A perplexed frown settled on her sister's face. "If you don't own her, what's she doing on your wrist?"
"I found her orphaned in the forest." Tao lifted his arm, bringing Bird to his mouth so he could brush his lips across the slate-gray feathers on her back. "I hand-reared her and spent months training her to hunt with me. We've been together ever since, but she stays with me because she chooses to, not because I demand it." Tao fixed Kestrel with a beseeching look. "We find the relationship mutually beneficial."
Guessing at the importance of this discussion to Tao, Lynx looked away, giving him some privacy, but she couldn't help overhearing Kestrel.
"Huh. If I had put that much effort into something, I wouldn't trust it enough to let it fly."
"Wouldn't you?" Tao asked.
"Of course not," Kestrel said, as if that was obvious. "What if she never comes back?"
"I guess that's better than trapping someone in a relationship they don't want to be in." Without waiting for Kestrel to answer, Tao walked over to the waiting high-born. "If your horses are ready, let's get going."
Lynx saw her sister frown at Tao's back. With troubles of her own, she couldn't stop to address it. She needed Tao's help, so she trotted over and grabbed his arm. "What about Lukan? Should I be going on this hunt without him?"
Tao's forehead creased in thought, and he shrugged. "I don't know. It seems all you've done today is ask about my brother."
"I know. And I can't say I'm ecstatic about it. It's not like I was lining up to marry him."
Tao grinned at her. "I think the line for arranged marriages was very short, actually." He looked over at Kestrel with longing. "Let me get her onto her horse, and then I'll give you a hand."
Lynx suppressed a laugh. "Thanks, but I can manage on my own." She took the reins of a bay mare a groom held out to her-and clicked her tongue in dismay.
A sidesaddle.
How the heck do these work? Not bothering to find out, she swung a leg over the horse's back and climbed up. The fact that only one foot was supported didn't matter; she was used to riding bare-backed.
A few of the high-born twittered. She noticed Kestrel rolling her eyes and was reminded of her sister saying everyone would think them low-born savages because she didn't know how to use the bath oils. Had she done that again? Lynx closed her eyes, wishing life here wasn't so complicated. What had Mad Mott been thinking when he chose her to be an empress?
Still, it was too late to do anything about it.
Pretending she wasn't blushing scarlet, Lynx explained, "I've never ridden with one of these saddles. I don't even know how. All I need is to fall flat on my face." She smiled disparagingly. "Winds know, this magical moment is bad enough. I definitely couldn't cope with that humiliation."
A few of the women smiled, all sympathy, while a couple of the men grinned.
"I'll be happy to catch you, Your Highness," a man with a goatee beard and a sparkling emerald said. He bowed. "My name is Lev." He gestured to his companions and rattled off a number of names.
Lynx studied each face, determined to commit them and their names to memory. To cover herself, she added, "If I get your names all mixed up, please don't curse me."
"Curse someone with your unusual dress sense? Unlikely," one of the women-Katcha-said.
"Thank you." Lynx smiled again, surprised by the warmth and admiration in Katcha's voice. Didn't they hate her the way she hated them? "Even though Norin are known for our individuality, I just happen to be even more individual than most."
Tao's voice rang out. "If everyone is ready, let's go."
He led Lynx and the rest of the party out onto a path next to an ornamental lake. It was surrounded by tended formal gardens filled with roses and a mass of other plants Lynx had never seen before. From the way Kestrel swooned, her sister knew all the names.
A team of gardeners trimmed topiaries of fantastical creatures she had only heard about in legends. They stopped what they were doing to bow as she and the riders went past.
Lynx frowned. It didn't matter how deceptively pretty the gardens, at the end of the expansive lawn, she saw treetops poking just above ground level. They had reached the wolves.
"How does that work?" Kestrel asked, also studying the strange feature.
"The wolves I told you about," Lynx replied, speaking Norin. "That's their enclosure. The trees give you an idea of how deep and wide it is."
Tao must have guessed what they were talking about because he paused. "It used to be the moat, but my grandfather didn't fancy the smell, so he had it emptied and stocked it with wolves. The trees arrived on their own." He pointed to a contingent of guardsmen working a large, steam-driven pulley. "You can only reach the palace at appointed drawbridges."
Or leave it, Lynx thought darkly.
Amid a belch of smoke and steam, the guardsmen lowered a wooden platform across the wide expanse of the enclosure. Lynx looked down at the foliage as her horse clattered over the drawbridge. She didn't see any wolves, but that didn't mean they weren't there.
Once clear of the palace grounds, Tao kicked his horse into a canter and then into a gallop, leading them along a tree-lined avenue, curling up the lower slopes of the Serreti Mountains.
Lynx lost herself in the rhythm of the ride. It was so enjoyable she barely felt the tug of her dress as it rode up above her thighs.
The cobbled road finally ended at an impenetrable wall of scrub and deciduous trees. Autumn had started to turn some of the leaves, but few had yet vacated the branches. Being a girl from the steppes, the forest looked dark and claustrophobic. She sucked in a panicky breath, looking for a path into the gloom. There was nothing obvious.
Then, she spotted a narrow opening, just wide enough for a horse and rider to pass through single file. If this was the main track Chenayans used for their beloved hunting, then the forest growth was as aggressive as all the hunters combined. It seemed fitting.
Tao passed though the opening first, followed by Kestrel, who seemed unfazed by the oppressive atmosphere.
Payback for the train, Lynx thought. She smiled wryly at the memory of Kestrel throwing up in a sick bag. Maybe she should have been more sympathetic. Too late now. Making a show of adjusting her reins, she lingered at the back of the queue, hoping to delay plunging into the murk as long as possible.
A movement in the trees on the other side of the path caught her attention. Axel, mounted on a blue-gray stallion, broke cover from the deep shade. He pushed his horse through a tangle of creepers, stopping next to her.
"A hard ride brings out the best in you, Lynx. It's even thawed your eyes. If I really try, I can even fool myself into believing that you don't despise us all."
Lynx cursed the pounding of her heart, nothing to do with either exercise or fear of the forest.
An appreciative grin spread across Axel's face.
She followed his eyes as they swept the length of her leg, exposed by galloping in a silly dress. A quick tug, and she pulled her skirt down her thighs. As to be expected, she blushed. Trust her face to betray her. "You had your chance on the train. Now my legs are off-limits-to you at least."
"Pity."
"Speaking of people who are allowed to see my legs . . . do you know where Lukan is?"
"Sorry. He's proving elusive. Even my father's lost him, and that says something, given his, shall we say, unique ways of tracking us all."
That sounded ominous. Axel's expression made Lynx wonder what he was hiding. Whatever it was, it made the hair on the back of her neck stand.
To cover up her treacherous thoughts, she said, "I didn't know vanishing into the ether was a trait you Chenayans bred into your crown princes." She stared pointedly at Axel's ruby. "But then, who knows what you're capable of?"
"I'd very much like to demonstrate my capabilities, if you'd let me, Princess."
"At breakfast, you said I smelled bad," Lynx said, refusing to engage in sexual innuendos with him. "And how am I supposed to hunt without a weapon?"
"And here I thought you'd stopped scrounging for weapons when you left the train. Silly of me." He smiled provocatively as his horse pranced in front of her. "And you don't smell bad, just overpowering. But I'm getting used to that. We'd make a good team, Princess. We both like to own the room."
The urge to smile back was overwhelming. She suppressed it. Axel had no right flirting with her like this when she was marrying his cousin. Or when he knew the peril her family was in. The memory of Mott's threat curdled her stomach, making her nauseous.