“Are you heading back?”
“Yes.” I cleared my throat. “I am, actually.”
“Well, don’t let me get in your way, Lady Gwen.” He stepped out of the way, pulling his horse along with him and leaving a clear path ahead of me. Suddenly the stables felt miles off and I didn’t know how I was going to get myself out of this compromising position.
“Thank you. Good day then.” I hoped he would mount his horse and leave me in peace, but Lance remained just where he was, a curious expression on his face.
I was going to have to force myself to walk as normally as possible and hope I didn’t injure myself further in the process.
I braced myself for the pain that was to come. Just as I took my first step, Lance spoke up. “Gwen?”
“Mh?” I pressed my lips together, looking at him quizzically.
“Do you want to tell me why there’s blood on your head?”
“What blood?” I hadn’t the faintest idea what he was talking about.
“There’s blood on your forehead.” He reached up to show me but thought better of it and pulled his hand back. I touched my fingers to my hairline, and sure enough, there were small traces of blood. I’d been so focused on my ankle, I didn’t even realise I must have scratched it on a branch or something.
“Oh, that’s odd.”
“Gwen,” he said again, stretching out my name. “Did you get hurt?”
“No, why would you think that?”
“Because there’s blood on your face and you’re clearly not able to walk properly.”
“It’s nothing, I’m fine.” I looked towards the stables again.
“Of course you’re not fine. I can tell you’re in pain.” For a moment Lance almost looked concerned, but I knew I must have read his expression wrong.
“Fine,” I said curtly. “I fell off the horse, all right?”
“Come on,” he replied without hesitation. “I’ll take you back to the palace and we’ll get a physician to look at you.”
“I’ll be fine, thank you. You go ahead and enjoy your morning ride.”
Lance tilted his head a little and a hint of amusement danced on his face.
“Could you just stop being so stubborn and let me help you?”
I didn’t take pleasure in the thought, but I also didn’t have many options. When I didn’t protest, Lance pulled his horse towards me and placed his hands on my hips to help me into the saddle.
He got on behind me and I straightened my back, not wanting to lean into him. Lance’s arm came around my waist to take hold of the reins, while his other hand held Bessie’s reins so that he could lead her behind us. I prayed for this ride to be over as soon as possible.
“I didn’t know you liked to ride,” Lance said after a few minutes. We had almost reached the gardens. I tried to ignore the feeling of his chest pressing into my back.
“Of course I do. And I’ll have you know, I’m actually very good.”
“Clearly not, if you’re falling off.”
My mouth fell a little bit open. “It wasn’t my fault. Whoever is responsible for shoeing your horses clearly isn’t doing their job because the horse lost a shoe and injured her hoof, which is why she threw me off.”
“Oh well, that makes a lot more sense.”
I shook my head at his sarcasm. My ankle was in too much pain for me to care about defending my riding skills.
“I’m just teasing you,” he said after a second. “I’ll have someone take a look at Bessie’s hoof.”
