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Kagami spurred her horse on as she turned down the forest path. The air rushing past her face was heavy with the scent of pine, and for a moment she could believe that everything was okay.
She wasn’t going to cry. She wasn’t going to cry.
Her eyes burned, blurring with tears. It was fortunate that the horse knew their way as well as she did.
Kagami let the wind dry her face. She couldn’t afford to be emotional, not today. Adrien would need her to be composed when she arrived. Kagami would be a rock for her betrothed to collapse against.
Another wave of grief surged from the pit of her stomach. The force of it almost knocked her off the horse.
“Fine,” Kagami said aloud. She slowed her horse and led him to a stream to drink. “Now at least one of us will be happy,” she told the horse. Her voice broke in the middle of the sentence.
Abandoning decorum, Kagami dropped to her knees beside the stream and splashed water into her face. The shock of cold cleared her mind somewhat, letting her think for the first time in… she didn’t know how long. Since the messenger had brought word of the queen’s death to the training grounds where Kagami and the other knights-to-be practiced their swordplay, she had moved through the world in a numb fog.
In the absence of emotion, there was only action. Chores to do. Duties to fulfill.
She had only been allowed to train at the knights’ academy as a concession to her mother. It didn’t matter how good Kagami was with her blade or how honorably she would follow the knights’ code, given the chance. The queen was dead. She and Crown Prince Adrien had been engaged since birth. Queens-to-be didn’t rescue damsels in distress. They became them.
Kagami let out a low moan. “I’ll be dead in a week,” she told the horse. “If losing this—losing everything—doesn’t kill me, whoever assassinated Queen Emilie will.”
The official story from the palace was that the queen had abruptly taken ill the night of Adrien’s coming-of-age ball. No one with sense believed it for a second.
“Still,” Kagami added ruefully, looking down into the water at her red-eyed reflection with its frame of sweat-soaked hair, “it’s better me than Adrien. I’ll protect him with every breath I have in me, Horse. It isn’t his fault.”
Tears dripped down her chin, making her reflection ripple.
“It isn’t my fault either,” Kagami whispered.
A sudden breeze stirred the trees, making the leaves whisper. “The tears of a grieving maiden…”
Kagami stiffened, dropping a hand to the hilt of her sword. “Who’s there? Declare yourself.”
“The wind,” whispered the leaves. “Only the wind and nothing more.”
Kagami got to her feet, brushing mud off her shins. “The wind doesn’t speak,” she said.
The forest around her was silent. With the silence, the leaves seemed to ask, “Are you sure?”
The horse was happily eating grass, so Kagami let him be. “Have you a name, wind?”
“Mylene,” whispered the leaves. “Why do you cry?”
Kagami sighed. “Because I had a childish, unrealistic dream for my life, and that dream has shattered forever.” She sounded like her mother, she realized. “Because the queen of this kingdom is dead. It is my duty to marry her son and take her place.”
A surge of loneliness swelled through her. Kagami almost sank to her knees again with the force of it.
“Shh,” whispered the leaves as whatever spirit was speaking to her through this lonely grove did its best to comfort her. “Rest here a moment, brave one, warrior with a thousand duties. Your honor will be there for you to shoulder again when you are ready.”
Kagami hesitated, but she sensed no malevolent intent from the spirit. “Thank you,” she said at last. “Your grove is lovely.”
A woman with green skin and intricately braided hair stepped out of the trees. She caressed the horse’s mane. “I have a duty as well,” she said. “I maintain this refuge for those who need it. Rest here until you are ready. Leave knowing that you may always return.”
Without quite knowing what she was doing, Kagami bowed to the woman and kissed her hand. “Thank you, Milady,” she said.
The grove was warm and peaceful. In this golden moment, Kagami could believe that treating herself with kindness would do no harm.
“I would be glad to sit with you, if you will have me.”
In answer, Mylene took a seat on the soft, green moss. With her sweet smile, she invited Kagami into a soft, comfortable silence.
Slowly, Kagami’s shoulders straightened. She began to feel things again. Her anger and sadness returned to her and let her hold them close.
“You will find your way, brave knight,” said Mylene, entwining her fingers with Kagami’s.
“I will,” said Kagami, looking deep into the depths of Mylene’s warm brown eyes. “I believe I already have.”
Mylene’s face told Kagami that this was the correct answer. “Then you shall bring my favor—and my protection—with you when you go forth to the palace,” she said. She pressed a silver ring into Kagami’s hand. “Keep this with you always. Rescue your friend. And when you are done, return to me. Be my champion.”
Kagami’s cheeks were hot, and not just from the sun. “I will,” she said. “I swear it.”