To Court a Lady

Chapter Four

She turns to me, smiling even more brilliantly than she usually does but before she can reply, our lady maid walks in and curtseys,

"Dinner is ready, Miss Harper, if you would please follow me."

My sister replies with a polite 'yes' and embraces me, her chin resting on my head because of our height difference. 

I whisper to her,
"Don't get in any trouble without me."

She giggles and walks after her lady's maid, closing the door behind her. Freya and Maya collapse on Harper's bed,

"You were lucky to be riding far away when she was getting ready. I mean she is a fantastic lady, and I appreciate having her as a friend, but bloody hell."

I giggle and lay down on Harper's bed between the two sisters.

"I missed you two,"
I say quietly after we talked about the palace for a few minutes. Maya stands up and pulls me from the bed, embracing me tightly,

"I missed you too, Willow."
Freya jumps from the bed and embraces us as well,

"So did I,"
Her voice was muffled from her face being directly in my wild hair. When we release each other, we leave Harper's room and walk into the sitting room. I sit on the couch with my feet tucked under my dress and they both sit on the two armchairs, legs crossed and shoulders pressed against the backrest - the proper way of sitting.

"So, Willow, what did you do with your time away?"

Freya gives me a look asking for gossip but I smile and tell her the simple version of what occurred,

"I went for a ride through the forest and I returned to Tom, the caretaker of the stables, he's a nice man. He asked a few questions and we talked about Vesper."

They both stare at me for a second,
"Tom is a nice man? Tom?"

"Yes, Tom- older gentleman, greying hair, vivid green eyes,"

"Willow, he is a moody old grump, what are you talking about?"
Maya looks at me as if I may have confused Tom with someone,

"No, he is nice, we talked and laughed a little, he isn't moody."

They look at each other and then at me, laughing and shaking their heads,

"I swear, Willow, each person you talk to can't seem to find a bad bone in their body when you are around."

I shrug and smile,
"I don't understand it either."

We then converse for a while, discussing what happened whilst we didn't see each other before today.

After an hour, there is a knock on the door and a servant comes in with a dinner for us. When she turns to leave, I call out a thank you.

She turns to me, smiling with rouged cheeks before quickly walking out of the room. We then keep talking, stopping to eat a bit every now and then.

When the servant returns, it is the same woman from before and when she takes the plates away she leans slightly closer to me and smiles,

"Thank you for saying thank you. No one usually notices me when I enter the room."

"But why? You are the one who cleans up our mess and gives us what we want, we would be lost without you and your colleagues."

Her cheeks rouge again and she leaves. I get up and look at my two friends,

"I'm going to go check on Vesper and say goodnight. Do you wish to join me?"

They decline and I put on my riding boots which put some distance between the ground and the hem of my dress, decreasing the chance of me dirtying yet another one.

I tie my hair in a knot on the top of my head and walk to the stables, which glow gold from the bright candles that have been light around them.

I walk to Vesper's stall, which I now notice is the one closest to the golden gates and east stables, where he was already watching me.

"Salut, Vesper, comment vas-tu?"
(Hi, Vesper, how are you doing?"

He nickers and pushes on my shoulder, which is his way of asking for a sugar cube. I give him one and caress his face. I rub his eyes and temples, his head sinking lower so I can reach his forelock to massage it. 

The stables are empty, not a human in sight, only horses. I walk around, greeting the horses and wishing them goodnight. As I walk away from Vesper and towards the royal half of the stables I spot a familiar white horse in the first stall.

On the door it has the name "Pegasus" on it. Pegasus turns to me and walks over, letting me stroke his long face. So Sir Bash works in the palace -

"He doesn't usually let others touch him, you know."

I turn to where the voice came from to see the aforementioned man, leaning against a blank space of the wall opposite Pegasus. I smile,

"Well, then our horses' have something in common."

He gives me a small smile, again frowning at the movement of his lips before tilting his head and furrowing his brows,

"What are you doing here?"

I smile,
"I'm wishing my horse goodnight, as well as yours and every other horse here."

Bash looks at the ground before moving his eyes to meet mine, his brows lifting as he expected the proper answer,

"I am here as a lady in waiting for my sister."

He nods,
"Another season has started, correct?"

I nod,
"Yes, it has, though this year it seems to have been stretched from only a summer to almost a whole year, probably due to the Crown Prince searching for his bride."

He nods and we settle into silence, a comfortable silence. He looks around and takes a step closer, almost making me take a step back. I notice then how much taller he is compared to me, my eyes just barely reaching his shoulders.

"Would you like to go on a ride on the morrow? At dawn?"
His eyes seem full of hope, even as he tries to mask it,

"I would like that, as long as I am back before the Royals break their fast with the debutantes and ladies in waiting."

He smiles a larger smile than the one in the forest, though this one seems untrained and not like one he uses often,

"I'll make sure of that."

I smile at him when suddenly I hear footsteps and a butler walks in from the centre entrance of the eastern stables, I turn to look at the young man and smile at him. When I turn back to where Bash was, I don't see him. I frown and turn to Pegasus, stroking his face as the butler looks around the stables, searching for something, before walking briskly towards the courtyard again.

"Excuse me for my quick absence, I thought I saw a...bird... outside."

I turn to the suddenly reappearing Bash, his cheeks rouged,
"If you say so, Sir Bash."

He smiles,
"I need to return to my evening chores, I'll see you at dawn,"

He takes my hand and kisses it,
"Goodnight, Miss Willow."

"Goodnight, Sir Bash."