“Since you seem to have a newfound aversion to carriages, Bennett, I recommend you have your gelding fixed immediately,” Lady Marianna said.
He stilled. “I do not have an aversion to carriages.”
She made an exasperated noise. “Oh for heaven’s sake, my boy. Youdoknow that producing an heir is impossible if you can’t bear to be a foot away from your future wife?”
“I beg your pardon!” The crown prince looked positively scandalized.
Cozbi nickered, nibbling at my hair. I stood quickly, wincing when a few strands tore from my scalp. “Cozbi, really!” I hissed.
Our ruckus drew their attention. My stomach clenched when Lady Marianna’s gaze met mine.
“Narcissa! There you are. Bennett has a favor to ask of you.”
His eyes widened. “Aunt Marianna—”
She waved her hand, silencing him. I had never seen the crown prince look more mortified—or disheveled. He had abandoned his tailored coat, the sleeves of his shirt rolled to his elbows. Pieces of hay clung to his breeches and hair.
“Your Highness,” I said, bobbing a curtsy.
He nodded, but said nothing.
Lady Marianna gave him a look I couldn’t decipher. “Bennett’s gelding is misbehaving. Perhaps you can ask him why?” She took Cozbi’s reins from me and winked. “I’ll take care of this one.”
Before I could object, she was off with the mare, leaving me, the crown prince, and his gelding alone. I realized it was the first time we had been alone since the king’s study, though now there was less probability of interruption. Lady Marianna was not likely to come back and the stables were empty of stablehands, no doubt ordered to leave the crown prince to tend his horse in privacy.
The horse in question stuck his great white head out of the stall with a snort.
Seeing that Crown Prince Bennett had not yet spoken, I turned to the horse. “Er...is there anything bothering you?” I wasn’t used to conversing with animals out loud in the presence of other people, but I figured anything was better than silence.
I don’t like my stall,the gelding said.
“He does not like his stall,” I said to the crown prince.
“I see. I will have him moved, then." He reached for the gelding, but the horse stepped back.
The other ones aren’t any better.
A speckled pony poked her head out from the stall next to him.It’s true. There’s mice everywhere. We’ve been dealing with them for a week now.
“Mice?” I stepped into the gelding’s stall, pretending not to notice Crown Prince Bennett jump when my shoulder brushed his chest. I crouched, surveying the space. It was neatly swept, a fresh pile of hay in the corner.
“I don’t hear any mice,” I said, looking up at the gelding. Usually I’d be able to sense animals if they were near enough. I couldn't decipher any rodents amidst the stalls.
Well they’re there. They nip at my hooves at night and eat my apples, he said indignantly. He gestured to a bucket with his nose. An apple sat at the bottom, the skin thoroughly nibbled.
Crown Prince Bennett crouched beside me, running a hand over the far wall. The gaps between the boards were unusually large, mostly from disrepair. I noticed, too, that his fingers were long and elegantly boned. “Perhaps the mice come from the fields. The stablehands will have to repair the walls.”
I sat on my heels. “I suppose that explains it.”
“Indeed. Thank you, Lady Narcissa.”
I cleared my throat. Though the stall was by no means small, it was not meant for a horse and two people, all fully grown. The crown prince’s proximity was unnerving, and so was my realization that his lips were full and pleasingly shaped. As was the curve of his jaw.
“What is his name?” I asked, scrambling to my feet.
Crown Prince Bennett followed suit, though slower. “My horse? He doesn’t have one.”
“Oh.” My mind blanked, hardly knowing what else to say.
