Series: Willow Winters
Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 72146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
I force myself not to wince. I am still sore from last night. Though it is bearable, I do not know how I’ll fare sitting on the bouncing seat of a carriage.
“Where will we go?” I ask, trying to buy time.
“For a ride in the countryside. It will give us more time to get to know each other.”
“Have—” He has already prepared a basket, and there is no doubt it is filled with food. “Have you called the driver?”
“I will drive,” he says with a broad smile.
“Oh,” I say, feigning excitement. “Then we will be riding outside.”
“If you agree to accompany me,” he says. If he can sense anything is off, he does not let on.
“And our chaperone?” I question.
“Surely he will ride beside us or behind us,” he answers easily.
I know that I should tell him now. I should confess to him about the man in the shadows, and what we did together last night. But Prince Jasper is here. He did not leave. He came down to the kitchens and made plans for us, and he did not tell anyone else about the gardens or the news would have reached me by now.
I should tell him, and I want to be honest, but I am also afraid that it will enrage him. Perhaps alone is best. Alone and away from others.
I do not have the words ready in my mind. I do not have the courage. So I answer as I should.
“I would love that,” I tell him. “Are we leaving soon, then?”
Although a bit cloudy, it is truly a beautiful day. Unfortunately it does not match my mood. It’s not like a prince to drive a carriage, but Prince Jasper seems quite comfortable with it.
I am less comfortable on the front seat. It is a royal carriage, of course, but the outer seats must stand up to any weather they might encounter, so they are not nearly as plush as the seats inside.
Prince Jasper catches me wincing within the turn from the castle.
“Princess,” he says. “Is something the matter?”
“No,” I lie, and resolve to keep a smile on my face.
When he catches me again, he stops the carriage. “You’re hurt?”
“I’m not! I’m only…I’m only sore. I am not injured.”
“From yesterday,” he surmises and smirks, and I realize after a beat that he assumes I am sore from our encounter in the garden.
I swallow thickly and turn to look out and away from him so he cannot read my expression, for I don’t know what it will tell him.
“We’ll stop then. I didn’t realize.” He quickly changes course. He offers me far too much grace and the words are there on the tip of my tongue, but they get lost in the gallop of the horse behind me. The ever-watching squire.
Prince Jasper insists on helping me out of the carriage, then finds a clear spot in the meadow and arranges several blankets and cushions from the carriage so that I can sit comfortably. Then he sets out the basket. It’s filled with rolls and cheese and fruits—most of what I had been hoping to eat for breakfast.
Our chaperone is slightly less attentive this morning, he takes the horse to and fro, often giving us much more privacy for a bit of time before returning.
I feel somewhat better when I’ve had something to eat. I’m still searching for something to say when Prince Jasper pops a grape into his mouth and the sound catches my full attention.
“You are an only child, then,” he says. “You do not have any half-siblings?”
The poor fool is still learning who I am. Apparently so am I.
“No, I don’t.” I’m so glad to have the topic of conversation chosen that I probably seem overexcited. “Are you an only child as well?” Before he can answer I catch myself, “You have a—"
“I have a brother,” he states, nodding his head although the light in his eyes fades slightly.
Something shifts in the air between us, and I feel that I may be on more solid ground. I have shared things about myself with him, but he has shared almost nothing with me—aside for his preferences for sailing rather than riding and his filthy mouth.
“Tell me about him,” I suggest gently.
Prince Jasper indulges in a few more grapes first, seeming to choose his next words carefully. “The truth is that I have a brother although we’re almost nothing alike in appearance. Me with light hair and light eyes and him with both dark. We grew up together. We were…very close as children.”
I wait for him to continue, but he doesn’t, so I wait a bit longer. “And now?”
“Now, we have both been to war.”
“I didn’t know you fought as well,” I state truly. Both sons fighting in war is almost unheard of.
“We did,” Prince Jasper says, something flashing in his eyes. “It was not right for us to ask other men to go in our places, so we both went to fight. He was…captured. By the enemy. I was not. At first, we thought he had been killed, but later, we discovered that he lived.”