“I really can’t,” he decided.
“No?” I nodded. “Just for a short trot?”
“I…” Sam breathed; Cyrus laughed.
“What’s funny?” I asked him.
Sam said, “I fear you’ll find better company in anyone else than me. That is when it comes to riding horses. The closest I get to the beasts is through the carriage.”
“You… You don’t like horses?” I sank.
Sam considered a thought. “I don’tridethem much,” he chose to say.
“I see.” I linked my hands in front of myself and curtsied for him one last time. “Then I will bid you farewell, Your Highness.”
“Farewell.”
When he was gone, it was just the three of us. Ser Elías stood by the fence, ready to go.
I was confused. “I’m sorry. This is rather rude, but I'm afraid I might be a bit behind in all this. Are you the ostler, my lord?”
“Ha!” Cyrus hissed. He straightened his blouse. “Do I look like the ostler? No, I amnot.”Then he picked up his sword and sheathed it into his belt within a decorative carved leather. “I am His Royal Highness’ssword instructor,which, you’ll find, is a great deal more important than an ostler of any sort.”
I frowned at him, utterly appalled. “Is it? And why is that, my lord?”
“What do you mean why? Because it just is,” he said. “And you know it.”
“I don’t think I do,” I argued. “I did not ask your position to offend you; I asked because you have been charged with taming my horse. It felt like a rational leap. Yet, your title is lord and–”
“Rational or not, Iwill not bear Ostler simply because I like the company here.” Ice pushed her nose into his hand, rubbing herself against him until he nearly fell.“Not helping,”he said to her.
“Princess,” Elías said.
I turned.
“Surely you are tired from your journey?” he asked. “Allow me to return you to your room. Perhaps you could write your father of your day?”
“Of course,” I said, internally thanking him for the rescue. To the other, I curtsied. “I’m afraid my Blade brings up a rather important task I must see to now. Perhaps if you cross pathswith theactualostler,you will tell him that I seek his audience. If that is not beneath you, sir?”
Cyrus bowed, hardly pomp-and-circumstance, and might have muttered something under his breath, but I didn’t hear it.
He said, “I’ll do my best,” louder.
Then I departed, back to the Palace, and with a bad taste in my mouth from the swordsman’s clout.
Chapter 6
Josie finished stowing my clothes in the armoire. I shifted in my seat at a vanity as she slowed her folding.
“Can I confide in you a moment?” I asked Miss Josie.
She hesitated a moment, hovering by the chest. Then looked up. “In me, Your Highness?” she asked.
“There’s no one else in the room,” I said.
She checked anyway. “Oh.”
“He doesn’t like horses,” I told her.
