The Cursed Heir

Chapter Two

"Like this?"

"Better, but you're still rolling your ankles."

Cassie had woken confused, cramped, and dingy. And with too-bright sunshine streaming into the tiny bedroom, and Skylar telling her it was time to start learning how to stay alive. Somewhere a robin was singing to greet the new day, and Silvana was rolling out of the other pallet and loping out of the tiny bedroom, ready to hunt down that day's challenges. Where Skylar had slept the night before, Cassie had no idea.

There were more birds making noise in the sunlight, but Cassie was struck anew by how quiet it was. No tutors demanding she begin her lessons, no servants pulling clothes out for her, no bustle of breakfast and cheery songs of morning. Just Cassie, and Skylar, and Silvana. And the wind.

Cassie had never known such calm.

"Is it always like this?" she had asked Skylar.

In answer, he had thrown some old clothes at her and told her to change. That done, she had ventured outside to find him waiting, staring at the trees surrounding the house.

"You steal these from a beggar?" she had asked, plucking at her outfit. There were almost more holes than fabric, and the once-complex embroidery had come unraveled in most places. The famous Trenorish stitchwork was still visible, broadcasting a false nationality for Cassie better than any disguise could have.

Skylar turned his head enough to smile at the question. "They were mine a long time ago."

Cassie had looked down at the pants, which just reached her feet, and then back up at Skylar, who was at least a head taller, the unspoken question loud between them.

"A very long time ago," he had acknowledged. "Ready?"

With that, he had simply melted into the forest.

Cassie had done her best to follow, but it wasn't more than a minute before he had turned back and begun telling her exactly how loud she was being. She needed to learn how to step silently if she could ever hope to survive in the forest, apparently. So for what felt like hours, Cassie practiced stepping. On leaves, off of them, between trees, over them.

It was not so different from a lesson with her tutors after all.

"When do I learn to hunt?" she asked excitedly.

"When you've learned to be quiet enough that you won't instantly scare off all the prey."

Cassie scowled but kept practicing. Learning to fight had been the same, full of the tedious repetition of minutiae in the beginning, until it all became second nature enough for her to handle actual swordplay.

But in the meantime, she was so very bored. Especially when he began lecturing her on the patterns of the forest, the locations of the closest water sources, the best ways to dig up food other than the meat Silvana contributed. And how careful she had to be to...

"Oh, there's Silvana!" Cassie said brightly, just able to make out someone's figure through the trees. Had she caught something already, then? She drew breath to call out to the banisè when she felt an iron grip yanking her down by the arm. Cassie went down with a startled yelp, only to have Skylar clap a hand over her mouth.

"You really are too stupid to survive here on your own, aren't you?" Skylar hissed, fingers digging into her cheeks.

Cassie glared at him, a trickle of fear dampening her anger. "Longheirce?" she asked, the word muffled.

Skylar mercifully shook his head. "Another banisè, I think." When she relaxed in relief and tried to pull away, his eyes narrowed at her. "The less anyone knows about you, the better."