When she saw Lucas Thorne, shoeing a chestnut stallion in one of the stalls, her heart twitched painfully, though nothing in her expression betrayed any emotions whatsoever.
Selena had reapplied the mask of apathy before entering the stable, and she swore she would not remove it until she was far, far from the castle.
“Selena!” Lucas dropped the horseshoe. He hurried out of the stall, but once he was out in the open, he stopped, as though not knowing what to say or do next.
The man had filled out in all of the right places. Gone were the scraggly patches of hair on his cheeks, replaced by a full, well-groomed beard.
“I need a horse,” she told him.
“Ye gods, what happened to your cheek…and your neck?” Lucas looked like he was about to step closer but halted mid-stride. He was looking at her eyes now, which, Selena imagined, were as dark and hard as coal.
“A horse,” she repeated. “One that can run all day and then some.”
Lucas did not say anything, and although she was eager to be gone, Selena did not order him to hurry. She could not speak to Lucas like when they were younger because they were two different people now. Yet neither could she bring herself to make demands, casting herself in the role of ruler and him, a servant.
At last, Lucas broke eye contact and gestured back at the horse he had been attending to prior to her arrival. “This one’s still a colt at heart,” he said. “Won’t take but a moment to get the last shoe on him.”
Selena nodded, not trusting herself to speak. The mask of apathy was secure. She was almost home free.
Minutes later, Lucas held out a hand to help her up into the saddle. Selena ignored it and managed to swing her leg over the animal’s rump on first try. She nudged the stallion’s flank with the toe of her shoe, but Lucas held fast to the bridle, keeping the beast in place.
“You oughtn’t go rushin’ off on your own,” he said. “There’s talk of brigands in countryside.”
“Thank you for your concern”—she felt her eye twitch—“but I can take care of myself. As a matter of fact, you will find Alger White unconscious in the main entryway of the castle. You would do well to confine him. He has admitted to being a Renegade.”
“A Renegade? I don’t understand, Selena.”
“Old Alger struck me, tried to choke me, and threatened to hand me over to a group of rebels. He thought I knew he was a spy. His paranoia…along with a guilty conscience…was his undoing.”
She urged her mount forward, but Lucas held fast.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“That is my concern,” she replied coldly. “Please pass along word of Alger’s crimes so he does not try to ransom off one of my siblings.”
She kicked the stallion’s ribs a little harder and shouted, “Yah!”
Lucas was forced to let go, but he shouted after her. “Wait a moment! Please!”
Selena pulled back on the reins despite her better judgment. She did not turn to face him when he ran up to her again.
“Take this,” he said, lifting up a sheathed knife.
She had seen the weapon many times. In fact, ever since Lucas had turned twelve years old, he had never been without the thing.
“Please,” Lucas insisted. “I couldn’t live with myself if I let you leave without some protection.”
Selena sighed. “Haven’t you heard? I am a wizardess. Magic is my protection.”
Nevertheless, she took the weapon. She could already feel the soothing touch of lethargy caressing her. She had cast the sleep spell without any sand, and the incantation had taxed her.
“Go with the gods,” Lucas bade her, stepping away from the horse.
Selena thought “Go with the Goddesses” would have been a better blessing, but she kept the comment to herself. This would likely prove to be the last time she ever saw the man. Did she really want to end with a standard goodbye?
Facing forward—away from her first boyfriend—Selena called, “You should consider giving Amelia Brown a chance. I believe I was wrong about her.”
She wanted to say more but then gave the horse another kick. An instant later, she was speeding away from Lucas, the stable, and her childhood home.
* * *
In the span of two heartbeats, a hundred scenes from her life flash through her mind.
One moment she is preparing for her coming-of-age ball, then arguing with Briarbridge on her first day of lessons, and the next, encountering Lydia Spade at Mongalith Fair.
She watches her fiancé vanish with four black-clad wizards, witnesses Old Alger turn on her, and hears Lucas’s farewell.
Selena almost falls asleep in the saddle before spying a campfire in the woods. She sees herself creeping toward the fire, recognizing Uncle Will as one of the three travelers, and betraying her presence with a gasp when she hears him refer to one of his companions as Fin.
Willard calls the third man, Piers, but Selena knows him by another name—Latimer Lanthrop. How the wizard has escaped his captors, she cannot guess. Neither can she fathom how her former teacher, the one-time love of her life, has come to be in the company of Uncle Will and Finbar Kemyss, her true father.
She has too many questions, and judging by the knife in Latimer’s hand, she will never learn any of the answers.