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remained uncomplaining and courteous to all those around him, even though inside he was near boiling. Jahn would be in an absolute rage by now if he were subjected to the women and their demands.
    The princess did not care for riding on horseback, so she was pulled along in a boxy conveyance that moved at a snail’s pace. She insisted upon stopping frequently to stretch her limbs and complain about the bumpiness of the ride. Edlyn commanded that Sanura remain as far away from her as possible, so if the princess’s slow conveyance was at the rear of the party, as it usually was, the blue slave was forced to ride at the front. As Alix led the procession, and as he did not care to be anywhere near the complaining princess, he was forced to travel with Sanura practically at his side.
    She did not ride astride, but made the journey very gracefully perched in a massive sidesaddle. With her back unbendingly straight and her long legs more revealed than not, she was truly a sight to behold. Alix was accustomed to her blueness after more than a week of seeing her on a daily basis. It suited her, as did the black hair which was usually pulled atop her head in a pigtail that spilled out into a thick, straight fall which bounced with the horse’s gait.
    As they’d begun their journey he had insisted that Sanura not be chained. It was impractical to travel with a bound prisoner. If she decided to make off with her two surly guards, then all the better for everyone involved.
    Sanura was unlike the princess in every way. Not only did she not complain about the conditions of travel, she did not often speak at all. She never spoke to Alix. In fact, if she was aware of his existence, she did not show it in any way. Edlyn passed most of her days hidden in her dreary coach and spent every night in her private tent. Sanura seemed to love living under the open skies. She all but basked in the sun, and though she had a private tent of her own, she retired there only to sleep. In her waking hours, night and day, she moved among the others, silent and sensual and oddly peaceful.
    Whenever he heard the rattle of her girdle and bracelets and long earrings, Alix was reminded of music. The swish of the golden fabric which draped her body was just as harmonious. Other women so adorned clattered when they moved; they rustled and clanked. Sanura sang, and her song reached inside Alix and made his gut dance. When her movements made that song, he could not think of anything else—at least for a moment or two, until he forced his attention elsewhere.
    And still, in his mind she was as contrary and bothersome as the princess. He was constantly aware of her, and though she was not demanding, her guards and the two Tryfynian maids who traveled with her insisted on stopping more often than he liked.
    Sanura had to be aware of the curious eyes which were constantly upon her, but she never seemed nervous or ill at ease. She had to know that the men who watched her had, at the very least, passing lascivious thoughts. Her keepers did not even glance at her in an inappropriate way, but in their party there were four Columbyanan sentinels and six Tryfynian guards, all of them young, healthy, and distracted by the half-naked, curvaceous woman in their midst.
    Her body was more revealed than not in the foreign costume she wore, and the unnatural color of her skin drew the eye to every curve, every angle. Sanura was forbidden, and for some men that made her all the more attractive. Not Alix. He had always staunchly avoided that which was truly forbidden. He followed the rules, always. He did not reach for those things which were not meant to be his, whether it was a woman or the ruling of a country.
    But even he looked.
    Alix had never lacked for female companionship. Even before he had discovered his true heritage and found himself in a position of power—as next in line for the throne of Columbyana and as an influential advisor to the emperor— women had been drawn