The crow and the beast - Kaz brekker

chapter 48 - return of the herd

The sun was shining through the curtains when Cara woke up. kaz was already out of bed, she quickly put on a working outfit and made her way downstairs. She heard grumbling coming from the library and when she peeked her head inside she saw kaz run a hand through his hair out of frustration.

she made her way to the kitchen and filled a bowl with various sweets, most people did not know kaz secretly liked sweets and he would never admit it to them but Cara knew. There was little she did not know about the personality of kaz by now. She grabbed an apple for herself as she wasn't that hungry and made her way over to the library.

"good morning babe" she called out to him, he lifted his head, his brows were furrowed and his mouth was a thin line but even when he was in a bad mood he looked handsome In Cara's eyes. She placed the bowl on his desk. "thank you Cara" he said, he did not make a move to touch her so Cara got the hint that he was not feeling well enough for touching right now so she kept her distance.

Cara took a bite out of her apple when she walked off and outside towards the stable. It had rained tonight she noticed as her herb field was still wet. She entered the stables and greeted the mare that was already poking her head out of the stable. "I think I have found the name I want to call you, from now one your name is Belle"

the horse looked uninterested in her but instead tried to get the half-eaten apple she was holding. "ah hungry I see, no apples for you yet but I will get your breakfast now." She walked to the back provision room of the stable and got out the feeding bucket, the quickly filled it up and went back to the stable to feed belle. When the horse was happily eating Cara went over to the saddle room, kaz had done the honors of buying saddles. How this man knew this much about horses she did not know but she did remember that he lived on a farm when he was young ... however she was fairly certain he researched the subject because of her.

she got out the biggest halter she had as well as a long rope, she then picked out a saddle she was fairly certain would fit belle and walked outside putting the saddle on the fence of the outside arena. She still couldn't believe this was all real, kaz had really outdone himself. She glanced towards the house and noticed that kaz had direct vision on the arena, smart cookie. He could watch her while he worked.

once she got back into the stables she haltered belle and attached the rope leading her outside, she did a few exercises with her making sure she wasn't lame and when Cara was satisfied with her movements she put the saddle on and did a few more exercises with the horse. Everything seemed to be in order, belle was definitely saddle trained.

she closed the door of the arena so belle wouldn't run out while she got a bridle. Belle had not moved when she returned with the bridle and also did not make a fuss when Cara put it on. "you better behave or kaz will take back to ketterdam if he sees you throwing me off." She said to the horse as she got on.

after 30 minutes of walking and trotting Cara felt like she was starting to understand the way belle should be ridden, she was stubborn and needed somebody to give her clear directions or she would run off with you. definitely not a beginners horse she thought. She moved belle over to the gate of the arena and bent down to open the gate so they could do some gallops on the grass.

she trotted around the clearing making sure belle wasn't running off with her or spook now that she had more freedom. And then she let the horse run, she was surprisingly fast for her size but then again she shouldn't be surprised as she knew elvis was also just as fast and he was just as big.

when she turned belle towards the house again she noticed a figure sitting outside. Kaz had moved and was now sitting in one of the 2 armchairs that stood on the porch. "what are you doing?" she called out to him. he was sitting back in the arm chair while resting his hands on his cane. "enjoying the view." He responded to her. she shook her head with a smirk. This man...

suddenly she heard a horse neighing in the distance as she turned belle towards the sound, kaz had also heard it and stood op from his chair. Cara quickly trotted belle towards the stable just in case it would be the merchant looking for his stolen horse. She quickly removed the saddle and bridle and closed her stable.

she heard a commotion outside and quickly walked outside. A smile immediately made its way to her face when she saw a big black horse lowering his head for kaz to pet him. kaz took out a treat from seemingly nowhere and fed it to the horse. "kaz no treats! You are going to make him fat!" when the horse heard her voice he came running over to greet her.

she pet him on his nose. "I missed you to buddy." She glanced behind elvis and saw moon and venus already trying to find the best grazing spot on the clearing. when she looked at the entrance of the clearing she saw her uncle emerge on top of a cart pulled by the 2 horse inej and jesper stole long ago to come find her. he parked the cart next to his new house and then quickly untacked the horses so they could join moon and venus on the grass.

her uncle walked over to her and kaz. "sorry it took so long" he said as he engulfed Cara into a hug. "how was the trip back here? no problems along the way I hope?" Cara asked. Peter laughed. "that big black one over there couldn't wait to get back home to you, he made sure the other horses stayed together and we weren't slacking. That is one smart horse there." Car smiled as she patted the neck of elvis who had joined them to come look for more treats.

"I will come help you unpack" Cara offered to peter who smiled and nodded. Before they walked towards the cart kaz spoke up. "I will put the horses in their stables and feed them" Cara smiled at him and for a moment he smiled back at her before walking off towards the stable whistling loudly on his fingers to get the attention of the horses.

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a few hours passed. Cara and peter managed to get everything in his new house and put into place. After everything was set into place Cara had said her goodbyes to peter and walked back to the house where kaz was waiting for her on the porch, sitting in the same chair he was sitting in earlier.

She walked over and sat next to him in the second chair. "did everything go well with the horses?" kaz scoffed. "elvis wouldn't go into his stable." He simply said. Cara lifted an eyebrow while she looked at him waiting for more explanation. "he did not want to walk passed belle, I don't know what was wrong with him. he kept snorting, and even treats couldn't get him to move." Cara giggled. "so how did you get him to move?"

kaz grumbled. "I put him in the stable next to belle, it was the only way I could convince that horse to move." Cara laughed out loud, she wished she had seen kaz struggle with elvis. "love at first sight." She said while smiling. "doesn't mean he has to be so stubborn, he should listen to his owner." Kaz grumbled.

"oh come on babe, isn't love beautiful?" kaz scoffed again but didn't respond so Cara teased him a little more. "pretty sure you enjoyed love yesterday evening." That got the reaction she wanted as his face changed color to be as red as a tomato. "I – I ... have something to ask you uncle, I will be back soon." He quickly got up and walked over to peter's house on the other side of the clearing.

Cara giggled to herself, satisfied with the reaction she got out of kaz. he was so cute when she was teasing him it was adorable. She waited for a while but went inside when she got hungry, she made herself some eggs and a sandwich and quickly ate it at the kitchen table before making her way into the working room at the back of the hallway.

She had seen the paper on kaz's desk this morning that asked for more medicine for the dregs as they had somehow run out again already so she used the last of her supply of herbs to make more. the herbs in her garden were almost fully grown by now, just a few more days and they would be harvestable so she would be able to fill her supply soon again.

a few hours later she heard the front door open and the familiar sound of a cane. Just in time she thought as she put a knot in the rope that was around the package of fresh medicine. She brought the package with her and entered the library where she saw kaz sit down in his chair with a smirk on his face. "what are you so happy about all of a sudden?" Kaz's head snapped to her and he acted like a deer caught in headlights. "u – nothing. I was just thinking of a memory" Cara gave kaz a side eyes look, not believing him for one second but she was sure that he would tell her if it was something important.

"saw the paper on your desk this morning, here you go." She placed the parcel on his desk. "thank you love, I will take it with me to ketterdam tonight." Cara lifted an eyebrow. "you are going to ketterdam tonight?" kaz nodded firmly. "there is something I have to take care of there, a meeting has been called."

"do you want me to come back you?" kaz immediately shook his head. "no love, not this time. I will be back by morning." She nodded trusting him. kaz spoke again. "I will leave in a few minutes, peter will feed the horses tonight so you can rest." Cara wanted to protest, she did not need rest but she knew that going into a discussion with kaz was not the best thing to do so she just nodded.

"take elvis with you, you can ride him back and forth between ketterdam and here, place him at the stable next to the slat while you are in ketterdam." Kaz looked at her. "I thought about doing that before but he just got back home I don't want to take him from you.." Cara shook her head. "I gave him to you remember, plus I can see it hurts your leg to walk back and forth between ketterdam and home so I want you to take elvis, and that is an order mr brekker." Kaz smirked and nodded at her.

Cara stood there kind of awkwardly for a moment, she wanted to kiss kaz goodbye like always but they had not touched all day. Kaz noticed and quickly kissed her cheek while placing a hand on her shoulder. "I will see you soon love." He whispered to her. she smiled and kissed his cheek in return. "stay safe." Kaz smirked. "impossible, but i will try for you."