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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"Stop! Stop!" I begged.
My heels stuttered in the dirt, nearly forcing me atop every twisted root littering the thicket's floor. Askar grabbed my side, righting me.
"It's alright," he breathed. He was gasping like me. "It's alright," he said a second time.
"I cannot breathe," I panted. My hands rested on my thighs as I craned over, and then I vomited.
"It's alright," he repeated. He pulled my hair back and held it in a makeshift pony.
"You keep saying that," I tried to manage. For a moment, I waited to get sick again. "Either you don't know what 'it's alright' means, or you're trying to placate me," I argued. "Neither are encouraging, you should know."
"I'm sorry," he said.
I looked up at him, trying to catch my wits. "I can't breathe," I repeated. "We've been running too long."
"I know." When Askar let go, his hands found the back of my neck, and he repositioned me to meet his eyes. "Are you hurt?"
"Emotionally? Or physically, sir?"
He tsked. "If you can joke, I'll take it you're fine."
"We have to go back," I told him. "We need to help Ser Willoughby."
"Your knight is better off without us," he said. "And he has my Blades to help. What we need to do is keep moving."
"Keep moving?" I cried. "And leave them to die? I will not!"
"Did you not notice that your Blade broke his concentration when you appeared in that clearing?" he spat. "Or was that lost upon you in all the excitement? Do you think having his princess so very close to danger helps him to survive?"
I struggled to find anything to say. "N-No."
"No. It does not. That's why we're moving. That's why I told him I would take you. What were you even doing there? You're supposed to be in Locke or on your way back home!"
"I could do without the scolding," I said. "I was there to— I ran toward the danger because I didn't want you to be brutally murdered by a dragon!"
"There was no dragon!" he snapped. He swung his hands into the air on either side of us. "Do you ever do what you're supposed to do?"
I folded my arms. "Don't you dare take this moment to discipline me, Duke! You forget I am your superior!"
"If that's the case, then act like it!" he quipped.
I gasped.
"We're on my side of the sea now, Princess. You do not belong in a field of swords! If any of those bandits had realized who you were? If you had stayed any longer? If I had fallen? Your knight? If we had failed to protect you?!"
