Katsa choked down her annoyance and passed to the horses. She greeted the animals and lifted their hooves, one by one, to check for cracks and gravel. They’d done well, the horses, and at least they knew better than to fall asleep in the forest, so close to the city and such a great distance from where Randa supposed them to be. Her own mount whickered, and Oll stirred behind her.

“And if someone had discovered you,” she said, “sleeping at the edge of the forest when you were supposed to be halfway to the eastern border?” She spoke into her saddle and scratched her horse’s shoulder. “What explanation would you have given?”

“I didn’t mean to sleep, My Lady,” Oll replied.

“That’s no comfort.”

“We don’t all have your stamina, My Lady, especially those of us with gray hair. Come now, no harm was done.” He shook Giddon, who responded by covering his eyes with his hands. “Wake up, My Lord. We’d best be moving.”

Katsa said nothing. She hung her saddlebags and waited by the horses. Oll brought the remaining saddlebags and fastened them in place. “Prince Tealiff is safe, My Lady?”

“He’s safe.”

Giddon stumbled over, scratching his brown beard. He unwrapped a loaf of bread and held it out to her, but she shook her head. “I’ll eat later,” she said.

Giddon broke off a piece and handed the loaf to Oll. “Are you angry that we weren’t performing strength exercises when you arrived, Katsa? Should we have been doing gymnastics in the treetops?”

“You could’ve been caught, Giddon. You could’ve been seen, and then where would you be?”

“You would’ve thought of some story,” Giddon said. “You would’ve saved us, like you do everyone else.” He smiled, his warm eyes lighting up a face that was confident and handsome but that failed to please Katsa at the moment. Giddon was younger even than Raffin, strong, and a good rider. He had no excuse for sleeping.

“Come, My Lord,” Oll said. “Let’s eat our bread in the saddle. Otherwise our lady will leave without us.”

She knew they teased her. She knew they thought her too critical. But she also knew she wouldn’t have allowed herself to sleep when it was unsafe to do so.

Then again, they would never have allowed the Graceling Lienid to live. If they knew, they’d be furious, and she wouldn’t be able to offer any rational excuse.

They wound their way to one of the forest paths that paralleled the main road and set out eastward. They pulled their hoods low and pushed the horses hard. After a few minutes, the pounding of hooves surrounding her, Katsa’s irritation diminished. She couldn’t be worried for long when she was moving.

THE FORESTS of the southern Middluns gave way to hills, low hills at first that would grow as they neared Estill. They stopped only once, at midday, to change their horses at a secluded inn that had offered its services to the Council.