BOOK 3 of The Ostler's Boy Series
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Love. Duty. Valor.
Court & Class.
A pseudo-medieval romance through the eyes of a reckless princess.
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After Svana and her Knight, there was a Princess and her love of adventure.
Eliza Rose, the wildes...
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There was a chill down my back. "Do you aim to discomfort me?" I asked.
"Not in the least," he replied, but I didn't believe him. He added, "You're just an easy mark."
I nodded. "Well. You will find it hard to frighten me because... Well, you just will. Do you know who I am?"
I turned toward the fence at the suggestion of his movement. He came and stood less than a foot behind me, a foot too close, and inside, my nerves were rioting.
"How could I possibly know your name when you haven't given it to me?" he mused.
"Please. You knew you had a guard?" I said.
Whisk was nearly out of breath from the game. "One more. That's all I got!" he laughed. He waved at Ser Frid and the Wall behind me, and both returned the gesture at once.
Frid cheered for him, and my captor dipped his shoulders on either side of me to trap me further in his wake. He spoke quieter, right into my ear, and I felt stupid to falling victim to whatever lord he was. To whatever it is he wanted.
"A guess." I could feel the heat behind his words. "I do love it when I'm right."
"A guess?" I croaked. "How did you guess I had a guard?"
"Because." His words stopped to lose a breath—more of a sigh.
"Well, go on," I insisted. "If it is so obvious, do me the favor of revealing why so that I may avoid this tragedy in the future."
"There's no way to say it without coming off as blunt. I worry I will frighten you."
"As I said, it cannot be done." I clenched my jaw. My hand found the hilt of my dagger instinctively, and I tried to reconfigure a way to draw it, but I thought it might be stuck. The stupid skirt!
"I do not want to offend you, my lady."
"Said the man pinning me to a fence. I'll be the deciding party of what offends me, sir."
I heard him swallow. "What I meant is... If I were your father...."
My father. He knew! He knew who my father was, and I screamed inside for it! I wanted to cry! To yell for Ser Willoughby! To–
"A lady or not," he continued. "I would never let you out without a guard."
"...Why?" I paused. "Because of men like you?"
He chuckled.
"Why is that funny?" I hissed. "That's clearly the answer you're fishing for."
"Yes, because of men like me. Because you are very beautiful," he replied. "And men like me notice that."
