“You two fight all the time,” Carys said. “Can’t you both just move on already? I know you miss him.”

“He thinks I’m wrong for coming here, but if we hadn’t come Lina would probably be dead by now. I made the right choice in listening to Delta. He should understand that.”

“Maybe winning the Eastern crown will be easier than I thought with you two at odds,” Carys taunted.

Bri didn’t reply, straightening her shoulders as she watched another length of road twist into view. “How many more hours?”

“I’d say another two.” Carys looked to the swirling storm clouds on the horizon. She nudged her horse with her calf, urging it to pick up the pace. “I think we’ll beat the rains.”

“Well, now you’ve doomed us to the rains,” Bri grumbled, touching her fingertips to her forehead in a silent prayer to undo the bad luck Carys just wished upon them.

Carys chuckled as she swapped the reins in her hands. “For someone so determined to prove her destiny wrong, that’s an awfully superstitious thing to say.”

Bri frowned and Carys’s smile broadened. “Maybe it’s better we ride in silence.”

*   *   *

The shoreline glowed molten silver, the afternoon sun making the sand shimmer like a thousand coins. Water softly lapped the shores of the sheltered bay. The storm clouds seemed to pass them by, heading toward the port towns at the bottom of the Western Court.

Bri had never stayed in Silver Sands Harbor before, only passing through the southern border on her way to other places, but it was truly magnificent, unlike anything she’d ever seen. The harbor straddled the border between the Western and Southern Courts, a glittering gem mostly uninhabited apart from the library to the west and the gold mines to the south.

They left the horses and carriage at the base of a thin trail zigzagging up to the white marble balustrade overlooking the ledge. A pack of three scruffy looking dogs greeted them, howling and booming threatening barks, all the while wagging their tails.

“We should have brought a donkey,” Carys heaved, pinching her side as they set down Lina’s trunk. “This was meant to be a holiday.”

“There’s nobody around for miles,” Lina panted, cresting the top of the path and dropping to sit on the inbuilt bench. “I could have carried my own trunk.”

The shaggy brown and black dogs, so enthusiastic only moments ago, collapsed into the shade of the stone patio. Their tongues lolled out of the sides of their mouths as they panted. Where had they come from? Though they were in need of a brush, they looked well-fed.

Carys peered up the hillside to the library. “That place has seen better days.”