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THE LONG WEEK OF THE wedding celebration had officially started, and even Rose seemed to enjoy some of it before they left for Darkwood.
But, Theo thought, he knew Rose agreed with him; there was no feeling in the world like rushing off into battle—even if it was the battle of her life, and the stakes were higher than ever before.
As they made their way through the forest of Rhone, Theo allowed himself to think about how, even at the start of the kingdom’s biggest celebration in many, many years, Rose managed to outshine everything else.
The celebration started with a fair and a joust. He had been relieved that there was no need to convince Rose not to participate in this one. There were speeches and presentations and the procession line, where Rose, along with her parents, presented Isra and Philip to the kingdom. The procession did not last long, as the king was quickly overheated and had to go retire, but plenty of excited people were able to see the bride and bridegroom.
None of them suspected Rose was currently headed into battle, where her fate, and the fate of the nation, would be decided.
“What are you thinking about?” Bachas grumbled, as he leaned against Theo’s back. “I can practically feel your attention wandering off.”
“Nothing,” Theo murmured, too embarrassed to admit that Bachas had a point. He had been getting distracted several times over the long hours on the road.
“I can use my seeing crystal on your thoughts,” Bachas warned.
“As we’ve discussed before,” Theo said, “I don’t think you would actually do that.”
After a moment, Bachas only shrugged. “I guess it’s too much work, now that I think about it. I gave the crystal to Elva, and she’s riding along with your lady and her fairy friend.”
“Well, that’s a relief,” Theo replied.
“I figured you were just thinking about your princess again anyway,” Bachas said. “You seem to be on much better terms with her today.”
Theo nodded. “We’re finally about to go and meet Magdalina,” he said. “If we can overcome her forces, we can get stop the Magdust trade, and Rose can break her spell.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know.”
Despite his teasing, Bachas proved to be good company, Theo thought. He saw Mary and Elva, both sitting behind Rose, were also getting along. “Maybe once this is over,” Theo said, “we can do something to help pixies and fairies get along better.”
“If they keep to themselves, we usually do just fine,” Bachas said. “Sure, some of us have terrible masters, and some of the fairies help trick us into life debts. And both of us are very territorial. But for those of us who have no place left to go, we generally get along.”
“You don’t have a home?” Theo asked. “Is that why you came with us?”
“Not all of the reason,” Bachas admitted. “But it would be nice to have good allies. You know, in case I need to be freed from a life debt, or something like that.”
Theo might have laughed, if the truth was not so tragic.
They continued to ride along in mostly silence, with conversations sparse through the thick forest. At night, Theo allowed himself to hold Rose close to him, curling against her until she fell asleep. And then, once she was sleeping, he would pray, counting off the rosary beads Rose wore openly on her wrist, hoping with everything inside of him that they would be able to emerge from their fight as victors.