Gina's POV.
“You came!” The excitement in Tyler’s voice brought a smile to my face. I had thought about it, if Dagen was going to kill me anyway, did it matter if he did so tomorrow or in a few months? I only hoped that Tyler would not be affected by my decision to be here today. I knew that Dagen would not hesitate to kill Tyler if he felt like he needed to.
“I did, but you should know that if Dagen requests your head in the future, it is all your fault,” I said and he laughed.
“Well, what Dagen doesn’t know wouldn’t hurt him, would it?” he asked playfully.
“I guess not,” I returned with a smile.
He walked me over to a pony.
“She’s Ariel,” Tyler introduced her.
“A beautiful name,” I remarked.
“It is, come over, pet her,” said Tyler but I froze where I stood.
“She doesn’t bite, you know,” Tyler said with an encouraging smile.
“I am terrified of horses,” I confessed, unable to move an inch.
“But Thunder?”
“I was scared of her but I had no choice. It was strange though, when I was in her stable I did not feel fear,” I said as I thought back to that day. There had been a strange sort of calm even though I was terrified of her. It was weird because I had even fallen asleep.
“Why are you scared of horses?” asked Tyler.
I thought about this for a second and I found that I had no answer. What had made me so scared of them? I did not know.
“I don’t know,” I replied truthfully.
“Perhaps, a traumatic experience?” he asked, trying to jog my memory and just like that a faint memory flashed across my mind. I saw a very small version of me on a horse and my father with a whip hitting the horse; the horse began to gallop at full speed and my sisters were laughing while pointing at me.
“My lady? My lady?” Tyler was shaking me.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
“I… I… never knew. I remember,” I said and found that my eyes were wet. I wiped them immediately with the sleeve of my riding gear.
“You remember?” he asked.
“The horse was going very fast and they were all laughing; I was so small and terrified,” I responded in a shaky voice.
“It’s okay. It is good that you remember why horses give you a fright, that is a start,” said Tyler in a reassuring tone. If I wasn’t so caught up in my emotions I would have asked him if he was an emotional therapist.
“I don’t think… I think I’m going to be sick,” I said and at once I threw up. It was rather unfortunate that Tyler stood directly in front of me and the content of my meal from the previous night poured all over his clothes.
When I was done, I looked at him and made my apologies. I had not meant for that to happen.
“It’s okay, I think you should return to the palace, we can continue this tomorrow, same time,” he told me in a comforting tone.
“I really don’t think I can…”
“Nonsense! The first time my father put me on a horse I shit my pants,” he said it with such a straight face that I laughed hard in spite of myself.
“I will see you tomorrow then,” he said.
“The novel! I believe you brought it with you,” I said. It was the main reason I had come out this morning.
“You will have to stop by tomorrow morning to get a hold of your precious book again,” he smiled and waved me goodbye.
Four weeks later I had become a satisfactory horse rider. I had discovered that I enjoyed riding horses. I had since leveled up from Ariel and I was now riding a horse named Tristan, he was a beautiful horse indeed. He had the finest brown hair and he was very pleasant to touch.
“That was impressive!” praised Tyler as I completed a course on Tristan.
“I think she’s ready to compete,” there was a man beside Tyler that I could not recognise. It was someone I had not seen before but I knew from the aura he exuded that he was someone of noble birth.
“I have high hopes for her,” said Tyler with a thread of pride in his voice.
“My apologies, I do not believe we have been formally introduced,” the man said with a slight bow.
“We have not,” I replied.
“Then I shall do the honors,” said Tyler, “this is Lord Edvin, Beta of the Shadowclaw pack, Lord Edvin, meet Lady Regina, Luna of the Shadowclaw pack.”
He shook my hand by enveloping his large arms around my slender ones. It was a warm handshake regardless.
“It is nice to make your acquaintance; I believe we shall be seeing each other more often,” Lord Edvin said with a pleasant smile.
“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, my Lord,” came my response. Whether or not I would be seeing him often was up to Alpha Dagen. I expected that by now he would have returned to his palace but he seemed to have forgotten the palace altogether or perhaps he was avoiding me. That served me well enough but he could not blame me if I did not become pregnant with his heir. After all, it took two to make a baby.
“Tyler spoke of your grace while riding; I had to come to see for myself,” said Lord Edvin. The man was the image of the word aristocrat. It was immersed in the way he spoke, his choice of words, his style of clothing even in the way he stood.
“Lord Tyler has been most kind to teach me about horse riding,” I replied.
“Indeed! But you ought to showcase your talent. Please join the ladies tomorrow in a riding competition. It is not a big deal really and you will find that you are faster than most of them.”