Stardust

Twelve

*Alice*

"Oh, come on." He crossed his arms. "You're putting me on the smaller of the 2?" I pulled myself up onto Apollo, leaving him to get himself on Duke. He'd offered me a hand up no less than 2 minutes ago to which I rolled my eyes.

"Get on your horse Charming or I'm leaving without you. I'm not waiting around for you to pull your bottom lip back in." He huffed harder than some of the horses I'd met. "Talk to him."

"I am not talking to a horse."

"Why, worried he'll talk back?" I watched him struggle slightly to get on the horse. Apparently, he knew how to ride. Apparently, he didn't need me to show him how to get up without a step. And apparently, it wasn't funny watching him piss Duke off so much I had to tempt him with some of the apple slices and treats I was bringing along today. "You set?"

"YES."

"Alright, keep your pants on, god." I tapped my heels into Apollo, encouraging him to start walking. We stopped by Layla who had Rio in her hands, saddle on his back, ready to be hooked up to Apollo.

"You two ready?" I leaned forward, tying a secure not in Rio's reins to attach him to me.

"Yep."

"Where you going?"

"I've left the map on your desk Jay. I'm fine."

"Hm."

"This was your idea."

"Yeah well, I'm still very concerned about you and Apollo."

"It's you he doesn't like Jamie. Not me."

"He tried to kick you literally yesterday."

"I was trying to brush his tail. He hates it being touched. It was my own fault for not warning him and sweetening him up first." I shrugged. "Anything else or can we go?"

"If you're not back in an hour and half I'm sending a team out."

"No need, I'll have run off with a royal horse to sell him on the black market." I caught Stefan's brow lower slightly in my peripheral vision and couldn't help but allow the smile to tug at my lips. I sat up straight, getting situated in my spot. "It's fine. It's not a long one. Check the map." Jamie nodded, walking away with Layla and leaving me to start us off again.

I'd put Rio, Apollo and Duke in the same pen this morning so they could get familiar with each other before this. I'd kept an eye on them as we went about our normal tasks. It wasn't a life changing moment. They were usually in adjoining paddocks anyway so it's not like they had no idea who they were.

We left the yard and were suddenly on a dirt track through the woods connecting onto the back of the farm. I liked this route. It was peaceful, filled with birds and wildlife running across the path ahead. There was sections close by to roads so I could see Rio's reactions to the noises but it was otherwise out of the way of everything.

"Want to play 20 questions?" I turned my head to him for a second, raising an eyebrow. "If I'm going to be trusting you with training my horse, I want to know who I'm leaving him with and it's only fair I let you ask questions if I do."

"Go ahead." I was curious as to what he wanted to know. If it actually had anything to do with horses or if he just wanted to talk so it wasn't quiet.

"How long have you been working with horses?" Stefan asked.

"I started here 3 years ago. Ran into Jamie not too far away and we got talking and he asked me to come around, see how I got on, I spoke to his dad and that's how I ended up here."