courtyard, across the wooden bridge and started toward the village. Her newfound freedom felt good.
“Pardon me, my lady.”
Kira spun around to see two guards trailing behind her. “What?”
Both men bowed to her, then the taller of the two spoke. “We have orders not to let you leave the castle.”
Kira rolled her eyes. “But I’m not in the castle, I’m standing outside, so you’ve already failed. Shall I tell Octavion?”
“No, my lady. But-”
Kira put up her hand. “Look, Octavion said it was perfectly safe for me to go into the village. If you want to follow me to Ussay’s cottage, fine. But then you’ll have to come back here because I’m not having you two follow me all day.”
Both men stood there with their mouths open, but said nothing.
“It’s settled then. Follow me or don’t. I’m going.” After all, what would they do, lock her up in the dungeon? She didn’t even know if Octavion’s family had a dungeon. She lifted the hem of her dress and strutted down the cobblestone street toward Ussay’s home. She didn’t look back to see if the guards followed, but didn’t hear their footsteps.
Around the entire perimeter of the village-and attached to either side of the castle-towered a white brick wall. It appeared to be built from the same material as the castle, and rose high above the cottage roofs. The builders had capped it off with thousands of jagged rocks-she assumed to keep intruders at bay. It wouldn’t, of course, keep out Royals.
There were two entrances, the side gate leading to the Aubelet and cemetery, and the main gate, opposite the castle entrance at the other end of the village, where most of the merchants came and went freely. There was nothing between the castle drawbridge and the village except a long cobblestone road and several stone statuaries. As Kira walked down the hill and onto the village streets she took special care to be friendly and acknowledge the residents of Xantara. She knew that someday, as Octavion’s wife, she’d be considered royalty and these would be her people. She wanted them to love her as they loved their Royals, but she knew the relationship she’d have with them would be different. They would have no reason to keep her from entering their homes and businesses and no reason to fear her.
When she reached the large community well, she knew Ussay’s cottage would be only a stone’s throw away. She stopped long enough to get a cold drink of water then continued down the street, passing a few houses before the merchant’s booths filled the streets in the marketplace. Two gates down on the right she found her surroundings familiar. She swung open the rickety wooden gate, walked along the short dirt path and knocked on the door.
Almost instantly the door flew open. Ussay’s wide eyes met Kira’s before she let out a squeal and threw her arms around Kira’s neck, almost knocking her to the ground. Once Kira recovered, Ussay led her inside to sit near the fireplace. Kira hadn’t noticed the chill in the air until the warmth of the fire brought welcomed warmth to her skin.
“Who brought you?” Ussay asked.
Kira flashed a mischievous grin. “I escaped.”
“Oh, no. We must send word to the castle. They will worry.”
“Mara thinks I’m sleeping and two guards know where I am. Besides, I won’t be gone that long. I need to get some leather and visit Kueelok. I thought you might want to go with me.”
Ussay’s bottom lip jutted out as she held up her hand. Kira had to laugh-the gesture she inadvertently made with her bandaged middle finger wasn’t exactly considered good etiquette in on Earth.
“It will not stop bleeding,” Ussay said. “I dare not go out with it like this.”
Kira waved her own bandaged hand and smiled. “We’ll match.”
Ussay laughed.
“Do you want me to cauterize it again? With the hotter coals of the fire it might take this time.”
Ussay wrinkled her face in protest. “It hurts when you do that.”
“I know, but you won’t be able to work at the castle if it’s still bleeding. Besides, you have to help me pick something out for Octavion.”
Ussay hesitated for a moment, then removed the bandages and gave Kira her hand. This time the point of the knife they used glowed red with heat. Kira was careful to barely touch the tip of the blade against the cut, completely stopping the bleeding. She gently wrapped Ussay’s finger with a clean bandage.
Their first stop of the day was at Kueelok’s. Kira wanted to see if he’d finished her necklace and talk to him about doing some hand tooling on a small piece of silver for Octavion’s arm band. Kueelok was more than happy to show her a few examples, but she wanted something more unique. After turning down several of his ideas, she settled for an oval piece of silver with the face of a wild cat tooled in the center. The idea itself wasn’t unique, but the way Kira arranged the facial features was. The medallion depicted a hybrid cat-half the face of a lion and the other half a tiger. Kueelok quickly sketched the design on a piece of parchment for her approval, making only one change at her request. Near the top and to one side of the disk she had him make a light impression of two crescent moons.
Once she had that taken care of, she asked to see her necklace. After learning of Serena’s, she thought she might not want it, but spending the night in Octavion’s arms had made her reconsider. She loved the idea of sending her thoughts to him.
Kueelok seemed confused at first, claiming Octavion had already retrieved it. But when he realized she hadn’t yet received the piece, he declared his ignorance and scooted the girls out the door. Kira’s own theory was that Octavion planned to surprise her with it-which would be even better than picking it up herself. She promised herself she’d act surprised when he presented it to her.
They stopped next at the leather smith’s booth. The old man standing behind the table grew crotchety and almost angry when they refused to look at his more expensive goods. He seemed to think the small piece of leather she requested to be an insult. He promptly ignored the girls and turned his attention to the other customers.
Ussay and Kira rummaged through a few boxes of scrap strips of leather and found the right color and length Altaria requested. Of course, Kira had to lie, saying she was the one making the arm band, but Ussay didn’t seem suspicious.
A beautiful young girl came out of the nearby home to help the older man when things got busier. Her kind patience seemed to sell a lot more merchandise than he did with his grumbling. As they waited, the girl turned her back to them long enough for Kira to see the way she’d braided her hair. It wasn’t so much the design, but the way it wound around itself making a ribbon at the end to hold it unnecessary. Kira was suddenly aware of the rats nest atop her head. When she turned to question Ussay about the braid, she had the same expression on her face as Kira imagined on her own. Neither of them had been able to do anything with their hair because of their fingers.
“Do you think she would braid our hair?” Kira asked.
“She would be honored. To do anything for royalty is much desired. If others find out, it is good for business.”
When they were finally able to gain her attention, the young girl took one look at Kira’s sparkling green eyes and red hair and almost fell over from overzealous curtsying. She called for her grumpy old father to relieve her so she could service the future wife of the prince.
“My name is Zahra,” she said as she led them inside her tiny cottage. She took a stool from beside the fireplace and sat it near the window in full view of the street.
As Kira sat, she could see several women outside whispering and pointing in their direction. What Ussay had said about increasing the girl’s business suddenly gave Kira an idea. She picked up the stool and strutted out the door, setting it in full view of the gathering crowd. Zahra and Ussay were not far behind.
Kira sat on the stool, keeping her posture perfect so she better portrayed a true Royal. Then she instructed Zahra to make her beautiful. Zahra blushed, but got quickly to work. It didn’t take any time at all to do both Kira’s and Ussay’s hair.
When she finished, Kira made a big deal about it in front of everyone, promised to compensate her generously and invited her to come to the castle to do her hair on another occasion. When they left, there was a line of women that ran the length of three cottages waiting to have the girl do their hair.
