A Court This Cruel & Lovely (Kingdom of Lies, #1)(15)

What would he think of me now?

The horse shuffled, and I pushed the memories away. I now had bread, fruit, water, and a horse. All it had taken was for me to murder a man.

Enough.

Grimly, I pulled the saddlebag completely off the horse. I’d eat just enough to get me through the night, and then I’d lead the horse on foot. I couldn’t risk traveling far in the dark. If the horse broke a leg, I’d be back where I started.

“We’ll get along just fine,” I murmured. “I’ll eat, we’ll walk far enough to find shelter” —and away from the body behind me— “and then we’ll rest. Tomorrow will be better than today.”

Something snapped behind me. I jolted.

The horse bucked to the right. Cursing, I reached for the reins, but it was too late.

The horse bolted. She had already been spooked, and I’d scared her further. Now she was frantic, galloping in the dark.

She wasn’t coming back.

I sat on the forest floor and sniffled, tearing off chunks of bread and stuffing them into my mouth. The bread was stale, but in that moment, it was the best thing I’d ever tasted.

A dull fury took up residence in my gut.

I never asked for this.

I would have given the gods my magic a thousand times over.

They were the ones who’d rejected my offering when I was just days old, leaving me in possession of my power. I would never know the reason, but I’d now be hunted for the rest of my life solely because the gods had decided they didn’t want my power.

The unfairness of it all took my breath away.

I fisted my hands and rose to my feet. I would stay alive simply to spite them.

I would live, and when I died, old and content in my own bed, I would demand an explanation from those gods. And if they decided to make me burn in my afterlife, at least I would have sucked all the joy and sorrow and love from this life first.

Glancing up, I let out a shaky breath. Above my head, stars gleamed in the night sky. More than once today, I’d thought I’d never get to see them again. But here I was, suddenly in awe of the way they glittered.

I’d survived. It was all I could ask for.

Stalking back to the hunter’s body, I rifled in the dark until my hands met cool wood. His bow. I was a terrible shot. Truly awful. But I took it anyway, along with his arrows.

My head felt as if it had been stuffed with Tibris’s healing bandages. I was so tired I could no longer hold a thought for more than a few moments.

But I made myself move, counting my steps to keep myself awake. Word of the bounty on my head had already gotten to Mistrun. I couldn’t risk stopping to steal more food or better clothes. But I could travel across the bridge. Now, when it was dark and cold, and there would be few people crossing. It was my best chance.

Finally, finally, the bridge came into view.

And so did the guard standing watch.

Despair rose, sharp and swift. I shoved it down. Of course they’d posted a guard on this bridge. Anyone planning to flee south would either have to attempt to cross the freezing river, traverse the Normathe Mountains, or take the bridge from Mistrun.

If only I’d washed up on the other side of the river.

You weren’t going to wash up anywhere. You were half dead, remember?

Oh, I remembered. And I remembered the distant, bored look in those dark green eyes when the mercenary told Galon to leave me for dead.

If nothing else, my fury would keep me warm over the coming days.





The guard didn’t look very old. He paced back and forth in an obvious attempt to keep himself alert. I studied his movements. The fact that the guard was young wasn’t good for me. Young meant strong.

If I’d practiced more with a crossbow, I could’ve killed him from here. I sighed. I’d been on the run for mere hours, and already, I was contemplating murder as easily as contemplating breaking my fast in the morning. I should probably be concerned about that.

Unfortunately, my odds of hitting the guard from this far away—in the dark—were about as high as Asinia winning a game of King’s Web.

My heart ached at the thought of my best friend. Did she think I was dead? Did she hate me now for being…corrupt?

Later. I’d think about that later.

The guard had a sword on his hip, and he moved like he knew what he was doing. But he was alert enough that he was clearly new to this kind of posting. And new guards were more likely to be paying attention.

But this guard had likely been recruited by force from one of the poorer villages and sent to the city for basic training before being deployed. With any hope, he’d see a poor, defenseless young woman and picture his sister. I surveyed the bridge. The railing was just above the guard’s hips.

Okay.

I shoved the hunter’s knife into the saddlebag. The crossbow wasn’t a problem—I looked like any desperate woman who’d gone hunting and gotten lost.

Taking a moment to think about all the ways life had recently wronged me, I allowed my eyes to fill. It didn’t take much to give in to the sorrow that wanted to drag me down.

I choked out a sob. “Excuse me?”

The guard jolted, blushed, and frowned in quick succession. His hand slid to his sword, and I held up my hands, another sob leaving my throat.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

That told me all I needed to know. Just a few years of service would have toughened the guard until his first words would have been Who are you? A few more years, and he would have immediately ordered me to lie down on the ground before stripping me of my weapons.