The food here really is astonishingly good, she thought to herself as she placed a lemon meringue tart on her plate.I actually want to eat everything.
It wasn’t just the flavor though, she knew, that was making her eat more than she usually did. It was also the fact that for the first time maybe in her entire life, she felt safe.
Chapter Seventeen
“Don’t be nervous,” Nathan said as he helped Rosalie up onto the horse. “I know you will be just fine.”
“You’re more confident in me than I am,” she replied as she placed a foot in the stirrups.
“Well, I’ve been watching you the last couple of days, and I know you’re better than you think you are.”
“Hmm.” She gave him a skeptical look then focused on what she was doing: grabbing the reins and hoisting herself upward onto the horse then arranging her skirts around her legs as she settled into the side saddle. She did this so smoothly and elegantly that his eyebrows shot up.
“Did you feel that?” he asked as she adjusted herself on the saddle. “You’re becoming a natural already!”
“Well, I would hardly say that.” She patted the side of the neck of the horse. “But Madam and I do seem to be getting along.”
“She likes you.”
Rosalie smiled down at the horse. “She’s perfect.”
“All right, I want you to give me a trot around the field,” Nathan said, stepping back from Rosalie and the horse and surveying the field in front of them. This was the field just north of the castle where he had first learned to ride. It was perfect for beginners: the ground was flat enough so the horses did not often stumble but with enough give so the horses joints were not hurt, and there were lots of trees surrounding it, shielding it from the most vicious rays of sun that were always threatening to blind riders.
“Are you sure I’m ready to trot?” Rosalie looked uncertainly down at him. “We only got up to a trot once yesterday, and that was after an hour of me working with Madam.”
“I’m sure,” Nathan said. “This is how you learn, and more importantly, this is how you make the horse obey you: by showing your confidence and dominance in the saddle.”
Rosalie didn’t look entirely convinced, but at last, she nodded and then straightened herself on the horse.
“All right, Madam,” she murmured, leaning closer to the horse’s ear. “We’ve got this.”
She then dug her heels into the horse’s side and tapped her riding crop firmly on the mare’s flank.
Madam broke briefly into a trot then slowed back to a walk.
“Again!” Nathan called out, his eyes narrowing as he analyzed the Duchess’ posture, her grip on the reins, and the strength with which she had urged the horse forward.
Rosalie went again, more determinedly this time, and Madam began to move faster. Then she was trotting away from him, Rosalie poised and sure on top of the horse.
“Excellent!” he shouted after her, but he wasn’t sure that Rosalie had heard him. She was too far away now, carried away by the beautiful mare she rode, and Nathan couldn’t help but feel a rush of pride as he watched her.
It had been a few weeks since he had told her he wanted to teach her how to ride. In that short time, she had come so far. Now, when she swung up onto the horse, she almost never mentioned her fear of heights which had been debilitating on the first day.
The fear hadn’t lasted, though. It had been as Nathan had predicted. Once Rosalie had felt the rush of riding the horse across the field, she had forgotten her fear. Riding often had this effect on people, he’d noticed: it made them forget their troubles and worries. They lost themselves in the ride, in the horse, and in the feeling of flying over the land.
Rosalie rounded the post at the far end of the field, and Nathan waved at her to come back.
“That’s far enough,” he called out. “Bring her back now.”
Rosalie obeyed, turning the horse with an expertise that could only have been born of some instinctive talent, and leaning forward as she trotted back toward Nathan. To Nathan’s eye, she seemed fully in control of the animal, and once she neared him, she pulled up the reins, returning Madam to a walk and then back to a standstill.
“How was it?” he asked, smiling up into the face of the Duchess.
The smile she gave told him everything he needed to know. Her skin was glowing, her eyes were shining, and she was out of breath.
“It was incredible,” she exclaimed. “I’ve never felt so alive!”
He laughed as he took the reins from her. “That’s why we ride horses: to feel alive. To remind ourselves that living isn’t only for characters in books but for us, too.”
