The dress was taken away some time in the middle of the night and cleaned. It was apparently Nari’s favorite dress because there was no new one in sight when she woke up. Her bed might have been a four poster, covered bed that could easily fit three or four people, but Nari found it no more comfortable than the plain one she had at home. The bed beat the ground and the carriage seat she had been sleeping on recently.
Nari put a pair of black shorts on underneath the dress, assuming they were for the riding. After a breakfast where the men boasted and the women talked about the joys of a picnic, they headed to the stables. Nari snickered at how they all dressed up for a simple ride in leather and buttons and crisp hunting jackets when there was to be no hunt.
One of the stable hands came up to Nari with a beautiful black horse whose legs looked painted in white. Nari tested the horse and dismissed it quickly. Rena snickered and muttered something about the similarities of fathers and daughters before calling Eleia. Nari didn’t have a chance to question Rena because she was busy inspecting Eleia for any problems the horse might have gained in the short time they were apart. Finding none, she mounted. Then she noticed the stares of Miya, the woman, and Miya’s cousin.
“You ride a wild horse, bareback? How, outlandish.” That boy was acting smug again, and it irked Nari.
“She’s not wild,” Lie. “And riding bareback is a sign of a strong will in my country,” Another lie. “They teach us from an early age how to ride bareback, sidesaddle, and with a saddle.” That was almost a lie, because only Nari had been taught from a young age. It wiped the look off the boy’s face though, and Nari wasn’t so morally straight as to feel guilty about that.
It seemed like that was the most interesting part of the ride. None of the nobles were very good riders, but they had a way of dealing with their incompetency; they beat the horses with small whips until the animals did whatever unreasonable thing they asked of it. Nari almost took the whip from one of the crueler riders and turned it on him, but Rena stopped her before any permanent damage could occur.
Nari ended up spending two weeks with Miya. The entire time was spent playing dangerous word games with the Ravenscourt family, the prize being the position of family head with complete control of the family’s fortune and mines. It didn’t matter how old the family member was or what gender they may be, every living Ravenscourt had a claim until the current family head chose someone to inherit the position. The problem was, only the living had a claim.
YOU ARE READING
Contract with a Star (On Hold, Possibly Forever)
FantasyWhen giant chunks of rock fall out of the sky, we call them stars and wish on them. But what if they’re not always rock? What if some of them are sources of energy? What if that energy was what created and sustained life this entire time? Rena is on...
