The Prince's Guide to True Love's Kiss {Published Version}

Lesson 31

Lesson 31: Your Best Defense Is a Good Offense

The following morning was somber, and at dawn, they set out again to follow the footsteps of their comrades. Grielle couldn't help nodding off against Benedikt's back, but it wasn't for long as their lumbering horse stumbled over the uneven terrain.

"Didn't sleep well?" he asked.

"One night in a proper bed and I'm suddenly incapable of sleeping on the ground." Grielle sighed, her head lolling on her shoulders. A violent wind whipped through the pass, cutting through her clothes. It nipped her skin with an icy chill. She shivered. "How far north are we?"

"Whitefox lets out to the Northeast of Stalvart, but this feels a little colder than home."

"I like it," Grielle smiled into Benedikt's shoulder and snuggled up closer to his back. "I like you."

Benedikt laughed. "Of course."

She hoped she would be able to love him as he loved her. Perhaps she did. But after falling for a man like Henrik she would need time to trust him...and herself.

The wind picked up as they moved deeper into the pass, and soon it whipped snowflakes at Grielle's raw face. By the time the sun dipped behind the jagged, snow-laden peaks of the Sturmback range, her legs ached both from the cold and from riding a packhorse without a saddle.

"This wind..." Talitha said breathlessly from the horse behind them. "It's most disconcerting."

"How?" Yorick replied, his voice nearly lost in the howl of the wind.

"I think it is meant to deter us. Don't you feel it? Close your eyes," Talitha commanded.

"All I feel is cold," Yorick snipped.

"And what else?"

"I can't decide if it's the horse or what, but I smell something foul."

"Focus on that," Talitha suggested over the wind.

"Whoa," Yorick exclaimed, causing Grielle to turn around. His body shook with a rippling shudder and his dark eyes were wide with terror.

"What is it?" Grielle eyed her brother with concern.

Yorick shook his head and pressed the heel of his hand to his brow. "The rotting smell on the air. I focused on the smell when my head grew cloudy and I felt... anger."

"That is wonderful, Yorick," Talitha said with a smile. "Well, it's not exactly wonderful that someone doesn't want us heading through the pass, but you just detected Withering Magic."

"Great," he replied sarcastically. "Somebody else wants us dead."

"I think they're hoping we'll turn around," Talitha said.

~

With dusk descending across the sky, they came to a halt. Grielle tightened her arms around Benedikt, not ready to leave his side yet for a sleeping roll on the cold ground.

"We haven't reached the far side of the ravine yet. I wonder if they found—" Grielle's head reeled as she wondered what had caused Reyn and Talitha to stop prematurely; they usually didn't make camp until dark.

Benedikt urged the horse forward, navigating to the front of the riding party where his father would be. The ravine curved to the left and opened to a wide valley below. The trail through Whitefox continued along the mountainside. It skirted the snow-covered valley and continued to the northeast.