The Royal Secret

Chapter 15 See You Again

Anastasia-

"You said they were only a day's ride." I tell Brayden when it grows dark and we still hadn't reached the town Derek and Leo should've been waiting at.

"It should've been." Brayden says. He dismounts and hands me the reigns of his horse. He walks around looking for clues and I follow behind keeping a tight grip on both sets of reigns.

"Ya'll lost," Brayden's head jerks up and he puts his hand on the handle of his gun as a set of headlights blind us and Brayden's horse spooks.

"Shhh, easy girl." I coo patting her head. She relaxes as the car comes to a stop in front of us. I'm still dressed in my costume clothes.

"Mr. Thorne right?" The man addresses Brayden.

"Mrs. Thorne." His wife addresses me.

"Wook, it's her." A little voice in the back says. Mallory.

Brayden relaxes only enough to take his hand from his gun, a pocket knife slipping from his sleeve. "Yes sir." He answers not missing a beat.

"Ya'll lost?" His country accent sounding a bit Americanized.

"We're looking for Weston Point." He says. "We were supposed to meet a few of our traveling companions there to finish our journey."

"We'll give you a lift." The man offers.

"Thank you kindly, but if it's all the same, we'd like to stay with our horses. A few directions will do just fine." Brayden says. The back door opens and a girl, maybe about sixt comes bounding out toward the horses. Running into it's blind spot.

"STOP!" I tell her. Brayden whirls around and his horse goes wild when she reaches to pet it. Brayden's horse yanks her reigns free as she rears in fright. The girl cowers in fear and Brayden shoves her out of the way where she curls up breathing heavily. Her mother racing out of the car to tend to her. Brayden stays in the line of sight of his horse and slowly walks to her.

"Steady girl." He talks quietly to her. "It's all right. No one's going to hurt you." She's breathing hard as Brayden finally reaches her and puts his hand on her muzzle and the other on her neck. "You just got a bit spooked huh." He coos. "Never, never approach an animal from it's blind spot." He scolds her. "You could've been killed. She's not completely tamed yet." He tells the girl. "That's why I brought her. I'm trying to tame her." He continues not breaking character.  "All you alright?" He asks her she nods frighteningly.

"William." I speak calmly to her.

"What is it Lizzy." He asks still worked up.

"She didn't know William. She was excited." I tell him still sitting on the horse. "If you would, would you please help me down?" I ask him. He gives a nod before walking both horses to a fence to tether them. He helps me down and  I walk to the girl. "Hello." I speak calm and softly to her. "I'm sorry about William." I tell her. "He's feirce at times, but he's as gentle as a lamb. He adores his horse, but she's not been broken yet. He fears if someone were to report her, she'd be taken from him. She's the sister of his old horse."

"I'm sorry miss." The girl tells me sniffling back her crying.

"It's alright darling, are you hurt?" I ask her. She shakes her head cuddling into her mother's side. "I'm Elizabeth Thorne. That's my husband William. William is protective of his horses, and people that know nothing of them. His sister was killed by a horse that had yet to finish being trained. It was his horse. He felt so guilty at the time. He hadn't finished training him and he got spooked one night as she was in the barn. His father put his horse down after that."