Leaving the Horse

Chapter 10

I heaved the grain sack I was holding onto a pile, rolling my eyes when Josh quickly came up and helped me put it down gently. I decided not to object his help, after all I'm suppose to be in love with him, no matter how much I'd rather not.

Elliot placed his grain sack on top of mine; wiping his dirty hands off on his already dirty clothes. He smiled up warmly at me.

"I am very grateful for your help. So you and the prince are going out, are you?"

"I..." I really wanted to say no. That I was being forced but that wouldn't help my cause at all. I felt a pang of guilt at how mean I was being to Josh who was trying to be nice to me, but for some reason I couldn't make myself return the feelings as easily. "I suppose so."

Josh smiled down at me, drawing himself shoulder to shoulder with me before glancing up at Elliot with a hint of distaste. "You best be on your way." He tossed a few coins at Elliot who caught them swiftly.

He smiled despite of Josh's distasteful behavior. "Thank you, sir. My mother will be very happy." He glanced at me now. "Now don't get too romantic on your trip with your Lord's son," he winked, "cause I'm sure he will be very charming to you and sweep you off your feet."

I felt my face get red in embarrassment. This guy sure had an interesting attitude.

"Be careful not to get ran over by a carriage on your ride home," I said smoothly, hinting a mischievous smile.

Elliot smirked in return, "you've got wit, girl. Maybe I'll see you around Jay."

With that, he turned and left, leaving me alone again with Josh whose fists were clenched. I looked up at him curiously.

"You okay, sir?"

Josh forced a smile on his face.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's Josh. You don't have to call me anything fancy." With that, Josh walked forward, leaving me to follow.

I trotted after his fast paced walk and he smiled at me and slowed down. "Sorry about that. Just a little tense. How about we just head out to the fields and skip the horses?"

He grabbed a lunch basket sitting on a bench outside the barn door.

I smiled up at him. "Yeah, that would be great."

We walked steadily until we reached the nearest hill outside the castle, only chatting once in a while with small talk and questions that weren't hard to answer.

Now on the large hill, Josh kneeled down to unpack the lunch supplies, leaving me to gaze around uncomfortably at the steep slope on the other side leading the palace's local town and the people who lived in the outskirts. I could see Elliot just jogging into town and slowing tiredly into a walk. When he was no longer visible by the crowd, I moved my gaze up skyward to listen and watch the birds sing and fly in their own packs of the same shape and color. The breeze set my long hair wild, so I annoyingly bundled it in my hands and slipped it back over my shoulder. As I glanced down the hill again though, I was taken aback by how beautiful the site was when I looked at it as a whole. Trees bordered the town which looked extremely old with its dirt roads and dirty white and wooden houses. A dirt trail leads to that town directly from the palace that went through the flatter part of the land outside the palace.

"Jauda?"

I glanced down to see Josh squinting up at me as the sun rays brightened his face. "Yes?"

He patted to a spot next to him. Instead, I walked over to the other side of the basket to sit down and he didn't seem to protest. I didn't want to give him a chance to touch me.