He shook his head and stepped forward. His hand found mine and lifted until my fingers pressed against his heart. “Maybe,” he whispered. “But you saw plenty of the world before you left it. You’ve experienced enough grief to turn the purest heart to stone. And yet you’re lovelier than any wildflower. Brighter than any sun. You are untainted by the pain in your past, and Tessa, that makes you radiant.”
“Taelon…”
“Sir?”
Both of us jumped at the groom’s voice. I bit back an indelicate curse and moved my hand from Taelon’s chest to my own.
Taelon could not hide his disgruntled surprise when he turned to the servant. “Yes?”
“Your horse is ready.” He bowed low and I could tell from the blush staining his sallow cheeks that he realized his mistake.
Taelon must have noticed as well because he sounded kinder when he said, “Thank you, Boothe. That will be all for now.”
Boothe nodded and bowed again before scurrying back to where he came from. As Taelon led me through the barn, I felt something swell inside me.
I found Finare a few stalls down and went over to pet her gray coat. She pranced when she saw me, throwing her head back and tossing her white mane.
“Hey, pretty girl,” I murmured to her. “Miss me?”
Taelon stepped up beside me. “She’s truly taken with you.”
“Animals love me,” I bragged.
“You mean your fox?”
I pressed a kiss to Finare’s cold nose. “And your horse.”
He chuckled and reached for my elbow, guiding me toward the center of the stables.
“I hadn’t realized it was still light outside.”
Taelon led me over to where Thief waited for us next to a step stool. His black coat gleamed in the soft light and his big eyes glittered like onyx.
“We’re farther north than most,” he explained. “Our days are longer. They say that the sun would rather gaze at its reflection in the Crystal Sea than go to sleep.”
“Aren’t you going to have Finare saddled?”
He touched my elbow until I’d stepped onto the stool. “I thought we could both ride Thief.”
“Did you?”
“Well, I am a gentleman, so of course I considered two horses.”
“Of course,” I agreed.
“But I am also a diplomat. And I concluded that it would be easier to share state secrets if we remained in closer proximity.”
“Ah,” I laughed. “You’re bribing me with state secrets now.”
He leaned in. “Shh. I cannot be found out. My reputation is at stake.”
A blush spread across my cheeks. “Alright,” I conceded. “We can ride together. For diplomacy’s sake.”
“See how easy that was? I predict a beautiful alliance between our kingdoms.”
Taelon lifted me onto Thief and I landed as gracefully as I could, settling into the worn leather saddle, despite my rather voluminous skirts. I didn’t know what to make of Taelon or his teasing. Even though I had been surrounded by men for the last eight years of my life, I hadn’t managed to learn a single thing about them.
Other than the fact that they would do practically anything for the promise of a piping hot cherry tartlet.
I wasn’t so naïve as to not recognize flirting. I just didn’t understand it. Surely, Taelon knew that we could not be together. Our betrothal must have been voided shortly after my family’s deaths. And now that we were finally at a marrying age, he had one kingdom to rule and I had another.
He handed me a cloak. “The sun is warm now, but once it dips out of view, the temperature will drop.”
“Thank you.” I draped it around my shoulders, enjoying the fur lining.
Taelon landed behind me, his thighs pressing into mine, his chest covering my back, his hands holding my waist until he adjusted.
By the time he took the reins I found it difficult to breathe evenly.
“Keep the gate open for us,” he commanded Boothe. Then with a flick of his wrists and a gentle prod with his heel, Thief trotted from the stables. His hooves clacked against the smooth granite and soon enough, the twilight enveloped us.
We took off down winding paths that skirted the edges of towering cliffs. The Crystal Sea stretched endlessly, sparkling beneath the sun like a blanket of diamonds.
The countryside of Soravale moved something deep within me while we clopped across seastone bridges over deep gorges set between cliffs. The sun kissed our skin as it dipped lazily behind the horizon.
True to his word, Taelon pointed out monuments along the way and shared some of the history of Soravale. We passed a shrine made to a mighty warrior that had slain two dragons and saved a village from pirates. We rode by manicured gardens with shallow pools made by clever designs to catch the seaspray. They sparkled, reflecting the golden sunlight and the pastel clouds hovering above them.
Soravale was not a quiet kingdom. The Crystal Sea crashed against the base of the cliffs and sprayed water as high as the road we traveled. Sea birds cawed as they swooped low for their supper, only to return again with a mouthful of fish.
But soon I heard a roaring louder than all the other noise.
“What is that?” I asked Taelon.
I couldn’t see his face, but somehow I felt him smile. I could picture it tilting his full lips and hiding in the depths of his blue eyes. “I’ll show you,” he promised.
His heels pressed into Thief’s sides and the steed took off, his hooves clicking furiously on the smooth road. The cliffs became more treacherous. The surfaces of the bridges we crossed were slick with the ocean spray and if Thief accidentally tossed me over the side, it would be a very long time before I hit the bottom.
But then I saw it. Amenon. Or something very close to it.
Away from the sea, the cliffs fanned out to make an enormous circle of falls that glistened like crystals. The cliffs rose up to a peak, pointing toward the sky as if their chests could not help but puff
