The Royal Heir - The Valtoria Diaries 2

Sky-high hopes

Hana had been delighted with Drake's idea that the two of them should take a bike ride from the palace to Valtoria. She'd been a keen cyclist back in China, and this was a fun opportunity to rediscover an enjoyable hobby with a like-minded friend. She'd immediately begun to research scenic routes, relishing the thought of seeing parts of this beautiful country that she normally missed while travelling at speed on the major roads or railways, and villages that would form suitable venues for rest breaks.

She'd calculated the necessary timings to ensure they arrived back in Valtoria before it got dark. She'd come up with picnic lunch ideas, other light snacks, the mandatory hot chocolate flasks, and suitable storage solutions for the provisions she was bringing along. She'd consulted the long range weather forecast for the most suitable day for travel, not too hot and not windy or wet, and she'd even planned her outfit to the last detail. On the day, she'd arrived at the palace at the agreed time, with everything she had prepared for their exciting excursion.

What she hadn't been prepared for was the sight of Drake proudly pumping up the tyres on a tandem cycle.

"Oh.." She pulled a face. "I assumed we'd have a bicycle each?"

"That would be boring," Drake said, passing her a helmet. "Where's your sense of adventure, Hana?"

He had a point; Hana had never ridden a tandem cycle before. What she knew about them was that they could result in very efficient speeds and allow co-travellers of different abilities to travel together. She realised very quickly that communication would be everything here.

"I suppose you're going to captain it," she said with a frown.

"We could take turns?"

She shook her head. "There's a number of factors to take into account. Trust being the major one. I'm sensing you'd make for an awful back-seat passenger. Plus, since you're heavier than me, you can affect the cycle's relative weight better, making it more sensible for you to steer."

"Damn, Hana, how do you know all this?" He looked impressed, a small smile creeping into the corner of his mouth.

She couldn't help but smile back as a result. "Sometimes, I'm not even sure myself."

He nodded, and went back to pumping up the tyres. Hana smiled to herself, content. She definitely wasn't going to turn down the opportunity to spend a day looking at Drake's butt.

***

Two hours into their tandem ride, and they'd finally got into the swing of things. It had been more stressful than he'd thought so far, in fact thirty minutes in he'd been cursing himself for the worst idea ever in the history of bad ideas, and contemplating stopping at the nearest establishment that served whisky and refusing to start again.

Hana hadn't been the most contented passenger – in fact he'd never known her get so spirited over an activity that was supposed to be relaxing. She'd had plenty of opinions on his speed, his pedalling, and the bumps in the road, which she hadn't failed to communicate through a variety of squeals, moans and complaints along the way. And what really hadn't helped was his flippant suggestion that she might like to pedal a little harder herself, then she might find the speed more to her liking.

But what she had eventually managed to explain to him in-between her anguished shrieks was that he needed to communicate better with her. To tell her when he was going to turn. To tell her when he was needing to speed up because of the incline. To warn her if there was bumpy terrain coming. And to listen when she asked him to slow down. To make sure he compensated for her lack of control. Now, he was definitely enjoying the ride, and he got the impression she had to be too, because she was much calmer and her protests were much less fraught.