“So, we have five more nights to finalize this routine?”
“More like three. We won’t stop when we’re in the mountains. Everyone, except for those on patrol, will be required to stay locked in their wagons.”
“What is it? Do the mountains have trolls?” I was only partially joking.
Falak turned his head and spat. “If only we were so fortunate.” Sher-sah and I padded past the ringmaster, who kept his gaze focused intently on my figure. “Back straighter, Evie. Shoulders lower. Arms looser.” He tilted his head to the side and analyzed me again. “That’s better.”
Genevieve galloped past on her unicorn. She executed a series of flawless pirouettes before crouching and rolling onto her saddle. With her shoulder braced in the seat, she extended her legs into the air, her spine straight as a board. She kept the inverted pose steady for a lap around the ring. Then she rolled her legs down and returned to a seated position, facing backward in her saddle. The next part of her routine had stumped her over and over. On Mika, she could execute the trick flawlessly, but on the unicorn, she’d yet to complete the technique without a mistake.
The princess bit her bottom lip and screwed her face into an expression of intense concentration. She threw her left leg over, joining the right on the unicorn’s left haunch. Before her feet could hit the ground, she rolled, belly to back and over again, crossing the unicorn’s wide rump until she dangled over Ynnua’s right haunch, feet inches above the ground. I held my breath and bit my lip. This was the point most nights where she lost her balance and landed in some ungainly heap across the unicorn’s back.
Genevieve clenched her muscles and twisted sideways as she threw herself into a cartwheel. At the end of her set, she was sitting in the saddle, facing frontward, arm extended in the air. A smile as bright as sunlight blazed across her face. Ynnua thundered past us, her tail chiming as it whipped in the wind.
Falak pumped his fist into the air. “Yes! That’s it. That’s what I’ve been waiting for.”
I clapped and momentarily lost my footing. The excitement of the princess’s success had broken my concentration, and I struggled to hold my balance. Like a set of pinwheels, my arms fluttered and I bent down, clutching at Sher-sah’s reins for stability. Having mostly regained my balance, I jumped down from the lion’s back and dashed across the ring, meeting Genevieve as she slid from Ynnua’s saddle.
We threw our arms around each other and danced about, shrieking in excitement. “You did it!” I shouted.
“Did you see me? I finally did it.”
Falak sauntered over and slapped her shoulder. “Knew you had it in you. You’ve got that fearless look about you. Great job, princess. Now we can plan the grand finale.”
The princess and I went still. She stepped out of my embrace and set her hands on her hips, scowling. “Grand finale?”
“Mm hmm.” Falak scratched his chin. “I’m picturing something with flames.” He swirled a finger through the air. “A ring of fire.”
A deep-red stain rushed into Genevieve’s cheeks, and she snapped at him. “What?”
I stepped away, chuckling to myself and shaking my head, eager to escape before they drew me into their blooming fight. Without watching where I was going, I backed directly into someone who had crept up behind me.
“Oof.” Breath whooshed out of me, and I bent over, giggling. “Sorry. I’m so sorr—” My apology froze in my throat as I spun around and saw whom I’d backed into.
Blood drained from my head so fast that my vision spun like a carousel. My legs lost all feeling, and I dropped to my knees hard enough to jar my teeth. Gideon bent and gathered me into his arms before I completely collapsed. Tears sprang to my eyes as I hugged him close, burying my face in his neck. I savored his scent of leather, hay, and horses. “Dear gods, Gideon, what are you doing here?”
He grasped my shoulders and pulled away far enough to look me in my face. The torchlights danced in his gray eyes, enhancing the impishness of his grin. Pink patches of new skin dotted his cheeks and forehead, and his eyebrows were sparse but growing back.
Raking my fingers through his short, unruly locks, I bit off a sob. “What happened to your hair?”
His grin deepened, revealing his charming dimple. “Cut it. What was left of it, anyway. The fire took most of it.”
His mentioning of burns sobered me. I stroked my thumb across a pink scar on his cheek. “I can’t believe you’re really here. I’d feared the worst.”
Shifting his balance, he stood and tugged me to my feet, but he kept me firmly locked in his arms. “I’m good as new.” He turned aside and coughed. It wracked his chest and rattled in his lungs like a train running out of steam. He’d suffered because of me, and I didn’t know how I would make peace with that. “Or I will be. I’m well enough to come running after you, anyway. Just like old times.”
“I’m sorry.” I shook my head. “I didn’t know what else to do.”
He tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear, and his fingers lingered near my temple. “It was the right thing. The smart thing.”
I couldn’t quite agree, but not wanting to argue about right or wrong, I changed the subject. “How did you find me?”
“You told Marlis you were going with the circus—not that I wouldn’t have guessed that myself, considering how the circus is going to Varynga, which happens to be the place where you think we’ll find the Fantazikes. There are only a few roads to Varynga, Evie, and even fewer mechanical circuses travelling on them. It wasn’t hard to find your trail.”
Nodding, I glanced around, searching for another familiar face that should’ve been nearby. “Where’s Marlis?”
“I didn’t want to bring her on the road again, not knowing what to expect, not knowing if it was safe. She’s not a fighter like you, Evie.”
I squeezed his hand. “She’s not still at the castle, is she?”
“Of course not.” He clicked his tongue. “Even though Otokar and Tereza swore they didn’t know about Vanessa’s connections to Le Poing Fermé, I couldn’t afford to trust them. I left Marlis with the kareeyatids in Prigha and begged for their silence. Your friend, Sister Maria, said she would put Marlis to work in her library.” He chuckled. “She actually seemed a little excited about it.”
Falak had noticed my visitor. He strode forward to confront us, but he possessed enough showmanship to cover his hostility with a friendly greeting. After doffing his cap, he swept into a low, dramatic bow. “I believe we’ve met before, but forgive me for not remembering your name. I am Falak Savin, Ringmaster of Le Cirque de Merveilles Mécanique.”
“Oh,” I said, remembering my manners. “Falak, this is Gideon Faust, one of my dearest friends.”
Falak’s eyes roamed over Gideon and me, still locked in our embrace, and he waggled an eyebrow. “Friends, huh?”
A blush burned in my ears, and I pulled away.
“Gideon!” came the princess’s excited shriek. She raced over to us and, without any compunction, threw her arms around his neck, hugging him until he fell into another coughing fit. Immediately she let go and stepped away, alarm showing clearly in her wide eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
“It’s nothing.” He waved aside her apology. “Some lingering effects from the smoke. Nothing I won’t overcome in time. I owe Otokar a huge debt for his physicking. If not for him, I hate to think what might have happened.”
Genevieve rolled her eyes but kept her opinions about Otokar to herself. After her revelations about the Magician’s participation in her torture, I’d doubted my decision to leave Gideon in his care. But there he stood, hale and on his way to recovery. For the princess’s sake, I would have dismissed Otokar for a scoundrel. For Gideon’s sake, I had to grant the Magician a modicum of leniency and admit most individuals were neither wholly good nor entirely evil. We all, including myself, teetered up and down on the scales of morality depending on our circumstances. Still, I preferred to remain as far beyond Tereza’s and Otokar’s reach as possible.
Gideon waved, motioning to the riding ring and all it encompassed, including Ynnua and Sher-sah, who lounged in the center of the ring and seemed, if it were possible for a mechanical creature to do such a thing, to be napping. “Would someone explain what’s going on? I saw a little as I rode up, but I’m not sure any of it makes sense.”
“We’re, um, learning to trick ride,” I said.
