Over the next few days travel was interspersed with rehearsal whenever the horses began to flag. After bypassing Pirini, the wagons rode across increasingly lush land, green and well treed. In the distance, looming mountains rose up, distant sentinels through the night. They spent two days skirting gentle foothills, and the mountains never seemed to come any closer.
On the second night, they neared glittering Lake Rosa, which, Isabella whispered with glee, was named after a king’s mistress. The lake was so large the other side was invisible, and Mina could not be sure whether to believe Isabella when she said there was an entire city over there. Sunset turned the lake to a majestic palette of colours, and they traversed its perimeter until the stars appeared. The following morning they al
