Page 32 of Mistaken as His Royal Bride
He smiled, and for a moment Maddi couldn’t think. He looked completely different when he smiled. Younger. Carefree. Less stern.
‘You can’t hurt her. She’s survived more than a novice rider, believe me.’
Maddi stood as Laia had taught her, by the neck of the horse, and took the reins in her hand. Then she lifted her left foot into the stirrup. Absurdly conscious of Aristedes behind her, she put her other hand on the saddle and somehow managed to mount the horse without making a complete fool of herself.
He stood at her foot and adjusted the stirrup, bringing it up higher. He looked at her. ‘Not bad. You have a good posture in the saddle. You know the basics?’
Maddi was not a little terrified. La Reina was a big horse and she felt very high up. She nodded, but said, ‘The very basic basics.’
‘Just relax and get a feel for the horse underneath you. She’ll guide you.’
A groom led another horse into the yard and Maddi gulped. This horse was a massive gleaming black stallion. He made La Reina look almost petite. Aristedes went over and adjusted the reins before mounting the horse in one effortless muscular movement.
Maddi fidgeted on the horse, to ease the sudden sensation between her legs. The horse moved under her. She stopped, suddenly terrified. Laia had only let her practise on the smallest and most sedate horses at the castle on Isla’Rosa.
Aristedes was securing his hat on his head. He looked back. ‘Okay?’
Maddi was nervous. ‘We’re going to go slowly, yes?’
He nudged his horse with his knee and they started walking out of the yard. ‘Very slowly...don’t worry. La Reina will follow me and Sooty automatically.’
Maddi nearly fell off her horse. ‘Sooty?’
Surely that name was an affront to the majestic beast in front of her?
Aristedes waited for her to come alongside him and then both horses went side by side out onto a wide track.
‘Dax and I got this horse when we were teenagers. Typically Dax didn’t want to share, so we had to fight for him.’
‘What did you do?’
‘We had a fist fight. First one down loses.’
Maddi winced. ‘I bet your mother was delighted.’
He made a face. ‘Yeah, not so much... I broke Dax’s nose.’ Aristedes looked at her. ‘Suffice it to say it was the last fist fight we had.’
‘But... Sooty? I’m sorry, but that’s almost an insult. Surely he should be called Caesar or Nero or...anything else?’
‘As revenge for me winning, Dax logged his name in the official system before I could. And so here is Sooty.’
Maddi couldn’t keep the laughter down. It came bubbling out and she had to throw her head back. She could just imagine a young Aristedes’s appalled expression.
‘I’m glad you find it amusing.’
‘Sorry,’ she spluttered, getting control of herself, ‘That’s just too...evil of Dax.’
After a couple of minutes of companionable silence Maddi found she was getting used to La Reina. She bent down and patted her neck, silently thanking her for not throwing her off as soon as she’d landed on her back.
She sneaked a look at Aristedes in the saddle and almost wept at how beautiful he was. He held the reins easily in one hand, his other resting on his thigh. His body’s motion with the horse was perfectly in sync. Maddi felt as if she was bouncing all over the place, but she tried to mimic his posture and discovered an easier rhythm.
The trail was getting narrower, and Maddi was glad she didn’t have to try and steer La Reina. The horse seemed happy to just follow Aristedes and Sooty.
Then Maddi spied a beach down below, wide and golden. Unusual... Most of the beaches on Isla’Rosa were stony, so she’d assumed Santanger would be the same.
They made their way down the trail, with scents of herbs and flowers and earth permeating the air around them. It was just the right temperature. Warm. The sun not too fierce.
At last they were on a level with the beach and it opened out before them, wide and pristine.