“Gifts from Skya. And these are not horses. These are Shanandoah mountain chargers. They’re strong as Clydesdales, fast as Arabians, and can live a hundred years. They love rocky terrain, stomping Bright Boys to death, and they’re massive whores for dried rainberries. Right?” he said to Freddy. “I said the magic word? Rainberries?”
Freddy snorted in happiness as Jeremy took a handful of berries from his pocket. Then he gave another handful to Rafe for Sunny.
“You raided their kitchen?” Rafe asked.
“It’s our kitchen, Rafe. We live here.”
“I’ve been here five hours,” Rafe said as his charger lapped every last berry out of his hand, “and I already know I would die for this place.”
“Please don’t,” Jeremy said like he’d forgotten they were joking with each other.
Rafe, taken aback by how serious Jeremy sounded, said, “I’ll try not to.”
“Good.” Jeremy nodded as he scratched Freddy under his chin. “Because if you die it’ll kill me.” He smiled, the old Jeremy again. “Skya would really kill me.”
Jeremy opened the stall door and in one swift movement mounted his horse. “We might make it by morning, but don’t come crying to me when your ass is screaming at you.”
“If my ass starts screaming, I’m crying about it to everyone.” Rafe got on Sunny’s back and again felt the muscle memory, the déjà vu he’d felt before, but a thousand times more so. This was his horse. They belonged together.
“One word of warning,” Jeremy said. “I’m your knight. If we get in a fight, I will fight to protect you, not myself. That’s how it works.”
“Right, because I outrank you.”
“You do,” he said. “Not that I ever let it stop me.”
“Stop you what?”
But Jeremy only gave him a roguish wink and rode out of the stables.
“What’s he not telling me, boy?” he asked Sunny, who only whinnied impatiently. “Not telling? See if I give you any more rainberries.”
Storyteller CornerSkipping Ahead
Rafe and Jeremy rode hard. Emilie slept miserably. We’ll skip ahead to the next morning if you don’t mind.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The sunrise was different in Shanandoah. It came with musical accompaniment. As the sun rose and turned the sky from purple to pink to blue, the night breeze turned to wind. Somewhere, somehow that wind blew through the distant trees, making them sing like wind chimes. The chiming of the trees woke the birds, and they began to sing along with the wind. First, one bird carried the melody, then another thousand birds accompanied it. The song echoed off the distant cliffs and amplified it. Emilie had never heard any music so strange and ethereal, and she had to wonder…was the world singing because the sun was rising, or was the sun rising because the world was singing?
She sat on her horse blanket by the Bluestone River and watched, rapt, and when the sun had risen, and the music stopped, she didn’t know if she’d been awake for minutes or hours or years.
“It never gets old,” Skya said. Emilie had sensed her sister standing behind her, watching the sunrise with her, but neither had said anything. Neither had wanted to break the spell.
Emilie wiped her face. “I’ve never heard a sunrise symphony. This happens every morning?”
“Just here in the valley. I wanted you to hear it.”
“I’ll never forget it. Thank you,” Emilie said.
Skya lightly tapped the top of her head. “Come on. We need to go. The ship will be waiting for you.”
Emilie stood up and followed Skya to her horse, a big black-and-gray-spotted charger named Morgan. Skya took a hunting knife out of her saddlebag and stuffed it into her belt.
“That’s not how you do it,” Emilie said. “It’s supposed to go through your belt loops.” Emilie showed her the hunting knife on her hip.
“Ah, this is why I need my prince,” Skya said with a wistful sigh. “Rafe always put my knife on my belt for me the right way.”
“I can do it for you. Since Rafe’s not here, I mean.” Emilie took the knife in its sheath and fed the end of her sister’s belt through the loops. Skya buckled her belt back on nice and tight. “Good enough?”
Skya tugged her knife. It stayed on. “Thank you. Good as when Rafe did it.”
Emilie wanted to hug her sister, almost asked for it, but she was afraid of the answer.
“Better go,” Skya said.
“If you insist.”
Emilie rode behind her sister on Morgan’s back. Once they left the valley, Emilie spotted a white gull flying overhead. The air was lightly scented with salt. They were getting closer to the sea.
“You know, since I helped you with your knife, I was thinking maybe I could go with you and just hold your sword and stuff? Like a caddie? Do queens have caddies?”
“You’re annoying,” she said. “Did you know that?”
“I always thought it was the job of the baby sister to annoy her big sister. I’m just doing my job.”
“Guess what?”
