The Way of the King by Hosanna Emily

Author:Hosanna Emily [Emily, Hosanna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Heart Like His Publishing
Published: 2023-08-01T04:00:00+00:00

“Here, love,” Alee said, handing me a pouch of pens as I rolled my paper documents and tied them with a string. At the city gates, we saw sunlight on the edge of the desert, and I imagined the sunset would be brilliant from that viewpoint. But here, the clouds settled to gray shadows.

We took up the writing instruments and handed them to a servant while others pulled the table away, bowing.

“Teion will be so proud of you, my love,” Alee said, running her hand up my arm. “He sends units of prisoners from his treks across the land, and here you are, ready to organize them into prison cells. You’re indispensable.”

I looked at her, quiet. “Should I be happy to be giving Moz more cellmates?”

“Rekém, don’t think of that.” She snapped up her loose curls into a jeweled clasp. “Teion will clear all that up, I’m sure, but you’re just tense. Let’s relax and forget all this.”

Relax. I glanced at the desert where the sun still burned. Behind it was that Oasis I’d journeyed to years ago, where beauty rested behind impenetrable walls I could never enter, and until I found that place, how could I relax?

We walked through dusty streets, and Alee was strangely quiet. At the stables, the door opened, and I saw Shad step out, a low hat across his forehead.

“Sir,” he asked, “a hunt tonight?”

My shoulders relaxed. “Absolutely.”

Alee kissed me stiffly and left. I should have felt bad for not asking her first, for not inviting her to come along, but I slipped into the stables to find our two sabbax already saddled with a handful of hounds pulling at Shad’s hand. I grabbed my bow and quiver, testing the string.

We rode away from the desert into trees and shadows, and I trusted my sabbax’s instincts to guide us. He trotted up the mountain, lungs expanding between my knees and warming my body as we burst through the trees onto a rocky cliff where I could see the western sunset.

I exhaled, and my breath was mist.

Shad drew beside me on his own doe. The dogs clung close to our heels, nipping to be released from their ropes.

I glanced at the boy, and my circlet shifted position. Shad noticed, and his eyebrows drew together fast.

My chin fell. “Shad, I haven’t been completely honest with you.”

He leaped to the ground, released the dogs, and clicked his fingers for them to run. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he said.

I stared at him as he remounted his sabbax and kicked her forward. She trotted after the hounds who ran with noses to the forest floor.

“Shad?” I called, but he pressed forward. When one of the dogs let out a howling bay, both deer dashed after them, and I leaned close to my buck’s neck, bodies connected. For a moment, I thought of the deir-cats, but the cold, twilight air slapped my face. Then Shad cut in front of me nimbly, and my sabbax stumbled to keep from trampling his, turning aside into the brush.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.