canopy and all around us was the sort of heavy tranquil silence every forest possesses. It fell on me as a blanket might so that all I could do was listen, as the hunters listened, and peer into the shadows. My eyes were not accustomed to searching for animals in this dim light and I grew bored of the endless, careful, trek through the brush. Every so often there would be a whistle and the party would stop. We’d stand for a candle mark or more before moving on. Destiny was on foot with a pair of trackers, I rode behind them with the other horses, a pair of guards, and supplies. I rode lazily between the two guards, leaning against the neck of my stallion. While yawning I scratched his neck. His ears swiveled and he pawed the ground. He gave a snort as a nearby bush rustled. The guards drew their weapons. Destiny materialized from the leafy shrub and jogged over to my horse. Her bow and quiver rattled and shook and her hair flashed scarlet and ruby in a patch of sunlight.
“Move up a bit,” she said. I inched forward in the saddle as she hopped up and swung her leg over his back. She grabbed the reins and dug her heels into the horse’s ribs.
“What is it?” I asked as she galloped down the trail. I could hear the other horses thundering behind us.
“The herd has moved closer to our first campsite. We’ve been wasting time circling their tracks all morning. Damn, I was hoping to have one dead and bagged before noon so we could be on our way.” I smiled as her arm tightened around my waist.
“You don’t have to hurry yourself,” I told her, “it is tradition after all.”
“Aye, but I’m anxious to start a new one.” A sphere of light appeared in the distance of the green cone and we emerged in a fairly large clearing. She pulled the reins and held me as the horse slowed to a stop. She dismounted, pulled me down from the horse, and put her finger to her lips. Carefully she picked her way through the grass, her bow at the ready. I couldn’t see what she saw but when she released the arrow, I heard it hit the animal with a loud thud. I even felt it strike the poor creature’s flesh; a sharp, burning prick in my shoulder blade. Destiny turned to face me and her exultant smile melted. I frowned as the triumph in her eyes turned to horror. I didn’t understand why she reached out her arms for me or why the forest suddenly lost all of its color.
I was laying on my side on something hard and uncomfortable. My shoulder burned and throbbed. The campfire roared in front of my eyes through the triangle made by the tent’s flap. I squinted into the gloom and twisted my neck. I winced, my breath hissed between my teeth. “Mia? How do you feel?”
“Stiff, sore,” I answered. “What happened? Why is it night time?”
Her voice came to me from somewhere to my right. “Lady Carrington accidentally shot you with an arrow,” she said. “You fainted.”
“Accidentally,” I repeated sourly. I sat up and saw Destiny’s face submerged in shadow. She smiled though her eyes glittered with tears. I reached over and touched her face, my shoulder burned in protest. “Why is she here? Where is she now? Waiting to shoot one between my eyes?”
“She wished to join the hunt and lend her skill. Now she waits in her tent for me to punish her.” She stood up and closed the tent flap. We were plunged into darkness but after a while my eyes adjusted and I could see her. She knelt beside me, took my hand and kissed it. “I’ve never been so angry or so frightened in my life. How should I punish her?”
“Fifty lashes?” I snorted. “Maybe you could banish her from Caunica? Send her to the North line as a nurse, that’ll teach her to go knocking arrows she can’t shoot.”
“Elizabeth is an excellent archer,” Destiny said with a shake of her head, her tears were warm on the back of my hand, “the shot was clean. A little to the right and you’d be dead. She knew what she was doing.” That froze my heart.
“She knows,” I whispered into the dark. “It was a warning, wasn’t it?”
“I think so,” she closed her eyes briefly and when she opened them, I could tell she was more worried than she would ever care to admit. “It doesn’t matter. I’ve killed a suitable stag and the men are tending to it now. We may leave when you feel well enough to go.”
“She could have killed me,” I whispered. “You must choose your bride, maybe then she’ll concede and leave us in peace.”
Destiny was very quiet. “I will not have my hand forced by Elizabeth. I will deal with her after we’ve returned but I can’t punish her for what she claims is an accident, not as severely as I’d like.”
“Destiny—”
“I know, Mia,” she buried her face in my neck and breathed deeply. “I can only beg your forgiveness for putting you in danger.”
I enclosed her in my arms, “never apologize for your feelings.”
She pulled away and kissed my forehead. “How’s your shoulder?”
I smiled up at her. “It throbs but I’ll live.”
She held out her hands for me and I stood. “Go out to your bedroll,” she whispered in my ear, kissing it, “and in an hour I’ll ask you to go for a walk. I don’t think Elizabeth knows everything, I think she suspects but will cling to the hope that I won’t fall for you because of your status. I am almost certain she came so that she could sneak away with me. She won’t be looking for the both of us. We must be clever.” I didn’t want to leave her. My fingers always twitched when we parted but I left her in the dark tent to unpack my bedroll from my horse. Lady Elizabeth stood at the mouth of her own tent, her long blonde hair tinted orange by the red glow of the fire. She glared at me with narrowed eyes before slipping into the shadows. I unfolded my bedroll a good distance away from the fire and settled down for an hour’s nap. As I dosed, I wondered where my nightmares had gone. I hadn’t had a single one since the night of the Rose Masque. I grinned into the night, thinking of fairy tales. I was the Sleeping Beauty trapped in a tortured sleep heavy with nightmares and Destiny, in shining armor, had battled her way through the fog and rescued me with her kiss.