Maybe he was spending a little more time than expected with a certain milkmaid.
But even if he wasn’t spending time with her, he wouldn’t have time to think about marriage yet.
He gritted his teeth as he made his way through the courtyard to the section that they used as a training arena. “Hopkins,” he called to one of the guards walking through the courtyard. “Come duel me.”
He wanted to hit something with a sword.
Hopkins would do.
This counted as training, right?
He made his way through several guards before his older brother appeared in front of him.
The idea of fighting his brother made pleasure surge through him. They’d sparred for hours as children, but it had been a while, and he’d learned a lot of skills since then.
He was ready to trounce his brother.
“Had enough yet?” Kellan asked, grinning as he gripped his sword and settled into his stance.
Truthfully, he’d been about to call it quits before his brother appeared, but now he wouldn’t dream of it.
“Worried I’m going to beat you?” Caspian asked.
The guards that he’d already sparred began to circle around them, joined by several others.
“Never,” Kellan said, pressing forward.
Their spar was fierce but short as Kellan withdrew after only a few minutes. “Wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself,” he said as he leaned forward to clasp Caspian’s hand.
“I’m sure you’re just trying to save face,” Caspian teased, looking at the ring of guards that surrounded them.
He would have lost to make Kellan look good if necessary. Kellan needed the respect of the men here, and Caspian had fought enough of them and won to have solidified his standing as a good soldier.
“If that’s what lets you sleep at night,” Kellan said, passing off the sword to a guard. “I’ll see you later?”
“Definitely,” Caspian said with a smile.
It had been good to fight his brother again. This probably wasn’t his mother’s idea of spending time with his brother…and yet, they’d spent time together.
And now he was thinking about his mother’s conversation again. So much for getting it out of his mind.
Caspian wiped the sweat off his brow and grumbled as he made his way to the kitchen. He’d worked up an appetite, and it was still an hour until lunch. Maybe he could find something to steal.
Or find a certain someone.
Anything to distract himself again now that his muscles were too worn out to provide physical distraction.
Caspian walked into the kitchen and found it full of bustling people and a nervous energy. He scanned the room, pretending that he wasn’t looking for a certain girl amongst the crowd. But there, in the corner, was Sophia. She was wrapping a roll of butter, seemingly oblivious to the chaos around her.
He made his way over to her and plopped down on the tall stool that was conveniently in the corner near her.
“What’s wrong with you?” she asked. “You look grumpier than Ivy when I forget to give her a treat with her afternoon feed.”
“Family is complicated, and I hate it,” Caspian said with a groan.
Sophia smiled softly to herself as she wrapped the butter and sat it in a small bowl. “I wish I had a family to be complicated with.”
Caspian paused. He didn’t know what to say to that, but it was obvious that he’d said the wrong thing. If he didn’t have his family, he would give anything to have them, and Sophia clearly didn’t have any or she wouldn’t be here in his mother’s kitchen, alone despite all the people around her. “Sorry,” he said. “I just, well, I, you know, it—”
