“I…you…” Face flushed, she marched to the luggage and picked someup, stomping past Sylph to load the saddlebags.
“That’s the way,” Sylph said, guessing the condescension in hervoice would only make Thana move faster. “Softly now,” she said as she packed.“You don’t want to pull the saddle out of place or cause the horse to stumbleonto your foot.”
“I hope it steps on yours,” Thana said in what she probablythought was a mumble.
“What was that?”
Thana’s ears went red. “Nothing.”
Sylph nodded, and when they set out, she took the lead, all herother emotions buried under the satisfaction that everyone and everything wasin its place.
* * *
Thana ground her teeth. Sylph had been leading them for an hour,and she’d been mercifully quiet after her behavior that morning. Thana was tornbetween wanting to tell her off and wanting to plead that they go back to thecloseness of the night before.
But they’d been in danger, even during the kiss, even beforethat, in the bedroom. No doubt that had been the source of their feelings.Peril and forced proximity had spawned something they’d mistaken for actualpassion.
She rolled her eyes, much as she would have done if Gunnar hadused those words to excuse away his feelings. She still wanted to kiss Sylph asmuch as she wanted to shake her. Her hesitance sprang from the idea that Sylphwas back to denying that she felt anything. The thought of being the only onewho wanted a relationship was too humiliating to live with.
So she would be silent.
And seethe.
At least being angry distracted her from the guilt of tellingSylph to use her power to kill someone. Maybe that same guilt motivated Sylph’slady-of-the-manor routine. She hadn’t wanted to hurt anyone, and Thana had madeher. Sort of. And when it came down to facts, Sylph was a lady, would one daybe a duchess, and she owned much more than a manor. Thana had no place in thatlife.
After another clench of her jaw, Thana made herself focus. Shewas lucky Sylph was as good at geography as she was at recognizing noblesbecause Thana had no idea where they were. Thana had told her that they shouldgo north of Marienne, to the road Sylph had taken when traveling from her hometo the city. It was the closest road to the outer wall of the palace, where themassive gardens lay and where she’d experienced the pull of these new pyramids.Thana didn’t quite know what she expected to find there, but it was a place tostart. From there, they could visit the other sites of pyradisté attacks ormishaps. Maybe they could piece together a likely location for the source ofthis new crystal, and then…
Thana bit her lip. She didn’t know what then. Deduce how it wasdifferent from regular crystal? Academically, she was curious, but did itmatter? Perhaps she could convince those mining it to stop. If she couldn’t,she supposed she’d have to ride back and tell the queen.
Which would make her a traitor in the eyes of most pyradistés.The Umbriels controlled magic by controlling the flow of crystal from the minesnorth of Allusia. Headmaster Cyrus clearly hoped this new crystal could putsome of the power back in his hands.
Maybe he’d even start the civil war back up again.
Thana leaned her head back, stretching her neck. She missed themoments in this adventure when her biggest problem was whether to kiss Sylph ornot.
It was nearing midday when they finally reached the road that ledfrom Marienne to Farraday’s northern territory. Sylph remained chilly andsilent. Thana went back and forth between wanting to soothe her and wanting tothrow something at her. From the road, she could just see the large wallsurrounding the palace grounds and thanked the spirits that they would now be forcedto speak.
“Can you feel the pyramids in the wall from here?” she asked,hearing the archness in her tone but unable to do anything about it.
Sylph narrowed her eyes and shook her head. She dismounted andtook a few steps toward the wall, letting the reins of her horse slip throughher fingers.
Muttering, Thana dismounted, too, and grabbed the reins of bothanimals. She wanted to snap that she wasn’t m’lady’s groom but hesitated. IfSylph wanted to piss her off, she wasn’t going to give her the pleasure.
Except she couldn’t hide her irritation. She never could.“Nothing?”
“No.” Sylph sighed. “I might not even be able to feel a specialpyramid at this distance.” She turned, frowning. “And this is only the outerwall. If someone had been bringing the new crystal down this road, I wouldn’thave felt it from inside the inner wall, in the garden proper.” She shook herhead and stared into the middle distance. “Unless they were carrying it in thewall’s shadow, but why would they do that when they wanted to hide from theUmbriels?”
“Even if they wanted to avoid the road,” Thana said, “theywouldn’t travel closer to the palace.”
Sylph strode back, hand out for her reins. Thana practicallythrew them at her. She only turned her chin up farther. Fantastic. If it rained,she might drown.
When Sylph remounted, Thana opened her mouth to ask where she wasgoing, but Sylph heeled her horse toward the wall, and Thana had to hurry tocatch up. Sylph pulled up so quickly, Thana nearly ran into her, horse shying.
“What are you—”
Sylph lifted a hand for silence and dismounted again.
Gritting her teeth, Thana followed. “Listen—” When Sylph kneeledin the dirt, Thana stuttered and finished with, “What in the spirits’ names areyou doing?”
“No one’s been through here recently,” Sylph said, studying theground. She stood and brushed off her hands. “And I can feel the pyramids fromthis distance.”
“How would you know if anyone had been through here?” Thanaasked, not bothering to hide her ire.
“Hunting is a noble’s pastime,” Sylph said loftily. “I’m a fairlyproficient tracker.”
“And here I thought hunting was mostly about having enough toeat.”
“Only for peasants.”
Thana felt her cheeks catch fire. “I thought we were past thisnonsense, yet here we are again. What in the spirits’ names is wrong with you?”
Sylph was the picture of pretty confusion, eyes wide. “What doyou mean?”
“You know exactly what I mean. This nobles and peasants shit.
