Diamond Empire

Chapter 15

"Are you ready?" Jewel brushes off her riding outfit and smiles at me. I smile in return and nod my head slightly.

"Yes, let's go." She leads me to the stable where the horses are. 

"I have to warn you. Our horses are pure bred and extremely fast. They are also cocky and over protective, so they won't hesitate to throw you off." She walks over to a bright white stallion horse and begins petting her gently. "You're in their territory."

"I have been riding for years. I can handle it." She snickers, and even her snickers are adorable. 

"We will see." She walks over to a large open field, which I assume is meant for the horses. There is a large, and quite fast, black stallion running wild. She opens the pen gate and looks back at me. "You might want to stay back." She closes the pen behind her, and calls out. "Xander!" The horse look at her, then charges at full speed. As he gets closer and closer I begin to slightly panic.

"Maybe you shouldn't be so close, your grace." She takes off her helmet and steps forward instead of backwards. "Your grace, I'm serious." She flips her hair slightly and I wonder if she has a death wish. I step towards the door to the pen as the horse flies towards her. "Jewel!" The horse reaches her and lifts his large legs in the air. "Jewel, move!" Just when I think he is going to crush her, he crashes his legs to the side of her and begins rubbing his body on hers. She goes into a giggling fit and begins petting him like crazy.  I take a huge sigh of relief.

"Hi  Xander! How's my baby!" She begins giving him kisses and calling him baby names.

"Jesus," I mumble under my breath. She turns toward me while still petting "Xander".

"What? Were you worried about me?" She teases me. It's attractive. 

"Of course I was worried about you." She seems to ponder on this for a moment, then moves on.

"Let's go. I have to see if you can actually ride." She walks out of the pen as a servant comes up behind her and mounts the stallion. I follow her back to the stable and she unlocks the pen to the white stallion's pen.

"Your family seems to have a thing for stallions."

"They're a personal favorite of my fathers." She covers the horses ears. "They're also the slowest in the ranch. I thought it would be best if you had the slowest horse for now. I wouldn't want the crown prince to get hurt in my country's care."

"I already told you, I can handle myself on a horse."  She throws her hands up and walks towards her horse. "Where are you going?" She walks backwards to Xander. 

"You said you can handle yourself." She runs over to her horse and hops on. I shake my head smiling, then continue to strap up the horse.