The scent of migrating Miroslav's was a tease on the wind, a flutter that seemed just out of reach and Victoria was beginning to grow frustrated that she had not yet caught up to them. She wasn't even certain what she would find when she did catch them and only the rumour of a new land, a new home, kept dark paws moving. There was something incomprehensible about the Miroslav dynasty outside of the desert that had been her homeland, her birthright, one she would have been willing to fight viciously to be named Heiress of once upon a time. She cared little for the younger brothers who should have inherited the title - she would have battled them all to stand at her father's side, in recognition of her supremacy. Regardless that her father would always mark her place below the males of the family.

Those thoughts eddied and swirled, the occasional sharp bee sting marking no change to her focused features. She regarded herself to be an expert tracker, but she had been several weeks behind the group that had left her birthlands. Her body moved in a tireless jog, the rocking rhythm of her body soothing and efficient. It was only the tug of hunger and thirst at her belly that prompted her to search for something other than a member of her wayward family - the distant scent of fresh running water gathered in her nostrils and Victoria averted her path with an easy roll of her shoulders.

Roche