ETAN
When he swung into the saddle outside the stable, it felt like the first time he'd taken a full breath in over a day.
It was early afternoon, and he and Borsche were travelling ahead of Falek and Ayleth and the few guards Falek was allowing to accompany them—to a point.
That morning at training—which Etan had taken very carefully as his temper was still simmering—Falek had described his conversation with the King about invoking the Old Rite.
"… when I told him it would take all the fighting heirs and their coaches out of the Castle for two nights, he seemed very quick to agree that it was a good idea. I think he's sick of sitting in the ballroom and at dinner every night. I think he also hadn't remembered that his own daughter was covered by the Rite.
"When I mentioned Ayleth and where I would take her, he insisted Ayleth had no need to invoke the Rite—she was female."
