Chapter 97

Frick the fox was a fierce fellow, but Landon of Brendrake was hot on his bushy tail, and as the fox dove beneath a fallen log, Landon’s horse leapt over top of it, forcing the creature to stop in his tracks and turn back. The sound of hooves in the distance had him halting once more, and as Landon jumped from his steed, the fox attempted to take cover beneath the fallen timber.

“I’ve got you now, you feisty critter,” Landon mumbled as he moved in slowly. The hound he’d been assigned was waiting on the other side of the log, watching to see if it should do something more to try to corner the animal they’d been pursuing for going on two hours, but once he was trapped, Frick was intelligent enough to realize he’d been bested, particularly when Landon carefully reached beneath the fallen log and scooped the animal into his arms.

Just like a timid puppy, the fox curled himself up a bit into the crook of Landon’s bicep. “Well, now’s not the time to show your cowardice,” he teased, stroking the animal lovingly on the top of his head. “You’ve done a fine job of outrunning all of us, little Frick.”

“Oh, you captured him!” The sound of Kit’s cheerful voice had Landon looking up in anticipation of seeing her lovely face. She was already alighting from her steed, even though the horse hadn’t come to a complete stop, and he was glad she was nearby when he’d made his claim.

“I did,” Landon said proudly, walking over to meet her. “And he’s just as adorable as you said he was.”

Kit was giggling as she reached out to stroke the fox on his soft head. “Well done, little Frick! Well done!”

“Way to go, Landon!” Cassius said, staying atop his large white stallion. “You were certainly the best man out here today.”

“Nicely done,” Kit’s Commander, Eli, added with a smile that made Landon feel even more proud of himself.

“The rest of us gave up some time ago, certain you had it in the bag,” Drake laughed.

“Perhaps that’s the only reason I was able to nab him,” Landon joked in return.

Several other horses approached from the woods now, including the queen herself and Frick’s handlers. Landon bowed his head, as did everyone else, until the queen assured them it was quite all right for them to resume their normal positions. Landon was certain she was just about to congratulate him on winning the hunt when Merek, the bulbous ass from Calster shouted, “Why didn’t you kill the varmint? He’d taste pretty good over a skewer!” and then burst into laughter at his own heinous joke.

“That’s enough!” the queen shouted. It took Merek a few more seconds to regain control of himself, and he didn’t even apologize to Her Majesty. Landon wondered if he really thought the objective was to kill the fox, despite the queen’s warnings. He had noticed Merek usually didn’t pay much attention to anything anyone said, including the queen.

Queen Rona climbed off of her horse with the help of two of her guards and slowly picked her way through the fallen branches and high grass to come to stand before him. “Landon of Brendrake, well done,” she said with what he could only assume was a smile. He’d never actually seen the queen look joyful, so he had to deduce the slight uprising in her tight mouth and the fact that her eyes were tipped upward meant that she was pleased. “You have accomplished a great task today. It isn’t easy to track our Frick at all, and to have found him in such a short amount of time, to extract him without one of his handlers, is to be commended. Now, let us return to the castle where my darling daughter, Princess Katrinetta, has a few announcements to make.”

Landon’s eyes shifted to Kit’s face in time to see the surprise at her mother’s choice of words. While he hadn’t had the opportunity to spend as much time with Kit as some of the other Representatives, he knew the situation well enough to understand that the queen wasn’t as fond of her daughter as she let on in public, particularly in situations such as this when it was to be expected that the queen would have something kind to say about her offspring. Still, Landon didn’t let on that he’d noticed Kit’s consternation or her mother’s flair for the dramatic. With one more scratch of Frick’s head, he handed the fox over to his handler and whistled for his horse, Crisper, which had wandered off a step or two with free rein and all of the excitement.

Back on his mount, Landon headed toward the castle, pleased that Kit fell in alongside him. “That really was quite impressive,” she said, smiling up at him. “I’ve never seen Frick captured that quickly.”

“Thank you.” He couldn’t help but beam at her. Thoughts of her mother’s promise earlier, that the winner would be spending the evening with the princess, invaded his mind, but he fought them off, deciding it would be better to wait to hear it from the princess herself. Even then, he wouldn’t believe it until he was in her chambers with her. The idea of actually pleasuring the princess was too good to be true. “How did your escapade go? Did you find what you were looking for?”

He watched Kit’s face blanche and wished he hadn’t asked. Had something gone wrong? “It was fine. I didn’t find what I was looking for, I’m afraid, but I’m still glad I went.”

Landon nodded, thinking he’d keep the rest of his questions to himself. When she’d first left the hunt, Cassius had mentioned he’d heard Jecob say something about this land once belonging to a disgraced nobleman, and he thought maybe the house was still on the grounds. Landon had questioned why Kit would be looking for such a place. Cassius hadn’t wanted to speculate, but he had said he thought it might have something to do with Kit’s childhood, and maybe with her commander. Landon wanted to ask Kit now if that was the case, if she’d ridden off with Eli to someplace they used to go when she was younger, but clearly she didn’t wish to speak about it, so he didn’t press her.