Nadine

30. Ride

"Dr. Cruor! I'm so glad you're back at your desk! How are you feeling?"

"I am ready to work again. I was in that bed for to long. How did you manage princess?"

"To be honest. Not very well. According to everyone, I lost to much weight and now I need a babysitter for meals."

Tre squeezes my waist. "She did great, just needs to remember to take time for herself as well."

"Ah yes, Nadine. That is important. You always have to put your health first. If the doctor goes down, everyone else does too. And there's usually no one to take care of the doctor when the doctor is sick." He chuckles a little bit.

"I missed you, Dr. Cruor. We all did." I lay my head on Tre's shoulder and smile at the doctor. "And if you're here... that means I can catch up on some paperwork."

Everyone starts laughing.

"I'll walk you to your office baby." Tre kisses me on the head and leads me away.

We get in my office and I stare at him while I hold my rock. "What's wrong Tre? You haven't really said anything since we left my dad's office."

"It was different questioning you and not being able to talk to you like this. I had to be all official." He steps closer to me and takes the veil off. "I was only allowed to see you as the princess and not my mate. It was very different."

"How do you see me now?" I spin in a circle.

"Like someone I want to kiss." He starts planting little kisses on my cheek.

I put the rock on my desk. "I think you can do better than that sir."

He runs his hand up the back of my neck. His lips touch mine and I get the sweetest kiss.

I wrap my arms around his neck and push my body up against his. "You get one more try sir."

He laughs and pulls my face to his by the back of my neck. He gives me a deep passionate kiss. He runs his other hand from my side over my breast. Then he moves it back around to my lower back pulling me as close to him as he can.

He breaks off the kiss and I stand there for a second. "Wow. I really liked that kiss."

"So did I. But I need to get back up there baby."

"Aww 1 more?"

He pulls me in by my neck again, giving me another deep kiss.

"Can I have more kisses later?"

"Of course you can, baby. I'll see you as soon as I can." He kisses my hands before he leaves.

I sit down at my desk and start in on the massive stack of paperwork I let pile up.

I get about a quarter of it done and decide to sneak out. I need a break. I go out through the bookshelf and sneak around in hidden areas as much as I can. I somehow manage to sneak all the way out of the castle without being noticed. I go to the barn. I think I deserve a horse ride after the last few days.

"Good afternoon Zacier."

"Hello Hypatia, I haven't seen you in awhile now."

"Yea, I needed some time after the attack. And then my mom and the convoy thing. It's been a pretty bad few weeks."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"I was told that you found me."

"I saw him attacking you, Hypatia. I was yelling and screaming. He flew off before I could get to him. But at least I got him to leave. Dipak was there so fast. He picked you up. He was crying. It takes a lot to scare that man and he was scared."

"Did you have to go in and talk to the advisors?"

"Yes, after it all happened they were questioning anyone who seen anything."

"Did you see anything?"

"That boy isn't right Hypatia. He's got something evil in him. Any man who attacks a woman has a demon in him. But that one attacked his own sister. Even the horses never really liked him."

I chuckle after the last part. "No they really haven't."

"Go for a ride and enjoy some air. It'll do you good. Get your mind off of things for a little bit."

"Thank you for running him off of me."

"I only wish I was there sooner." He throws a saddle on Butter for me. "Enjoy your ride."

"Thank you."

I start off slow and easy. I do miss this. I slowly pick up speed and ride around the yard by the castle. I don't want to be in the field yet. I'll stay close. Something spooks the horse and it takes off running. It's going so fast and I'm holding on so tight. I love it. I turn and run back to the castle that fast. I see a big rock and jump the horse over it. This is amazing. "I missed you so much Butter." I see Dipak watching me. Then I hear the alarms sound for the castle. I run to him on butter. He cancels the alarms immediately. "What was that for?"

"You are missing."

"I wanted to ride for a little bit."

"Don't sneak out of the castle princess. Make sure someone knows where you are."

My eyes fill up with tears. "Everyone knew where I was that day. It didn't matter."

"It did matter and it does matter princess. Please don't sneak off alone like that."

"Fine. I'm riding. Here. You know where I am now." I turn Butter and take off again.

I see him walking to the barn. Probably going to tell Zacier off for not asking if anyone knew where I was. "They must not have searched very hard for me Butter. I'm in the back yard." I keep riding around between the castle and the barn. We jump over the big rock a few more times and gallop a bit. "You're amazing Butter. You're such a good horse. I'm sorry I haven't been to see you in awhile. I have missed you." We go running back over to the big rock as fast as we can. We jump and clear it again. "Good job butter. You are such a good jumper." I pet his head and look up. Dipak is on a horse riding to me. Me and the horse both stare. I don't think I've ever seen him ride. Well maybe once or twice.

"Well, let's go little miss."

I smile at him and take off as fast as I can. We ride over to the river and go by it slowly. The horses seem to love it. We ride for another in a random direction. I'm enjoying every minute of this.

"I didn't know you like to ride, sir."

"Yea, I just don't have a lot of time to."

"Wait a sec, my horse needs a drink." I take the horse to the water. "What made you decide to ride today Dipak?"

He hops off his horse. "You weren't going anywhere. I could tell you wanted to go further. And how those idiots couldn't find you, I will never know."

I bust out laughing. "I said the same thing to Butter. Didn't I Butter?" I pet him a few times. "How did they lose me in the back yard?" I glance around to see where we are. "Dipak we're by that cave I told you about."

"Do you know how to get to it?"

"Yes it's this way. Need to tie the horses up though. It's through a big water spot."

He helps me off butter, "Alright, let's go find it."