The Knight With a Crown

nine.

Milan Katalina Kovac | Sterling Academy

"We never really realize how frozen we are

until someone starts to melt our ice"

-Bridgett Devoue

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The weekend finally rolled around and the boys and I were currently trying to convince Stan, the stableman, to let us go for a ride.

After yesterday's heated argument between Thalia and Thaddeus, Thalia had opted to hang out with her girl friends for a little bit. I still didn't know what had caused them to feud, but my nosey self was planning to see if I could pry the information from Thaddeus today. That's if we could stand each other's presence long enough for me to do so.

It was the beginning of the third week of January and the weather was still fairly cold, but moving more towards rain instead of snowing. Today however, was one of those random days that it decided to be fairly sunny and nice out.

"Fine, you guys may go for a ride- but no more than two hours!" Stan says before unlocking the doors to let us in. I guess Alexander's constant pestering was good for some things. "If it starts to rain y'all are cleaning the horses."

I couldn't help the grin that made its way onto my face. I was excited. Two hours of horseback riding was more than enough.

Alexander, Zachary and I follow Stan as he leads us to assign a horse. I was too busy looking at the beautiful horses in awe to notice that Thaddeus had wandered a separate way from the rest of us.

"Here is your saddle," Stan says, handing me it. I almost collapsed under the weight. After getting the rest of the boys situated on their horses- Alexander on a beautiful brown mare while Zachary was on a chestnut stallion, Stan leads me to a beautiful pure black mare that looks at me with beady eyes.

"This is Athena, I think you two will get along swell," he says as he takes my saddle from my hands and places it upon Athena's back.

I stare up at the horse in amazement, stroking her muzzle while waiting for Stan to finish getting her ready.

"You have ridden before right? Athena is a sweetheart but she can be quite stubborn sometimes," Stan asks as he helps me up onto her back.

"Yes, my grandparents have a ranch and I used to visit very often as a kid," I answer him as he adjusts the straps. I made sure my legs were only slightly bent.

"Good, do you need any refreshers?"

"Nope, I was just there a few weeks ago," I tell him as another smile makes its way on my face as I remember the 8 law breaking adventure I had just a few weeks ago.

I meet with Alexander and Zachary outside the stables and realize that Thaddeus still wasn't with us.

"Where's the prince?" I ask the two in front of me.

"He has his own personal horse, it's in a different part of the stables," Zachary answers simply. Of course he had his own horse. Was it one of those fairy tale white stallions too?

A laugh escapes my lips as I turn to see that I was indeed correct. The prince was riding a white stallion.

"What's so funny?" He asks as he approaches us. He sat so elegantly on his saddle, he looked like he could be getting his painting painted.

"Nothing," I say waving my hand in the air. "What's your horse's name?"

"Pegasus," He replies, stopping next to me. "Please tell me Stan didn't give you Athena."