kept in your room to serve as a reminder of past successes. But as you are incapable of following simple directions, all your awards and ribbons are hereby confiscated until the end of term.” She waved her wand and the medals and ribbons decorating his chest disappeared.
“But you can’t do that!” he shouted.
“As headmistress of this school, yes I can and if you continue to argue I will be forced to call the witches. I believe we already have one student meeting his princess with a tail, surely you do not wish the same embarrassing accoutrement,” she said.
Kaelen scowled before walking to an empty table.
“You know, I almost feel badly for him,” Adrian admitted.
Lucian couldn’t help but feel surprised. “Why?”
“Look at him. He hasn’t got any friends at all. It must be lonely for him.”
“Well, if he wasn’t such a snob he’d probably have friends. But you’re right. He’s got to be lonely.”
The boys were gathered outside at ten o’clock as the carriages the princesses were arriving in pulled into the grounds. The carriages were white with pink trappings and were pulled by silvery-grey horses. As the first carriage came to a stop, a fairy stepped out. She was wearing a dark blue gown which matched her eyes. Her long blue hair was wavy, an unusual characteristic for a fairy. She walked to the group and said, “Calista, so nice to see you again; and these must be your princes. I see some new faces. How charming they all look.”
“Melantha, as always it is a pleasure to welcome you and your ladies to our school,” Calista replied, a bright smile on her face.
Several girls started exiting the carriages. Older girls were immediately going to their princes, some more enthusiastically than others. The younger girls were standing silently, looking at the princes in front of them. Suddenly, Lucian heard a familiar voice calling his name. “Lucian, Lucian over here!”
“Allegra?” Lucian asked as his sister moved around the body of girls and threw her arms around him.
“I’ve missed you so much!” she said as she pulled away.
“Who are you and what have you done with my sister?” Lucian teased.
“What? Is it so wrong of me to be excited to see my brother?” Allegra asked, looking and sounding more like her old self.
“First year ladies,” Melantha called, preventing Lucian from having a chance to reply, “please come here and Calista and I will get you paired with your prince.”
There was some confusion as Calista and Melantha sorted their students. It wasn’t long before Lucian was standing next to Moira. She was exactly like the girl he’d seen on the chalkboard, minus the smile. Now she was scowling with her arms crossed over her chest. Worse, she was at least three inches taller than him. “Um, hi,” Lucian said, trying to be friendly.
“Hi,” Moira replied.
When she made no effort to continue the conversation, he continued, “I’m Lucian.”
“I know who you are.”
Lucian was taken aback. He’d heard from Adrian that Moira was unpleasant, but this went beyond what he had imagined. “You seem a little out of sorts, Moira.”
“I’m fine,” she snapped. “Let’s just get this done with. I don’t like horses and they don’t like me.”
He had the relieved thought that perhaps her contempt wasn’t due so much to him as to her insecurity with their activity. “I’m sure you’ll do fine.”
“Whatever.”
“Gentlemen, please get your horses and bring them here. Ladies, your horses will be here momentarily,” Calista said.
Lucian left Moira outside the stable as he walked inside to retrieve Zephyr. He got out his saddle and bridle and began placing the tack on the large horse. “Please,” Lucian whispered into Zephyr’s ear, “don’t embarrass me today. All next week you can throw me off for all I care. But please behave today.”
Zephyr snorted.
When Moira’s horse was brought to her, Lucian could see why she struggled. The horse was a tall chestnut, as fiery in temper as she was in color. It took both Phillipa and another fairy to hold the horse still as Moira attempted to mount. Tired of watching her struggle to get a leg up, Lucian cupped his hands to give her a boost up.
“I don’t need help,” Moira muttered.
“Just step up,” Lucian retorted, not bothering to keep the edge out of his voice.
Moira scowled at him and stomped down on his hands. She pulled herself up onto the horse and sneered, “Thank you.”
“No problem,” Lucian replied, rubbing his sore palms. He walked up to Zephyr and pulled him to a nearby stump. Phillipa held him as Lucian pulled himself up into the saddle.
“You’re getting better, Lucian. He didn’t fight as much as he used to.”
“Thanks.” He walked Zephyr to Moira who was fighting with her horse.
“Cinnamon, hold still,” she said; the quaver in her voice showed her fear.
Cinnamon whinnied and sidestepped. Zephyr seemed to catch Cinnamon’s willfulness. He started pulling at the reins and stamping his foot. “Whoa, boy,” Lucian commanded. He patted Zephyr’s neck. “We’ll be off soon enough, just be patient.
Zephyr snorted. Patience was not his strength.
Soon Phillipa and the girls’ riding instructor, who had been introduced as Augusta Horsefeather, led them away from the stables. They headed towards a tree-lined path going through the forest. It was a beautiful day. The leaves were beginning to change colors, creating a vivid display of red, orange, and yellow. There wasn’t a cloud in the brilliant blue sky which was a welcome relief from the thunderstorms they’d been having in the last couple of days.
As they allowed other students to go past them, Lucian attempted to ease the experience for Moira. “You’re giving her too much rein. Pull in a bit so she knows you’re in control.”
“I don’t need your help,” she snapped, though she pulled back on the reins.
The farther they went, the more frustrated Zephyr became. He watched as other horses trotted past him. Showing his impatience, he tossed his head and snorted.
“Easy, Zephyr,” Lucian said, leaning close to the horse’s ear. “I know you want to go faster and I’d love to let you, but right now we need to be gentlemen. You’re doing so well; just keep it up. I promise we’ll go on a nice gallop tomorrow.”
Zephyr snorted impatiently, but continued the slow pace.
Lucian looked ahead at the upcoming bend in the path. “Widowmaker,” he breathed as he watched a branch sway dangerously ahead of them. “Moira,” he said, turning to look at her, “you’ll need to move ahead of me now so we can get past that low-hanging branch. I’ll be right behind you, so don’t worry.”
“Like it matters.” She knew the only people left behind her were Esmé and her prince. All through the ride she had heard Esmé talking loudly about how sad it was that some people couldn’t ride. She was trying hard not to listen, but she was reaching the breaking point.
“Oh this is ridiculous. If you can’t make that nag go any faster, get out of the way so better riders can actually make it to the picnic sometime this millennium,” Esmé said, trotting past on her palomino stallion.
Cinnamon sidestepped nervously as the other horse went past. “Whoa girl,” Moira said, her voice breaking.
“You’re pathetic.”
Moira felt tears sting her eyes as she heard an unfamiliar voice call, “Wait up, Esmé. We’re supposed to come in together.”
Lucian looked back to see Kaelen moving past. “Moira, stay to the side so Kaelen can catch up to his princess.” Too busy trying to calm Moira down, Lucian didn’t see Kaelen pull out his riding crop and hit Zephyr smartly on the hindquarter. Zephyr half-reared, ran past Moira and straight into the branch.
Suddenly, Lucian found the wind knocked out of him as he fell face first into a puddle of mud. The branch, now snapped, was sticking out of the mud next to him. He could hear Moira laughing and then screaming as Cinnamon bolted past Zephyr, who was now standing next t
o the puddle looking at Lucian expectantly. Lucian stood up, grabbed Zephyr’s reins and ran out of the forest trying to see where Cinnamon had run to with his princess. He could hear other students laughing at him. He was covered in slimy mud, whereas Zephyr was as pristinely white as always. To his horror, he saw Kaelen leading a terrified Moira back atop Cinnamon.
“Everyone knows you can’t make sudden noises while riding; it spooks your horse,” Kaelen said.
“Stick a cork in it, snot.” She looked down at Lucian and sneered, “What was that about staying away from the branch?”
Before Lucian could respond, Phillipa and Augusta were in front of them. “I believe we need to have a little chat,” Phillipa said.
The two followed the fairies into the forest. “What happened?” Augusta asked.
“Zephyr was spooked by something,” Lucian replied.
“Lucian, we’ve been working on this,” Phillipa said. “You were doing so well today, and I know you know better than to ride into a branch. I could see you were even helping your princess with instructions and for most of the time you were in control, not Zephyr. How did he get spooked?”
“I don’t know,” Lucian replied. “He was fine until Kaelen and his princess passed us.”
Phillipa’s eyebrow rose but before she could say anything, Augusta had rounded on Moira. “Your prince was giving you instructions and you still lost control? How?”
She blushed. “I was laughing. The sound spooked Cinnamon.”
“Your prince fell off his horse and you laughed at him? After he had been helping you