Did she think I’d caused this? Would they take me away like they did Costin, assuming I dishonored the contract? I stared blankly at the ground, struck mute by fear.
“Bianca,” Vinna said, taking my hand. “What happened?”
“We saw your horse crash against Skender’s,” Breen said between clenched teeth. “What did you do?” There was accusation in her tone. It seemed she’d already judged me and found me guilty.
“I...” My voice trembled. My leg throbbed with each of my frantic heartbeats. “Skender hit my horse with his crop,” I finally managed. “She spooked and went wild. That’s when we crashed into him. It all happened so quickly.”
Breen just stared blankly. Alben walked up to my horse and checked her face.
“Holy Gambit,” he cursed. “Poor beast.”
“Let me look,” Breen demanded, harshly yanking my mare’s reins.
“Hey!” I exclaimed. “Treat her gently.”
Vinna gave me a sideways glance and halfway smiled. I ignored her.
I took the reins from Breen and said, “She needs someone to check her injury.”
“I’ll take her,” Alben said and, with an easy touch, pulled her away and walked her toward the stable.
“We need to take this to Knight Kelsus,” Breen said, stomping after Alben and leaving us all behind.
CHAPTER 17
Two hours later, I was lying down in the dormitory, trying to ignore the pain in my leg when Vinna came running in. She skidded to a stop at the foot of my flimsy cot and fought to catch her breath.
“What is it?” I sat up, my heart thumping.
Had my horse lost her eye? Or worse, had they put her down? They couldn’t have. I hadn’t even named her.
“Is the beast all right?” I asked in a low croak.
“What?” Vinna said, staring at me as if I’d gone crazy. “The horse? Now you care about it?”
I shrugged in answer, the same way she often did.
“No,” she said. “’Tis nothing to do with the beast, Bianca. This is worse. Much worse.”
“Oh, no.” I put a hand on my chest as my heart sank.
They’d decided I had cheated, and tonight I would serve as Queen Lovina’s dinner. I went cold as my eyes desperately roved around, looking for an escape, though I knew there was none.
“Breen’s right mad,” Vinna said. “Knight Kelsus listened to everyone’s account of what happened, and he decided yeh won fair and square.”
“He did?” I blinked, hardly believing what I was hearing. “So I won,” I added—half question, half statement.
But if I’d won, why was Vinna staring at me with that strange look in her green eyes?
“Yes, yeh won,” Vinna said as if that didn’t matter. “Just the reason Breen lost it and went to Alben with a threat. I was looking after yehr horse in the stall, so she didn’t know I was there. She told Alben if he doesn’t get you to challenge him right away, she’ll make sure to start a rumor.”
“A rumor?” I threw my legs off the bed and stood up. “What rumor?”
“She said she’s goin’ start tellin’ everyone that Alben’s little sister’s a Trove.”
My spine turned to ice. “She’s a... Trove?”
“No, yeh zugzwang.” Vinna wrinkled her nose. “Of course she ain’t a Trove. She’s just a normal little girl. But that won’t matter. They’ll go for her, take her to the Queen to check. And once she’s there,” Vinna pointed in the direction of where the palace stood, “it won’t matter that she ain’t a Trove. The Queen will just...” She turned, grabbing her head in desperation.
“Breen has it in for yeh,” Vinna continued. “She knows yeh’re injured, knows yeh’re in no shape for a challenge.” She turned back and faced me. “She wants yeh dead, Bianca.”
I collapsed back on the bed and buried my face in my hands.
Alben.
I thought of his jovial smile and easy way. Even though I’d known it would come to this, I still didn’t want to fight him, didn’t want to go through with this.
My leg smarted then, making me more aware of my injury. Even with my leg as it was, maybe I could still fight, maybe we could still...
And what if I managed to win convincingly? Would Breen still risk an innocent girl’s life to get her way?
One way or another, I still had to fight Alben, and that meant today I would either become a White Pawn, or I would die.
TO BE CONTINUED...
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About the Author
Ingrid Seymour is the author of Ignite The Shadows (Harper Voyager, August 2015). When she's not writing books, she spends her time working as a software engineer, cooking exotic recipes, hanging out with her family and working out. She writes young adult and new adult fiction in a variety of genres, including Sci-Fi, urban fantasy, romance, paranormal and horror. Her favorite outings involve a trip to the library or bookstore where she immediately gravitates toward the YA section. She's an avid reader and fangirl of many amazing books. She is a dreamer and a fighter who believes perseverance and hard work can make dreams come true. She lives in Birmingham, AL with her husband, two kids and a cat named Ossie.
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