Without the sun overhead, it was difficult to tell how much time had passed. We stopped midday in a cavern to eat some of that disgusting pickled fish along with some dried meat. Afterward, we set off again, and Luard took a long nap. Instead of sitting inside, I braved a spot next to Ivan on the bench and got to know the rest of the guards as they rode on horseback in front of and behind the carriage. Each had come from a noble family, but too far down in the heirs list to be of any value. So they'd joined on as royal guards to be useful and travel the world.
"Truly," Ivan said beside me, "I think I'd be bored to tears if I was in Erlina's detail. All she does is read books in the library."
"With Luard, we're never in Linden for very long," said Hagan, a tall, young man with broad shoulders and a blond mustache. He and his husband Nils, another guard about a head taller with dark brown hair and a sweet smile, had been married about six months.
"Must be nice for the two of you to be able to be together all the time," I said.
"It has its moments," Nils said with a shrug. "My mother would prefer it if we were back in town more, though."
"In any case, I'm glad to have you for company," I said. "I couldn't imagine Luard traveling with boring guards. I think he'd send them to an early retirement." I looked to the sole female guard, Asdis, Ivan's sister. "And I'm surprised you put up with him."
"Someone has to make sure he wipes his ass," she said with a grin.
"It takes a special kind of person to handle Luard," Ivan said.
"Oh, Ivan," Luard said, poking his head out of the carriage. "I only trust you to handle me. You do it so gently."
The guards whooped with laugher, and I joined in as it echoed off the tunnel walls.
Along our journey, we passed several secondary paths and signs indicating that villages lay at the end of them. But finally, after a few hours on the road, Ivan turned the carriage off the road toward a sign marked Utvonnet Springs.
The secondary tunnel was smaller, but there was a pinprick of light in the distance. It grew to an opening, with a few buildings visible, and then, as we exited the tunnel, we came into a cavern nearly the size of Forcadel.
"Wow," I breathed, tilting my head back to take it in. This was no sad, dark place—it was a bustling and vibrant city. Wooden houses were organized on a neat grid, each with a nearly identical thatched roof. On the other side of the cavern, a gravel road wound up the side, leveling off at entryways.
"Other roads?" I asked Ivan, pointing at them.
"No, that's the ore mines," he said. "Maybe Luard can arrange a tour."
I chewed my lip. "I'm not really here to sightsee—"
"You'll want to see these," he said with a knowing smile.
We continued down into the village, and a small crowd gathered as they recognized the royal seal on the door. Children trailed behind, laughing and calling out to Luard and the guards. Several young women had undone the top buttons on their dresses, leaning over the picket fences and waving as we went by. Our stop for the evening was a small, two-story inn, complete with an older couple standing outside.
"Welcome back, Prince Luard!" the woman said, as her husband stepped forward to start unloading the carriage. "I trust your journey was pleasant."
"As always," he said, extending his hand to help me out of the carriage. For appearances, I took it and stepped out. "May I present my traveling companion, Brynna?"
Inside, the inn was pleasantly furnished, with leather chairs in front of a hearth. But to my surprise, there was no fire—just a warm, red piece of metal glowing.
"No fires in the caverns, by royal decree and common sense," the woman—Dagmar—said, coming to stand next to me. "That is pure Niemenian metal, heated from the steam of the hot springs. Keeps things toasty!"
I knelt closer, the warmth from the pipe hotter than any fire I'd seen. "Fascinating."
"It's been a while since we've had a Forcadelian in our midst," she said, handing me a steaming mug of something spicy and sweet. "Are we to expect a wedding announcement soon?"
I caught Luard's gaze as he walked into the room, and he winked. "Dagmar, you know I can't be tamed by any woman."
"Yes, but Queen Ariadna might have other plans for you!"
"She's smarter than that."
They got into it, quibbling like a mother and son, and Dagmar even gave Luard a friendly swat on the rear after he made an off-color joke. She left the room, her cheeks flushed and a giggle on her lips, and Luard joined me at the hearth.
"You make friends everywhere, don't you?" I asked, taking a sip of the drink.
"Someone has to," he said. "So, dear Brynna, we have several options for entertainment tonight. There's a traveling theater troupe in town, or we could visit the mud room. Your skin will glow after, I promise. Or—"
"Luard," I said, gently. "On a mission, remember?" I didn't feel right pampering myself when my people were suffering.
"And the horses need to rest," he said, taking the cup from me and placing it on the mantel. "As do you."
There really was no arguing with him, so I swapped my traveling tunic for one of the velvet dresses Luard had brought for me, we set out into the small underground village with Asdis and Ivan.
"The two lovers are really quite boring now," Luard said with a roll of his eyes. "But Hagan has the best taste in wine, so I suppose they're a package deal. Please, do me a favor and never get married, you two."
Asdis crossed her heart, but Ivan just shook his head. "I think you're the longest relationship I've ever had, Luard."
"Ah, likewise," Luard said, blowing him a kiss.
Their back-and-forth continued, much to Asdis' annoyance and my amusement, as we came into the main square of the town. There, we found the one dining hall in the town, already filled with diners young and old. Luard paid a gold coin for all of us ("The lovers decided to stay at the inn and snuggle, they don't get a free dinner") and we were served a bowl of stew and given a tankard.
Luard drank half his in one gulp then belched loudly.
"You are a prince," Asdis said with a dry look. "You know Queen Ariadna asks me to report on your behavior, right?"
He flashed a charming grin. "And I assume you lie admirably."
"I stretch the truth," Asdis said with a sly look. "You're lucky I do, too."
"Asdis, when, oh, when are we going to put aside this silly front and finally fall into bed together?" Luard asked, batting his eyes.
She lifted her finger in an offensive gesture, and Ivan howled with laughter. Eventually, Luard did, too.
"So, Forcadelian," Ivan said. "How are you liking all this Niemenian food?"
"It needs more salt," I said, although I kept my voice low. In truth, I was grateful for anything that wasn't pickled fish. "And I'm dreaming of apples and berries and fresh fish."
"You'll get your fill of that in Kulka," Asdis said. "Delina has some of the best dining halls in the world, in my opinion. Grapes and vegetables and game…" She took a large bite of stew and made a satisfied noise. "But this is pretty good, too."
"Asdis doesn't like to admit that anything is better than what she can find in Niemen," Ivan said, nudging his sister. "I think she secretly hates it there, but won't admit it to herself."
Addis scowled and flung a carrot at him.
"I understand loyalty," I said. "I've never appreciated my home more than these past few weeks. Everything is so different—and cold, too."
"This is your first time out of the country?" Ivan asked.
I nodded. "When I left the castle at thirteen, I spent a few years in a forest near the border with Kulka. But that was the farthest I'd ever been from Forcadel." I allowed a little sadness to tug at my chest.
"Wait, what?" Asdis asked. "You left the castle at thirteen and lived in a forest?"
"How much did you share with your guards?" I asked Luard, and he put down the tankard.
"Only that you're royalty and we're going to Delina. I figured the rest would be up to you to explain to them. Not my story to tell."
For what felt like the millionth time, I regaled them with the story of my past, Celia, The Veil, and everything else that had happened up until this point. They were a rapt audience, with Asdis' bright blue eyes growing wide with every twist and turn to the story.
"And so here we are," I finished, gesturing at the room around us. "I'm on a mission to get help from Neshua and pray that he takes me seriously."
"If he doesn't," Ivan said, "you are welcome to join us on our traveling caravan."
"Yes, please," Asdis said. "None of the other female soldiers want anything to do with Luard."
"I can't imagine why," I drawled with a look at him.
"Oh, poking so much fun at me," Luard said, sitting back. "Perhaps it's time to poke some fun at you, little princess."
"Go for it," I said, leaning back. "Do your worst."
He smiled with something calculating in his eyes. "What scares you?"
"What?" I said with a laugh. "What kind of a question is that?"
"I like to know how people tick, and I haven't figured you out yet." He rested his hands at the nape of his neck. "What kind of a woman willingly gives up her royal seat and becomes a vigilante? What's driving her? What's she afraid of?"
I took a long sip. "She's afraid of being told what to do by her overbearing father."
"But how would one even begin to become a vigilante?" he pressed. "You didn't just walk out the door and put on a mask?"
"I told you," I said, taking a long sip of my beer. "One day I decided I'd had enough of robbing people and returned to Forcadel."
Luard's eyes had taken on a different look, almost like he was peering beneath my skin. "What made you decide you'd had enough?"
"Why are you so interested?"
"Because I think it's germane."
"To what?"
"To what you're accomplishing," Luard said. "By all accounts, including Katarine's, you were a reluctant queen, which makes me question why you're really doing this—and how far you're willing to go to get what you want."
I had no response to that, or none that I was willing to share. My own indecision still rested in the back of my mind, and I was sure Luard didn't want to hear about that. "As far as it takes."
"Not an answer. You have to quantify it to yourself. At what point do you decide the stakes are too high, the risk isn't worth it?" He bit off a piece of bread. "Because I think that point might be closer than you think."
"Oh yeah?" I crossed my arms over my chest, my heart fluttering with nerves. "Are you so familiar with me now?"
"I know you won't tell me why you made a complete reversal from being a thief to a vigilante, which means that whatever happened still haunts you." He sat back. "That, I think, is just the tip of the mountain."
"Oh, leave her alone," Ivan said, breaking the tension. "Luard, you're drunk."
"I have had exactly two beers, and you know I only start getting handsy at four."
They got into it, and I took the opportunity to down more of my own drink. Somehow I had a feeling I hadn't heard the last of this conversation.