I prefer the stable to the "female" side of the room at the palace banquet. Horses talk about simple things. Basic needs and fears:

"I'm hungry, give me oats."

"I'm thirsty, give me a drink."

"I'm in season, want to mate."

"I don't like the scratchy halter, take it off."

"Loud noise! Must be a predator! Run!"

It really is simple, practical and honest to a fault.

This group of human females on the other hand are none of those things. Horses don't bother with pettiness or facades.

Princess Lily is at the center of them all, sitting next to the new bride.

Lily has grown since the first time Mahmud and I saw her. Every year I swear she gets more beautiful. As a princess, she is allowed to be unveiled in her own home, the palace. She appears to be relishing in the attention it gets her from the male side of the room.

"Shara, I'm glad for you marrying my brother," Lily says to the bride, a slightly built young woman dressed in a white dress and veil. "He's a good man. Isn't this romantic the feast he's prepared in honor of you?"

I take a sideways glance in the direction of the "good man" in question. Prince Timon, in his late twenties, a large, barrel-chested man who sports a thick black beard, is getting drunk with a buddy and keeps glancing Shara's way with an annoyed expression.

"Yes," Shara, the bride answers meekly. "It's lovely." I can sense she doesn't believe any of those things. In fact, even under her white bridal veil I can tell she's terrified.

My stomach does a roll for her.

"Don't be nervous," one of the younger girls says to the bride, "here have a drink. It'll help."

"Your wedding night will be over quickly, it usually is," an older woman tells the bride, comfortingly patting her hand.

My stomach does another roll at this woman's words of "comfort".

The poor thing! How can these women be encouraging her in something she obviously doesn't want to do?

"Men are taught from a young age to dismiss female emotions, aren't they?" I say to Lily casually, taking a seat next to her as if I were part of a royal party myself.

Who cares? These women won't throw me out because they can't. Besides, I don't actually exist. Most of the time I'm the horse of a captain in the King's cavalry. Might as well learn a little about what makes up a royal woman here in Kanan.

"Excuse me, who are you?" Lily asks, setting her glass down on a gold table.

"Luna," I say, giving her a respectful nod to placate her. "I came here with Captain Mahmud."

"Mahmud?" Lily's eyes go all dreamy at the mention of my rider. "You know Captain Mahmud?"

"Yep," I say, my veil hiding the muddled expression on my face. Suddenly I'm tempted to try alcohol again. Lily's obvious attraction to Mahmud has me unsettled. Especially since any man who gets the attention of a beautiful princess should be flattered.

"Bring this woman a drink!" Lily yells to a maidservant carrying a pitcher, as if she can read my mind. She hands me a solid gold goblet. "So tell me. How do you know Captain Mahmud?"

"Childhood friends?" I answer, more a question to see if she'll believe me than anything else.

"How strange! Are you like his sister then? What is he like? Is he as kind-hearted and gentle as they say?"

Sometimes he rides me pretty hard if we're chasing a target... but other than that, Princess...

"He's very kind," I say, because I'm a fool who wants to make her crush on Mahmud even more.

The maidservant pours me a drink and I begrudgingly take a sip.

Hmm... strong, but not as bad as what I had with Mahmud the other day.

"Excuse me," I say to the maidservant, indicating to the drink. "What is this?"

"Auran smooth wine, milady," she says, shocked I'm speaking to her as if she were one of the party.

"Thanks, it's much better than that Ram's Brew I had yesterday," I tell her.

The maidservant wrinkles her nose and whispers, "Between you and me, Ram's Brew is gods awful."

"Right? Thank you!" I exclaim, patting her hand.

The maidservant smiles for the first time tonight and give me a respectful nod.

"So, tell me more about Mahmud," Lily says, her voice hushed and face close to mine so no one else can hear. "Does he do well in battle?"

"A wonderful fighter. Expert rider and... King Raman believes he's the best man in the cavalry," I say, the way she eagerly hangs on my every word about Mahmud has me worried. I narrow my eyes at her and try to figure out what she's getting at. "Why are you so interested in him, Princess?"

"I can't say," Lily says. She bites her lip and her face suddenly flushes. She giggles and covers her head in her hands.

I blink at her a couple of times. Whatever is she so flustered and giddy about?

I place a hand on her shoulder and lean forward. "You can tell me, Princess. I'm super good at keeping secrets." So good at it, that I'm in a crowded wedding banquet and no one has the faintest clue I'm a horse-shifter.

Lily looks up at me, a goofy smile on her face and says, "I hardly know you, Luna, yet I have a feeling about you. Like you're trustworthy. Like we could be friends."

"Thank you," I say, somehow not surprised by her abrupt confidence in me. "But tell me. What do you really think about your brother, Timon marrying Shara?" I decide to change the subject. Perhaps I can ease an answer from her about Mahmud by making conversation about something else sensitive.

"Timon isn't excited about his marriage to Shara," Lily says, "but he must to please our father. I mean... Look at her! Shara isn't beautiful or desirable as a wife."

"What?" I take a brief glance over at the veiled bride. There is nothing unacceptable about how Shara looks. Petite, lovely skin, dark eye-lashes over big brown eyes from what I can see under the gauze of her veil. Besides the worried expression on her face I daresay Shara is one of the lovelier-looking people in this room.

"She's practically flat-chested and her hips are not of a good size for childbirth," Lily whispers, as if this is scandalous information and Shara's own doing. "But Timon must have a first wife and Shara is the only daughter of Ramses, a chief merchant of Kanan who makes my father more money than any other man."

"Poor Shara," I murmur under my breath, my fist clenching on the goblet I hold with outrage for her situation.

"Timon is first to marry, but my father tells me I'll be next," Lily continues, she blushes. "My marriage prospect is far better than Timon's. Father tells me he plans to betroth me to his best captain."

My heart drops to the floor as well as my goblet of wine.