Milena was the main coordinator between the prince and us. By early that afternoon, Prince Asa had gotten together all the supplies, including a wagon, for us to leave.

“Is he nice?” Will asked Milena as we carried our bags down the hall to leave the inn.

Milena shrugged. She'd had the same silly grin across her face for the past hour. I didn't know if it was because she was excited for our “adventure” or just something about the prince.

We met him a little way up the street from the inn, in an area where most of the shops were vacant. I guess he didn't want people to see him leaving with three peasants.

I'd seen the Vepor prince before, and I'd seen him just last night when I'd come to help Milena, although I’d been a little too nervous to survey him.

He stood a little over six feet, with brown hair that curled just below his ears. For a prince, he obviously spent a fair amount of his time outside—that and the fact that the Vepors had a natural tanner complexion than most. Looking at his eyes, I could tell from the way they shifted periodically that he was a strategist, always analyzing his surroundings. From my experience, all strategists acted the same. They were constantly contemplating their next move.

The prince shifted as we stopped walking a few steps from him, looking us over. “So, what are your actual names?” he asked. “Because honestly right now I’ve just been labeling you as girls who swindled me into making a deal with them.”

Milena introduced us each individually. “I’m Milena, that’s Elody, and that’s Will.”

I noticed that Will was standing off the side, avoiding eye contact with the prince.

“Are we good to go?” Milena asked. She spoke to him like someone who traveled with him all the time.

Prince Asa nodded.

Milena looked at the wagon, a dubious look on her face. “We’re riding in one wagon?” she asked.

Prince Asa looked at her, a challenging look on his face. “Is that a problem?”

Before Milena could utter a sarcastic comment, I quickly replied, “No, not at all.” I shot her a quick glance then added, “We’re very grateful.”

Prince Asa laughed. “It doesn't bother me. I just thought one wagon would be enough. I can get another.”

Out of the prince’s view, I glared at Milena.

“No, one will be just fine,” she said as politely as she could. “Thank you.” Obviously that moment of courtesy was too much for her because she quickly climbed into the wagon, without waiting for the rest of us.

Will climbed in next, still keeping as much space as possible between him and the prince.

Surprisingly, Prince Asa held his hand out to me as I stepped up to the wagon. I accepted his hand.

As the Prince was helping me into the wagon, he said to me, “So you're her handler.”

I couldn't help but smile. “Something like that.”

Prince Asa went around to the front of the wagon to speak to the driver.

“He seems nice enough,” I said to Will, who was sitting next to me.

“I guess,” he murmured.

“He’s fine, so you can stop acting like a scared fawn,” Milena said. She’d made herself comfortable in her little corner of the wagon, stretching out her legs on the seat next to her.

“You’re pretty informal with him,” I said to her. “You remember that he’s a prince.”

“I remember that he’s in our debt right now,” Milena replied.

“In our debt? We haven’t even made it to the island yet,” I reminded her.

“We’re going to,” Milena said. “And we’re going to find that crystal, and then he’s going to give us what we want. I could care less if he was my king. We have the upper hand.”

I didn’t push the subject as the Prince came back around to the back of the wagon. He smacked the side of the wagon before climbing in. He sat on the same side as Milena, but since she didn’t offer to move her feet, he sat close to the wagon’s opening.

My stomach flopped as a realization dawned. We were going to spend the next few days face-to-face with the Vepor prince. What could we even talk about? I surely couldn’t say much, I didn’t want to risk him realizing who I was. We’d never met, but he still might have known about the Artieran prince’s fiancé.

Milena asked the question I was thinking. “How long will it take us to get to Hastwel?”

“I think we can arrive in Hastwel in about three days,” Prince Asa replied. He looked at her, and I couldn’t decipher the look on his face. “Plenty of time to get to know each other.”

Milena rolled her eyes. “What’s to know about you? You’re a prince with a lot of time.”

“And you’re a woman with a lot of time,” Prince Asa retorted. He turned his vision to our side of the wagon. “Will.” Will looked up at Prince Asa at the sound of his name. “You must be very brave traveling with and protecting these two women.”

Milena laughed. “Will protecting us? That I’d like to see.”

“I just… Enjoy traveling with them,” Will said softly.

“Where all have you been?”

“Look Vepor,” Milena spoke up. “We may have a lot of time with each other the next few days, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to lay out our life stories for you. We’re traveling on business, nothing more, nothing less.”

I wanted to say something about Milena’ tone with Prince Asa, but I had to agree with her. It was probably for the best that we didn’t get to know each other too well. Maybe a second wagon would have been a good idea.

At least the prince didn’t get too uptight about Milena’s attitude. He leaned back against the wagon, closing his eyes, and his lips twisted into a smug grin. “Alright. But a girl like you, I’m sure you’ll get bored of the silence soon.”

Milena scoffed.

I got bored of the silence within about five minutes. Thankfully I’d swiped two books from a shelf at the inn. I pulled one out of my bag to read, its title Hultain’s Despair. I managed to get through the first few pages before looking up—and seeing the Prince watching me. My eyes quickly dropped back down to the book, but I could still feel his eyes. I knew those eyes. He had no interest in me specifically, he was just analyzing me, trying to figure me out without talking. I shifted uncomfortably, suddenly worried any little thing—my hair, the book I read, my posture—would tip him off to my nobility. Could I really handle three more days of this?

I soon forgot about the prince as I got deeper into the book. I was a third of the way through when the Prince cut the silence.

“What is that look on your face, Will?”

I glanced over at Will.

“Oh, nothing,” Will replied quickly. His eyes looked down. “I was just noticing that as a prince, you don't carry a sword.”

“I do carry a sword,” Prince Asa corrected. “I just don't keep it on me. I don't expect to find much danger in brothels, nothing I can't handle with my own two hands.”

“Do you think that's wise?” I asked. “You are a prince. And no offense, not a well-liked one.”

Prince Asa smiled. “It's worked so far. But if you think I should keep my sword on me, then I can.”

“I would,” Milena said.

I shot her a glare. Was she trying to make him think we might attempt to kill him?

Prince Asa smiled at her, a challenging glimmer in his eye. “I'll take that into consideration.”

For most of the trip, the Prince seemed to take more of an interest to Will than Milena and me, probably because Milena was harder to open up than a clam and I tried to keep myself invisible by reading. Will was too nervous to not answer the Prince’s questions. They shared stories about their childhood, which were vastly different. Still, I was surprised at how genuinely interested Prince Asa conversated with Will. I noticed Milena watching the two interact as well.

I had just finished my book when we began to cross the bridge over the Tours River. My hands instantly started to sweat. The land to the west and south west of the Tours River all belonged to the Artierans. I was miles away from the Vineyard, but just being in Artieran land made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

We stopped for the first time a short while after crossing the bridge.

The Prince got out first and helped Milena and I out the wagon, noticeably lingering when he held Milena’s hand.

She barely seemed to notice, quickly putting distance between them to start stretching. “I feel like we’ve been traveling forever.”

“Talk to me when you have to go across the land in a wagon,” Prince Asa said, stretching his arms above his head.

“When I become a princess and get to do that, I'll let you know,” Milena said back.

Prince Asa shook his head at her scorn, then went to chat with the driver.

“Milena,” I snapped when he was out of earshot. “Do you have to be so catty with him?”

Milena ignored me, heading over to the footstool that doubled as the trunk. Opening it, she began shifting the bags to get to hers.

“What are you looking for?” Will asked her.

“I packed some dried fruit in here,” she said.

Will looked at me. “I'm going to go use the bathroom.”

“We won't leave without you,” I assured him. I watched him as he walked off toward some stray trees, then turned my attention back to Milena, who had just found her fruit.

“What’s that?” I pointed to a wooden handle with strings pointing out of the mess of bags.

Milena moved aside some of the bags and pulled out a fidar. She plucked a few of the strings. “Well it's in tune. And definitely used.”

“Do you usually snoop through other people’s things?”

We turned to see Prince Asa standing behind us.

Milena of course had no shame in being caught snooping through his things. “Is this your fidar?”

Prince Asa nodded.

“Do you play?” Milena asked.

“Well do you think he just has it?” I asked her.

She handed the fidar to the prince, waiting for him to impress her.

“Maybe later,” the prince said, putting the instrument back with the bags. “We should get moving again.”

“In a few minutes,” Milena said, heading off toward the trees.

“You had time to go,” Prince Asa called after her, for the first time sounding exasperated with her.

“I didn't have to go until now!” Milena called back before disappearing among the trees.

“She's…. Difficult,” the prince muttered, and I didn't quite know if he was talking to me.

Realizing I needed to go too, I said to him, “I'll go make sure she doesn't take too long.” Before he could say something to me, I took to a swift run to the trees.

The second part of the trip, Milena and I engaged in conversation more. Milena’s stories were much more exciting than mine since I could barely share anything without giving away who I was. Even if I could, her stories still would have been more exciting. I'd never witnessed an all-out bar fight or two men dueling over five Telvs with kitchen knives on horseback.

As it got darker, the Prince attempted to teach us how to read the stars, though there weren't a lot out yet.

“So, you really know how to get around,” Milena said to him at one point. “You don't need some fancy driver or royal party.”

“It's been awhile since I've traveled with a royal party,” the Vepor Prince replied. “As for a driver, I prefer to travel on my own. Plus, I have to pay a driver.”

“Such a hassle,” Milena said, rolling her eyes away from him.

“Do we need to pay the driver?” I asked. “Or pay you for anything?”

Prince Asa shook his head. “Not at all. Your payment is the crystal.”

“No, your payment for the crystal is the information we want,” Milena so kindly reminded him.

“Then that would make the driver unpaid for,” the Prince said to her.

“You're a prince, his cost should be nothing compared to your money.”

“You just assume that I have so much money.”

“Do I need to remind you you're a prince?”

“You shouldn't judge a book by its cover.”

“When is the last time you read a book?” Milena asked. “I don't think they have many of those in brothels.”

“I was reading the history of Broken Arrow the morning before you so graciously hustled me into your scheme.” He turned his attention to Will and me. “Did you know the majority of the city is built on top of a bunch of cave networks from when before the city was an actual city and just a hideout for insurgents?”

“Really? That's very interesting,” I said.

Asa nodded. “Essentially their town’s weak spot is right underneath them. A few planned explosives and the whole city would come toppling down.”

Just what I'd expect from the mind of a strategist.

“Are you planning a few explosives?” Milena asked. “That seems like the only reason that information would be relevant.”

“It's just knowledge,” Asa said. “What’s the last piece of knowledge you found out?”

Milena chewed on her lip as she thought. “Tiron and Chiphon in the south used to be one city until a huge fire burned through the middle and so it became two different cities.”

“Oh,” Asa said, rubbing his jaw and genuinely thinking about what she’d said. “That’s very interesting. I did not know that.”

When we stopped for the night, I was more than happy to not be in a small space with Milena and Prince Asa. Who knew how much more of her he could take? We stopped in an open field a few feet off the main road.

“There's three tents,” Asa informed us.

“Great, one for each of us,” Milena said.

I rolled my eyes at her flawed logic. “There's five of us, including the driver. Milena and I can share a tent, the driver can have his own, and then Prince Asa and Will.” The words bit me as I realized I’d so openly assumed a prince like Asa would be so willing to share his quarters.

Thankfully, he just nodded. “Sounds good. Are you alright with that, Will?”

I glanced at him too. He was the one I should have been more worried about pairing the two together.

Some of the color had left his face, but he nodded. “Yes, that's fine.”

We had the tents set up, the horses taken care of, and a fire going by nightfall. A few miles back we’d stopped so Asa could purchase a few meat chops which we cooked over the fire, along with some crackers.

The driver, whose name was Clarence, had retired to his tent. Milena, Will, and I sat around the fire. The Prince sat a few yards away atop a boulder sticking out of the grassy earth. He’d taken his fidar out and was strumming a gentle tune, one that carried on the wind across the field.

Will stood up. “I'll be right back.” He quickly made his way into a thicket of trees a few yards in the opposite direction.

My ear picked up a new quieter sound, and I realized Milena was humming along to what the prince was playing. “He’s really good,” I commented.

Milena didn't look away from the fire. “Yeah I guess.”

“I wish Errol could have played that well.”

Milena looked at me. “Would that have made you like him more?”

“It's not that I don’t like him,” I reminded her.

“You just don't want to marry him,” Milena said.

“Now,” I added.

Milena glanced over at me, a wryly smile on her lips. “Maybe he's lucky you ran away. Seems like you would have been a very picky wife.”

“How am I being picky?”

“You like him, but you don't like him enough to marry him. Although you want to marry him, just not now.” Milena shook her head. “Sounds picky. Did you ever ask him what he wanted?”

“He wanted to marry me,” I said.

“But did you ask him?” Milena asked. “He sounds like as much a person as you are. I can't really see you liking the selfish type of man, so giving him the benefit of the doubt I would think he's a nice guy. So, did you ever ask him what he wanted? Or at least tell him what you wanted? If he's so head over heels for you, wouldn't he have listened?”

“You don't understand,” I said. “It's not that easy.”

Milena exhaled through her nose as she stood up. “Alright. Guess I don't understand all that fancy noble stuff.”

“Where are you going?” I asked her.

“To sleep,” she replied.

Will came back just as she was walking away, just catching a wave from her.

I might have imagined it, but I could have sworn I saw the prince watching Milena until she disappeared into our tent.