Chapter 112

The horn sounded to begin the hunt.

"Come back safe, Your Highness. I'll be right here waiting for you."

Mari hugged me tightly before I left, and the words were so sweetly earnest that I laughed. When did she grow up so much?

I pressed a light kiss to her cheek, and then we split off. Joachim headed east, as he always did. I rode west with Friedrich.

"Ha—!"

I urged Rudolf forward at a gallop, and the wind hit my face and hair all at once, a clean bright rush. The long hair scattered in every direction and I didn't mind at all.

The freedom of it—something I hadn't felt in a long time—pulled a laugh out of me before I knew it was coming.

Then I noticed Friedrich had been very quiet, and glanced back.

"Come to think of it—is this your first time riding in Stade?"

He…