Chapter 19 Catch Me When I Fall
"Once I do this, the order will reward me well and I will be free from Levi Griffin." Maya tried to convince herself as she stared down at the trays of food meant for Fernanda. She clutched the vial tightly in her right hand, searching for the courage to empty the content in it into the food.
"Do it!" Her subconscious screamed at her the more she kept hesitating.
"What are you doing?" Yolanda's question startled Maya, making her almost drop the vial. "What?" She blurted out of shock, beads of sweat forming at her forehead. "Maya! Why are you stalling? Her highness needs to eat before going out to check the stables." Yolanda said in a reprimanding tone.
"Nothing! I was just about to bring her breakfast." Maya replied with a shaky laugh, swiftly hiding the vial inside her sleeve. Fernanda was brimming with happiness when Maya entered her chamber with her breakfast. The thought of visiting the Royal stables excited her so much.
She had been blabbering non-stop about her love for horses to the other maidservants who helped her get ready. "I just realized I have free will and can go anywhere I want in this palace. I'm taking baby steps so the first place we are going to visit is the stable." She said happily while dabbing her face with scented soft powder.
Her newfound happiness made Maya feel guilty about the mission given to her by the order. But it is for the sake of Lunareth, the never-ending war has to be stopped once and forever.
"You seem to love horses a lot your highness." Yolanda cheerily said. "Call me Fernanda, and yes! I do. Hopefully I get to personally claim one as mine today and ride it as well." Fernanda responded with the same cheerful tone.
Truth is Fernanda realized she was spending a lot of time thinking about Sebastian, they hadn't seen each other in three days after the bathroom situation. So she thought engaging herself in other activities might help in keeping him away from her mind.
Part of her was annoyed by his absence, what if he was deliberately avoiding her? That thought alone filled Fernanda with annoyance. "But I thought you hated him?" Her subconscious sarcastically said to her. Even Fernanda couldn't understand why she was that annoyed with him.
The next hour, Fernanda was at the stable with her maidservants–Yolanda, Maya and Shannon–feeding the horses and marvelling at each of their beauties. "They are all really tall." Fernanda exclaimed as she fed a horse an apple. "These horses are bred for battle your highness, they are very fast and agile." Maya responded.
"And it shows the king's thoughtfulness and consideration towards his soldiers, the usage of these horses saves the Lycan warriors their strength." Fernanda nodded in agreement.
After a while of checking in admiration, Fernanda finally saw the horse which interested her. A stallion. She wasn't too tall and had pretty eyes. "Perfect. I think I found my horse." She commented as she studied the stallion's beautiful and silvery physical features.
"Let's go for a ride shall we?" She breathed as she happily caresses her new horse's nose. Getting on the horse wasn't as hard as Fernanda thought it might be. "Get on, let's ride together!" An airy laugh escaped her lips as she called out to Yolanda who politely declined.
Maya out of excitement, wanted to join Fernanda but stopped herself when Yolanda gave her a cautioning glare. Fernanda noticed reacted with a shake of her head. "Oh come on Yolanda, it's just a ride. No need to be so cautious about everything." She said even though she understands why Yolanda did that, if she were to get hurt, they will be the ones to be blamed whether they rode together with her or not.
"Fine... I'll enjoy this moment all by myself then." She told them with a wink, " Be careful your highness, don't speed too much." Yolanda called after Fernanda who was already galloping with the horse around the stable with a giggle.
Fernanda felt like a child again, happiness brimming in her heart. In that moment as her horse ran in circles round the stable, she began to remember her mom. The still vivid memories of them together on a horse when she was still a child, riding away towards the sunset.
Remembering her mother's face suddenly made her get flashbacks of the nightmares she had been having lately, her mother's soft voice turning cruel, the silver wolf, and drowning helplessly beneath the ocean.
Unable to breath, she suddenly pulled the horse to a halt, gasping for air at the same time. "Is everything alright your highness!" Her maidservants asked. "I just need some air, I'll be back soon." She told them.
"Absolutely not your highness, we can't let you go that far!" Yolanda protested wide-eyed. "Feel free to join me then." Fernanda said, giving them a small smile.
She then set out towards the entrance and sped up once she got outside. Fernanda could not believe how freeing everything was, she felt on top of the world, powerful and determined. The feel of the breeze against her skin and hair, the beautiful sight of the snowy grasslands, Fernanda wanted to cry.
"Hyah!" She screamed happily as her horse kept racing faster, taking her to nowhere in particular. Fernanda was so into the speed and thrill she got from the riding to notice her saddle was already unfastened.
A slight shift of the saddle made her realize the danger she was but it was too late and she didn't know how to get the horse to stop. The more it sped, the more the saddle kept shifting. Panic rose in her chest as she struggled to maintain her balance on the horseback to no avail.
"Stop!" She bellowed at the horse but it wouldn't listen. "Please stop!" She cried again whilst holding on for dear life. Fernanda could see her life flash in front of her when the saddle finally came off, kicking her off from the horseback.
A cry of anguish erupted from her lips as she braced herself for a deadly impact against the stony ground. Instead, she felt a strong hold around her, grabbing her body before it touched the ground. Fernanda was too disoriented to notice what it was or how fast it happened.
All she realized was that she was on another horseback with another rider behind her. The rigid mass of muscle she felt pressing against her back made her immediately knew who it was.
Fernanda whipped her face backwards to see Sebastian, he had one arm tightly wrapped around her entire body, holding her as if she was going to fall again. The wind blew her hair against her face as she continued to stare at him, subtly hiding the red flush of her cheeks.
Although she was grateful for the save, Fernanda still feared what was going to happen because at that moment, Sebastian looked extremely pissed off.