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Like I will, she couldn’t help but think with a pang of pain.Does he think I want to do that? Does he think I would if I had the choice to stay?
She searched her heart for the words to tell him how desperately she wanted to be a mother, how bottomless the ocean of pain would be when she had to walk away.
“It’s time to begin your next activity,” Oberon said, breaking the silence between them before she had a chance. “Does either of you know how to ride on horseback?”
15
TIAGO
Tiago eyed the massive beast suspiciously.
It stomped one mighty hoof and tossed its midnight black mane, looking like it couldn’t decide whether to charge him or eat him. He didn’t have much experience with riding a mount of any kind, and he’d never met a Terran horse before coming to the Center. But he was pretty sure this one didn’t like him.
“He’s so beautiful, Tiago,” Alexis murmured.
“I like yours better,” he said, glancing over at her stout brown mare with the inky black mane and legs that waited for her patiently.
“She’s lovely, too,” Alexis agreed, her voice dreamy.
“The two of you will be riding the trail up to the hot springs and the cabin where you’ll spend the night,” Oberon said.
“Are you sure this thing can handle my weight?” Tiago asked.
The horse was very large, but so was he. The idea of hurting it did not sit well with him. He might not want to be its best friend, but he didn’t want to strain its back.
“Everything at the Midsummer Center was either designed or acquired specifically to fit your needs,” Oberon reminded him.
“Wait,” Tiago said, scrutinizing the creature in front of him, “are you telling me that this horse—”
“—No,” Alexis said firmly. “If they aren’t real, I don’t want to know.”
She was scratching the mare behind the ear as it snuffled her chest. Clearly, this was her favorite activity so far.
He cracked a smile in spite of himself.
“Do you know how to mount?” Oberon asked.
“I’ll show him,” Alexis offered. “We have mounts back home. Nothing like this, of course, but I think it will be the same process.”
“Very well,” Oberon said. “The process is indeed the same.”
“It’s easy,” Alexis said to Tiago. “I promise.”
And just like that, he was lost in her sparkling blue eyes, not caring if he was thrown from the wild beast or any other calamity that might follow, so long as she kept coming closer.
“You always approach and mount the horse from the left,” she told him.
“Why?” he asked.
“I’m not really sure,” she told him. “I think it had something to do with soldiers and swords in the beginning. Now it’s just tradition and the way the horse was trained.”
Swords?
“So, you’ll approach with confidence, put your left hand on his withers, and your left foot in the stirrup,” she said.
“His withers?” he echoed.
“The place where his neck meets his back,” she said. “Then swing your right leg up and over.”
