As soon as Alex’s carriage left the main dusty road and approached the paved road that led to his estate, a group of fifteen riders approached, wearing uniforms in light grey and with a coat of arms with a cursive ‘A’ stitched on the left side, above the heart.
The driver stopped the carriage, and one rider, an older man with a thin scar on his left cheek that went from his mouth to his ear, stood next to the window and made a slight bow with his head. “Welcome back, Earl Alex. Miss Olive sent a message early this morning that you would arrive by this hour. The maids were also warned, and lunch will wait for you and your guests in the Castle. Do you mind if we escort you there? Our patrol shift had just ended, and we were about to return.”
“By all means, Captain, I won’t mind at all. How
