Chapter 3
"What are you doing here, Cynthia?" I hissed at the perfect girl. Even though she had been riding quite hard, she was as perfect as ever, not a hair on her head out of place.
"I came to greet you." She said, batting her eyes at my brother. Cynthia had been in love with my brother since last summer, when she had turned thirteen. Bran and I were both fourteen and had ignored the signs.
"We aren't even twenty miles close to Frell." Bran pointed out. Obviously he ignored the signs she was giving him.
"Besides," I added, "Why would perfect Cynthia want to come out and greet us? We are just humble Ayorthaians." I said with a mock bow.
"My mother sent me to see to your comfort." Cynthia said. Then she placed the back of her hand to her forehead as if she was going to faint. "My, was that ride long. Bran, would you mind escorting me into the carriage?" She asked, holding out her hand to my brother.
I was seething mad. No one ordered my brother around but me. I stepped between Cynthia and Bran and helped her into the carriage. Satisfied that she would be alright, I hopped onto her tired horse and urged him into a slow walk. Bran jumped inside the carriage and closed the door behind him.
I signaled to the driver to go and we started off again, with one more passenger.
In a sense, I did get revenge on my twin. Bran, as I would later learn, suffered the entire way to Frell. Cynthia had kept throwing herself at him and trying to get his attention. Good thing for him, he was a little dense and had no interest in girls, especially the really girly type.
I rode the rest of the way to Frell. That was fine for me because I preferred riding a horse than being stuck in the carriage with Cynthia. The horse I rode had a lot of bad habits, probably from having such an inexperienced rider as its owner. This was Dove, Cynthia's mare. She had good breeding, from the way she carried herself, but the way she jumped from a walk to gallop whenever I moved showed how bad a rider Cynthia actually was.
It was night fall before we finally reached the gates of Frell. Dove was lagging from the amount of work she had done that day. I pitied her for having such a bad rider. We had also done some work trying to break her bad habits. All that work would come undone when Cynthia rode her again.
Queen Ella and King Charmont were in the courtyard to greet us. Ella stood there, looking as beautiful as ever, even though she had been a queen for twenty years. Her green eyes danced as she recognized me on Dove. I hadn't changed much in the last year, except that I was taller and had acquired a front. Now I stood at almost equal height with my just under six- foot brother. I was only an inch or two shorter than he was.
King Charmont, or Char as he preferred to be called, also stood there with his wife. He was like a father to me when I was here. That was mostly because my father never came with us on account of ruling his own earldom. Compared to my father, King Char was almost always willing to talk. He was always there too, unlike my father who was always traveling to the capital or inspecting his land.
Sometimes I wondered how such nice people could have such a snobby daughter. From the stories Mother and Ella had told me about their childhood, Cynthia seemed more like Ella's stepsister Hattie. Maybe Ella's father's greed and snobbishness had been passed onto her, skipping Ella.
A shadow moved in the corner of my eye. I thought nothing of it as I dismounted form Dove. I gave the mare a pat on her nose and a few words of praise for the good job she had done that day. From the way she reacted, the mare must not get praise that often. Then I handed her off to one of the grooms standing nearby.
There was only one thing missing from the scene before me. I puzzled over it for a moment before I realized what was missing. Orion, Cynthia's older and much nicer brother wasn't here. He had been seventeen last year, which would make him eighteen this year.
I walked forward towards Ella and Char, disappointed that Orion wasn't there. He, Bran, and I had been real close whenever we had come to visit. We had always been the source of all the pranks and trouble in the palace. We had done everything from soaping the banisters, which Ella and Char loved to slide on, to dumping buckets of soapy water on the passerby. A lot of the things we did involved soap, mostly because we loved to see what happened when a person went slipping and sliding.
I was welcomed warmly by both Ella and Char. I was almost six inches taller than Ella now, and could look Char right in the eye. They both laughed at my new height and I joined them. They could always find a way to make one feel comfortable in an awkward situation.
We talked for a while, and soon the carriage pulled into the courtyard. I had passed it quite a ways back and had gotten there a while before my brother and Cynthia. Char and Ella greeted their daughter and my brother with the same warmth they had shown me. I stood back and watched the whole exchange.
As I watched, I didn't notice a form come up behind me. Two large arms wrapped around my waist. My arms were pinned to my sides so I couldn't move. Then I did something I had never thought my self capable of doing.
I screamed.
"What are you doing here, Cynthia?" I hissed at the perfect girl. Even though she had been riding quite hard, she was as perfect as ever, not a hair on her head out of place.
"I came to greet you." She said, batting her eyes at my brother. Cynthia had been in love with my brother since last summer, when she had turned thirteen. Bran and I were both fourteen and had ignored the signs.
"We aren't even twenty miles close to Frell." Bran pointed out. Obviously he ignored the signs she was giving him.
"Besides," I added, "Why would perfect Cynthia want to come out and greet us? We are just humble Ayorthaians." I said with a mock bow.
"My mother sent me to see to your comfort." Cynthia said. Then she placed the back of her hand to her forehead as if she was going to faint. "My, was that ride long. Bran, would you mind escorting me into the carriage?" She asked, holding out her hand to my brother.
I was seething mad. No one ordered my brother around but me. I stepped between Cynthia and Bran and helped her into the carriage. Satisfied that she would be alright, I hopped onto her tired horse and urged him into a slow walk. Bran jumped inside the carriage and closed the door behind him.
I signaled to the driver to go and we started off again, with one more passenger.
In a sense, I did get revenge on my twin. Bran, as I would later learn, suffered the entire way to Frell. Cynthia had kept throwing herself at him and trying to get his attention. Good thing for him, he was a little dense and had no interest in girls, especially the really girly type.
I rode the rest of the way to Frell. That was fine for me because I preferred riding a horse than being stuck in the carriage with Cynthia. The horse I rode had a lot of bad habits, probably from having such an inexperienced rider as its owner. This was Dove, Cynthia's mare. She had good breeding, from the way she carried herself, but the way she jumped from a walk to gallop whenever I moved showed how bad a rider Cynthia actually was.
It was night fall before we finally reached the gates of Frell. Dove was lagging from the amount of work she had done that day. I pitied her for having such a bad rider. We had also done some work trying to break her bad habits. All that work would come undone when Cynthia rode her again.
Queen Ella and King Charmont were in the courtyard to greet us. Ella stood there, looking as beautiful as ever, even though she had been a queen for twenty years. Her green eyes danced as she recognized me on Dove. I hadn't changed much in the last year, except that I was taller and had acquired a front. Now I stood at almost equal height with my just under six- foot brother. I was only an inch or two shorter than he was.
King Charmont, or Char as he preferred to be called, also stood there with his wife. He was like a father to me when I was here. That was mostly because my father never came with us on account of ruling his own earldom. Compared to my father, King Char was almost always willing to talk. He was always there too, unlike my father who was always traveling to the capital or inspecting his land.
Sometimes I wondered how such nice people could have such a snobby daughter. From the stories Mother and Ella had told me about their childhood, Cynthia seemed more like Ella's stepsister Hattie. Maybe Ella's father's greed and snobbishness had been passed onto her, skipping Ella.
A shadow moved in the corner of my eye. I thought nothing of it as I dismounted form Dove. I gave the mare a pat on her nose and a few words of praise for the good job she had done that day. From the way she reacted, the mare must not get praise that often. Then I handed her off to one of the grooms standing nearby.
There was only one thing missing from the scene before me. I puzzled over it for a moment before I realized what was missing. Orion, Cynthia's older and much nicer brother wasn't here. He had been seventeen last year, which would make him eighteen this year.
I walked forward towards Ella and Char, disappointed that Orion wasn't there. He, Bran, and I had been real close whenever we had come to visit. We had always been the source of all the pranks and trouble in the palace. We had done everything from soaping the banisters, which Ella and Char loved to slide on, to dumping buckets of soapy water on the passerby. A lot of the things we did involved soap, mostly because we loved to see what happened when a person went slipping and sliding.
I was welcomed warmly by both Ella and Char. I was almost six inches taller than Ella now, and could look Char right in the eye. They both laughed at my new height and I joined them. They could always find a way to make one feel comfortable in an awkward situation.
We talked for a while, and soon the carriage pulled into the courtyard. I had passed it quite a ways back and had gotten there a while before my brother and Cynthia. Char and Ella greeted their daughter and my brother with the same warmth they had shown me. I stood back and watched the whole exchange.
As I watched, I didn't notice a form come up behind me. Two large arms wrapped around my waist. My arms were pinned to my sides so I couldn't move. Then I did something I had never thought my self capable of doing.
I screamed.