Chapter 175

Beta Alessio quickly checked the girth at the last moment the way men who have learned to mistrust straps do.

Mirella rose on her toes and pressed a kiss to Solene’s knee the way Belara had pressed one to her brow: small, domestic sacrament.

Then they were off.

Not galloping—the road here bites horses that try to look brave—but at a steady, ground-eating pace, the sort a day can forgive.

We watche