The Prince's Escape

Chapter 12 || The Ability To Sleep Anywhere

< - - Luca - - >

We rode our horses long and hard, ignoring the icy chill of the winds hitting our faces. As the night grew longer, and Irales became farther away, thoughts of Ember claimed my mind. 

The feisty, fighter, who was kind to horses, and loyal to a physician. The woman, who speaks of God, and holds a weapon like a friend. The puzzle of a woman, whom while I was leaving with my most trusted knights was prepared to get on her hands and knees to come with me on this journey. She was willing to go head to head with Conrad to even prove herself, which at any other time, I would have loved to witness. All the fight she has in her, mixed with the training she seems to have, and the addition of her innocent looks that is a deadly combination. Maybe dangerous enough to get even my best? But why would someone, risk so much to go on this mission?

It's another thing to had to the mystery of Ember McNeil. She does not turn from danger, foolishly so. What surprised me, perhaps more than her desire to come, was how quickly she seemed to concede. I was prepared to inform Ferbius of the plan if it meant keeping her out of harm's way. Watching her ready the horses with her face twisted in annoyance, made me want to laugh despite the situation. The foolish headstrong girl will stay safe to annoy and bemuse another, for some reason that thought bothered me, so I dismissed it as quickly as it came.

I have more worries than the fate of a stable girl like King Sendes and Francesca. The bastard has plans to completely take over my Kingdom. His daughter has the charm of the snake. I may have dismissed her before has nothing more than a mere annoyance, but I know now the difference. Her personality is too hostile to be a queen. A queen must humble and kind, I remember the words Ember spoke that first day in the stable. She knew all along that there was more to Francesca. How could we have been so blinded to allow them into our Kingdom? The manipulative wench and her arrogant father will rue the day they stepped foot in Irales. All I require is the appropriate evidence to try them in the high courts. It is a hefty accusation to make without such. I fear a war coming, but if it is to protect the lives of my people it is a war that will be accepted without hesitation. No one, royal or otherwise will take Irales from my family!

"It's not much longer before we come to the inter-pass," Conrad calls from a few feet ahead. Beside's his skill with a dagger, Conrad is the Kingdom's best tracker. Ay, he is a knight of pure blood, but his skill has me questioning at times if he is truly human at all. But the cocky son of a gun knows it. 

"So, forward on," I reply, pushing us all onward. My thoughts drift again to my time spent in the village, prior to me joining Ember for the lesson in horse grooming. I had walked along the lake shore and spent some time listening to the stories of merchants. To have stories such as those. Adventures. One would think a Prince such as I, would have a flourish of tales, but beside the everyday training and orders, my life has been mundane, to say the least. It hasn't been really much of anything until recently. Things have begun to take a turn for the interesting and dangerous. Is it wrong for me to be silently enthralled by the notion of a possible war on the horizon? I know, I should want for peace, but to be able to ride into battles that I have trained day and night for doesn't seem, so bad. For some reason, I can hear the stable girl calling me mad a laugh coming from her lips.

I shake my head in attempts to end my thoughts of this insatiable girl, who has weaved her way into my mind yet again. "Ay, Luca, the girl we left behind with Davis, she's interesting," James mused once we had calm our pace enough to allow the horse to have a breather.

"If you find a thorn in your arse interesting," I reply. Of course, they wouldn't be able to go without commenting on the small exchange I had with Ember before I left.