The faint smile on his lips and almost shrug as he mentioned that everything had gone as intended generated a morose smile from her at the gentle reminder of the reality of their world. Looking down at her hands, she shifted in the saddle and nodded her head at him, “Then we are lucky for that small allowance, aren’t we.” It was about time that they had started winning. Taking a deep breath she shifted in her saddle, she’d not seen him since his coronation a few days ago and imagined that trying to find a working balance between a new wife and his new official duties were the cause of the sunken, shadows marking the lack of rest on his face.

Relaxing on Altair, she shifted her reins into a single hand so she could reach back and pet her grey’s hind quarters before letting her hand just rest as she leaned back a little and studied the King. So he was already sneaking out of the castle to get something close to a reprieve from his duties. A spark of amusement lingering in the deep warmth of her gaze, as if he could go anywhere undetected. The corner of her mouth curled up and she looked away.

“That’s funny.” The pint-sized Leventi slid him a quick look before snickering and shook her head, “You’re as capable of sneaking anywhere undetected as a white sheep is among a flock of black sheep.” Realizing he might not quite understand that she didn’t mean that in a bad way, she made a vague gesture at his general person. “It’s just that you… Um…” She blinked at him trying to find the right words. “You just have a very large sort of presence.” Her cheeks pinkened a little at her blundering, “I mean… Take it from someone who is one, you aren’t exactly a wallflower.”

Pursing her lips tightly together, her eyebrows knitted together as she frowned at him. “I am going to be quiet now because my point is made,” Evangelina snorted indignantly… People who looked like him or Theo or Selene or Stephanos or Xene... they were never overlooked. Clearing her throat, she shifted uneasily in the saddle and looked at the direction he’d come from figuring he’s plans had included the coast… which would logically be the ships or he had some sort of secretive plans he was putting into action.

“Just putting a bit of distance between myself and the city for a bit.” She lifted her shoulders in a half-hearted shrug, “I thought maybe a ride would help clear my head.” Sucking in a hiss of air from her teeth she met his shockingly blue eyes and frowned and finding herself confessing her inner thoughts to him, “Lord Gavriil still hasn’t spoken to my uncle and…” Her words died off and she looked back down at her hands that were back on the reins fidgeting. “My uncle’s patience over his failed matchmaking attempts is starting to wear thin on him...you can imagine how much my uncle appreciates failing at something.” Her lips pursed again, the truth was she was waiting for the shoe to fall off the other foot with Gavriil. Despite his command to trust him, his mercurial agreement to marry her was unsettling.

Offering him a winsome smile, “It’ll sort itself out if it is meant to happen.” Now, if she could just believe that. “Do you want some company on your ride back? I wouldn’t blame you a bit for making the most of your privacy though, so don’t feel you have to say yes for my sake. I don’t mind riding for a bit longer down the coast and let you have your time.”

Lucky wasn’t the right word. It was evident from the small lift of his brows as she had said it, but it seemed politer to say than, ‘Well, it looks like everything’s not going to shit today.’ Along the coastline the faint, briny breeze blew a rebellious tangle against her cheek and she reached up to tuck it behind her ear. It was the quiet moments like these that she relished most. There was a sort of peace in it that she could get happily lost in but the moments never seemed long enough.

Squirming a little in the saddle as he repeated her choice of words back to him, she winced a little. He’d seen her fierce and he’d seen her being accident prone, he’d even seen her playing dice with a shifty little boy… but had he ever seen her flounder a little bit for the right words? Trying to keep the uncomfortable smile in place, she looked away, pretending his scrutiny didn’t bother her at all. It did of course, staring at her too long exposed her cracks and flaws. And as her uncle had informed her many times, Leventi’s were perfect… there were no cracks or flaws to be seen. Her lips parted and she was searching for the right words when he waved his hand dismissively, ‘I understand. I just didn’t want all the fanfare today. It’s tiresome.’

His words caused her to pull her deep, mink brown eyes back to steadily settle on his face as if she was picking apart the words carefully. There were a great number of people who wanted to wear the crown, it was interesting that of all the things to bother him it was the fanfare that he found tiresome. It wasn’t all hearts and flowers and ruling a land. She had to catch herself from reaching out and patting his arm, it seemed wherever he was concerned she felt the need to touch and reassure him and innocent as it may have been it was also something she couldn’t get into the habit of doing.

Perhaps that was why she found herself drifting off into her own problems. It was a momentary distraction. She’d meant to tell him just about needing to escape the city, but found herself confessing her feelings too freely to him.

‘Lord Gavriil is not as sensible a man as I had thought if he is not hurrying to get the ink dry on that parchment.’

She blinked momentarily caught by surprise of his agreement of sorts, it was a nice thing to say to her. The little Leventi let herself relax a little knowing that her concerns weren’t as… preposterous as she’d felt. It was a nice thing to say to her, and slid him a small melting smile, though she didn’t say the words the smile told him, ‘Thank you.’

‘I’m sure it will be sorted soon enough.’

He’d said it almost the exact same time as she had, it only proved that great minds flowed along on the same path quite often. The camaraderie she felt for him, led her to ask if he wanted company. Riding could be enjoyed alone, but there were times when it was nice to be able to feel the presence of another human there with you. Not necessarily to talk but just to… Hmmm… Share in the quiet and rightness of the world.

‘No, please. Your company is welcome, Lady Evangelina. Never mind that I’d be more comfortable if you were not riding around the countryside all alone.’

A spark of amusement and a dimpled smile tossed his direction as she turned the grey stallion around to ride along beside him. Unlike her cousins, Evangelina just about never went out with guards… occasionally her ladies or her servants would go places but riding usually was the one place where she didn’t take anyone… mostly because she’d never abided by having guards… even with all of this nonsense with the Creed. She was one girl in a family of 9 girls, she wasn’t exactly valuable enough to warrant the trouble of kidnapping for a ransom nor was she simply just a girl who if she went missing no one would notice. She floated somewhere in a reliably safe zone when you added in that on horseback she could quite probably out ride just about any assailants.

“I don’t like the fanfare either, Your Majesty, besides on Altair here I’m not entirely defenseless.” The stallion, though not as big as Achilleas big bay, had tricks up his sleeve. He’d been her personal project for almost seven years now, and back home, at Acharist… she’d had the time to train him in certain aspects that she’d read about. Perhaps, one day… she’d show him what the stallion could do.

‘He’s a good looking animal.’

Slanting a look sideways as she sidled up close but kept a respectful distance from Amyntas. “I like to think so,” The grey had seen better days having had a rather rough life between leaving the Leventi estate and then ending back up with Evangelina. Reaching down she gave the stallion a small pat on the neck, “I’ve grown rather fond of him, he wasn’t cut out for the circus which, of course, and he wasn’t big enough to add to the stock for war. And he’s not really of the right disposition for a carriage.” Her nose wrinkled, “But he was exactly what I needed when I got him…” Her eyes drifted away as she straightened in the saddle not really offering any more on that.

‘Not too much horse for you?’

She blinked, her head swiveling around to stare at the King before a bark of arrogant laughter bubbled out. “I was born to ride.” She tossed him a cheeky wink and shook her head, “If I can toss a leg over him, I can handle him…” That had sounded more risque than she'd meant. Her cheeks pinkened and she cleared her throat a little. “If the Gods have made a horse that’s too much, I’ve yet to meet him.”

The pint-sized Leventi saw more than she was probably meant to, not in the ways one might normally read a person but her deepest conversations had majorly been with animals. Something as simple as a look or in this case the deliberate way he ignored her could mean something deeper. Tilting her head a little, she held the look for a moment longer before letting her gaze fall and giving him a reprieve. He reminded her of a colt, who only wanted to please people. There was an uncertainty and a deep rooted vulnerability there, it was that thought that made her realize that was what generated the constant need to reach out and touch him in small, gentle touches.

He’s not a colt, Evie. She internally scolded herself as she forced herself to leave well enough alone. People weren't horses. There were boundaries and most of the time those boundaries weren’t appreciated being crossed. Settling deeper into the saddle, she let the tension in her body slip away. It felt like every joint in her body had turned soft allowing her to feel every twist and swing of the step of Altair.

Achilleas spoke again, ‘Oh, Really?’ The corners of her lips lifted just a little as she continued to stare forward between her mount’s ears. “You’re majesty, this horse can do things you’ve never even imagined.” She said a bit archly before she took a quick glance sideways at her riding companion. After a moment, ‘You are so animated when you talk of horses. Moreso than anyone I’ve met, I think. Leventi through and through.’ Her dark eyes softened for a moment until he spoke again and her gaze clouded with momentarily shadows. Horses weren’t all the Leventis were good at.

It was her turn not to meet his gaze and feign interest elsewhere. Pulling the stallion up just a fraction, she scooted up and laid herself across his neck. It was the only way she could reach the buckles of his bridle, one hand fumbled but it was something she could have done with her eyes closed. The strap under his jaw loosened, she ran her hands back up between his ears and slipped it between the bridle and and his grey mane and lifted it up over his ears and then the bit down out of his mouth freeing the beastly little stallion of a bridle.

He filled the space of her unbridling, talking about how horses were less complicated and she nodded her head silently in agreement. He was right, to a degree anyway. Humans were masters at concealment. Their base natures were very much the same as horses except it was more difficult to determine what motives they were acting off of. Horses didn’t try and conceal their wants or desires.

Settling back into the saddle, she left the reins looped around his neck, holding them in one hand and the headstall in the other. Altair seemed to come to life with the new freedom, a spark in his large dark eyes and his head coming up and his ears twitching. Sometimes, less was more.

She smiled faintly, “I am glad I could help Aenaeus.” Turning her face back to Achilleas, she looked up at him calmly from beneath her lashes. He might have noticed that it wasn’t that she was glad to have helped him, but rather that she was glad she could have helped the horse. Altair shifted and swished his tail at this talk of other horses, “Sometimes I feel like I am only really me when I am with the horses.” She wasn’t sure what had made her say that, especially to him. She pressed her lips together, but turned her head to look at him taking a deep breath. “Is there anything that makes you feel that way?”

Settling deeper into the saddle, she let her legs dangle loosely at the sides of the broad barrel of the grey stallion and let herself relax fully. Altair would take care of her. He was one of the few constants in her life that she could unfailingly depend upon. It wasn’t to say that he didn’t occasionally let her eat a bit of dirt, those were the days he reminded her to be humble.

‘Hmmm?’ Sliding him a curious look at his almost laugh as he continued, ‘I can see that.’ Their eyes met and she felt a small hitch in her breath, as if he kept looking he might see more than he should. ‘Though you hardly strike me as reticent around people, either, Lady Evangelina.’ She broke the contact, her gaze dropping to her fingers and the tangled mess of mane and leather they held on to. Oh, if he only knew…

She was entirely reticent, did he think the confident exterior she’d projected to him was who she really was? The little Leventi might have agreed with him, but there was something unsettling about being on the back of a horse. She couldn’t lie; not here, not sitting on Altair away from the city. Nevertheless, she didn’t immediately answer him back. Licking her lips, she glanced sideways at him again. He might notice the distant look in her gaze before she looked back between Altair’s ears.

“And you think that is the real me?” She challenged gently, swallowing as a bittersweet smile touched her face. She’d become better at hiding who she really was than she’d realized, if that was the case. She’d grown so used to projecting a certain confidence among her family and peers. It was an act of survival. She could smile and confidently bluster her way through so many things. But was that the unmasked, real Evangelina? She knew the answer to that, but did he?

As she’d asked if there was anything that moved him the way that horses moved her, she’d known she’d been prodding at those walls of his. ‘I don’t think I have ever thought about it.’ Looking at him, she waited as he considered her question. ‘I wouldn’t consider myself as ever as not being..me. There are situations where what people need is different, that is all.’ She watched him for a moment longer and then looked away. He was right, people needed different things, so did that mean he was the perfect, golden boy he portrayed to the world? She didn't think so.

She caught herself before she asked him that, sometimes picking away at people’s masks didn’t help them. “Hmmm…,” Was all she said before letting silence fill the gap for a few moments as her mind dissected his answer a bit more in depth in her mind.

‘Can you control that horse at anything other than a walk without a bridle?’ A restless smile was generated at his choice of words and the way he’d issued the little challenge. ‘What happens if he bolts?’

“Guess we are fixing to find out?” Tilting her head, she tossed him a wink at the same moment her heels sank into the grey’s sides sending him leaping forward into a blazing gallop. After all, someone needed to light a fire under Achilleas. Her heart soared as she tangled her fingers deeper into the grey mane. Her weight lifted off his back and her feet balanced in the stirrups as she leaned down over his neck settling into the rhythm of her stallion’s gallop.

Flying over the softly curved grassland, her happiness soared and it didn’t matter whether Achilleas was behind her or not because there was comfort in the familiar ka-thump of hoof beats and soft blowing noises of her stallion breathing heavily through his nose. There was something so good about letting go and losing your mind just a little bit. The sound of hoof beats behind her sent a rush of adrenaline through her and she glanced over her shoulder to see the bigger bay and Achilleas charging after them. She couldn’t control the way her lips spread wide in a grin as she looked back to where she was going, leaning a little further down over his neck and urging even more from the little gray. Was there a greater thrill than the sound of a horse galloping behind you, gaining ground upon you?

It had absolutely nothing to do with winning a race or outrunning him and Amyntas but in pushing outside of the barrier of reason. There was something so good about letting go and losing your mind just a little bit. Achilleas believed she was confident and knew exactly what she wanted and expected of the world around her, it couldn’t have been further from the truth. Sometimes, she had to lose herself a little in order to hold herself together. Her projection of confident, matter-of-fact nature hid her deeply turbulent, mercurial mind. Evangelina was an over thinker who constantly questioned every situation and scenario that blew her way. She lived so much in her own head that it was easy to get lost in the weight of her every decision. This was as close as she’d ever get to running away.

For a little distance, they flew over the land in silence but all good things had to come to an end and the terrain began to change. However abandoned she had been, she was not reckless… especially not when it came to gambling with Altair or Amyntas’s safety. Without a bit in her grey’s mouth it might have seemed like a fool’s errand to stop a galloping horse but the stallion was sensitive enough to sense the shift in her weight as she leaned back a little, her weight dropping back into the saddle. Combined with the gentle tugs of the leather straps of her bridle around the base of neck she felt him down shift and start to gradually slow down from the gallop to a canter and then down to bouncy sort, animated trot and finally a halt.

Shifting a glance over to Achilleas, the look of pure indignation generated a deep, throaty laugh from her. ‘What in seven bells was that?’ He snapped at her which only produced more giggles. The lines at the corners of her eyes crinkling. Tilting her face up to the sun, her deep laughs continued until there were small tears coming out of the corners of her eyes and she was reaching up to brush the moisture away.

Glancing down at him, she kicked her feet out of the stirrups and let them dangle in a relaxed fashion at the grey’s sides. ‘What were you thinking?!’ He was glaring up at her as if he hadn’t just had fun, he could lie about it all she wanted but they both knew he’d felt freer chasing her down. As Achilleas reached to take the headstall of the bridle from her, Altair penned his ears and took a nip at the fleshy part of Achilleas arm that had gotten just a little too close for the grey to resist. Despite not needing the bit, and having just proved that, Evangelina passed the headstall to him as the laughter subsided and she smiled gently down at him.

“I was thinking you sure must have enjoyed seeing my backside as long as it took you to catch up,” She teased. Swallowing back another smile, she took a deep breath as he tried to bridle Altair. “Can I offer you some advice?” Her dark mink brown eyes held something almost tender and knowing in them as she soberly watched him. Pausing before she continued, “Breathe.” Leaning forward, she settled her hand on his shoulder drawing his attention up to her. “And if nothing else, have a little faith in me.”

Jutting her chin out a little, she nodded towards Altair, “Do you think I’d have put him in danger?” Evangelina blinked at Achilleas for a moment and let out a breath, before she sung her right leg over his withers in front of her and hopped off Altairs back landing next to the much taller Mikaelidas. Reaching out she stroked the stallion’s neck, “I need him.” Slanting her gaze back to Achilleas, would he understand? “I’m not the person you think I am.” Stepping away, her hand snatched at a tall blade of grass to give her something to fiddle with as she stretched her legs as she drifted away a little. “I’m a firm believer of faking it till you make it.” Throwing an amused glance over her shoulder, “Maybe one day, when I grow up, I’ll really be as bold as you think I am.”

“So what you are saying is that you are concerned for yourself,” Evangelina smiled gently and snuck him a glance. “It wouldn’t have been my broken bones you’d have been concerned about… just telling my family how I’d gotten them while with you.” Her eyebrows raised up a little as she battled trying to keep her smirk at bay.

If only it were that simple.

Assessing him for a long moment, before she sighed softly. She’d thought he might have some understanding of her family, having married Theo, but it was apparent that he still didn’t quite grasp some aspects of the Leventi family. He didn’t want to have to explain to her family why she had broken bones while riding in his company?

He didn’t realize the shame wouldn’t have been upon him but rather upon her. If something happened to her while riding it showed an inefficiency, a mar on their perfection. It was possible, although still unlikely, that if it had been in some other faucate of their lives that it might have been overlooked, but in riding… She looked away. In riding, it would be better to not return at all than to limp in having been beaten and broken from riding. It might have been different if she’d been Tino, or even Selene or Theo. They were valuable bargaining pieces for her uncle.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about that,” Shifting her weight uncomfortably, “I can take a fall with the best of them, it’s an imperative learning tool when you are a Leventi.” It was impossible to tell at that moment if she was talking still about riding or something deeper. Her neck bowed and as if she realized she might have given too much of herself away there, and needed to reel herself back in to being comfortably shielded from examination as he stepped out from under her touch, “It’s all in the tuck and roll.”

He wasn’t the only one who needed control in their life. Despite the spontaneous exhibit she’d just performed, she held tightly to her own. There was control and then there was control. She grasped at an almost savage sort of control, it was rudimentary, basic. She controlled how and what the world saw of her. If she was going to make a mistake or a fool out of herself, the pint-sized Leventi was going to make sure that if they laughed at her it was by her design. If they were going to make her cry, then that too was by her design.

Her mind shuffled through her thoughts, if she was going to reveal things to him it was going to be by her design and not simply because she’d let her guard drop. When she told him she wasn’t who he thought she was, it wasn’t something that had just randomly slipped out of her lips. It was a controlled reveal.

‘No? Who are you then?’ His glib remark produced a long pause from her, as she stared at him for a long moment then pasted a careful smile on her lips and looked away again. He wasn’t making it easy to be his friend, that wall he had was some wall. At her next words, she looked back at him as he turned to look at her, assessing her this time. For a moment, she wondered if there was a chip there in that wall and then it was gone and he was shaking his head at her. ‘Well then you should be in politics.’

Crossing her arms, she pulled her gaze away from him, whatever moment that had been felt lost. Taking a deep breath. No, it meant she was a Leventi. She was capable of wearing a mask of more than one face. She could manipulate a situation and be a different person for every situation. Her gaze dropped to her feet. You might deny a lot of things about yourself but you couldn’t deny the blood that coursed through your veins. It was a joke thinking changing her name would change her. Pressing her lips together, she dug her toe into the dirt. She would always be a Leventi.

Lost in thoughts, it was Achilleas' offer of the water skin that had brought her back to reality. Taking it before she’d realized she had and then glancing down at it wondering what she was supposed to do with it since she wasn’t all that thirsty so she passed it back to him unopened. Her gaze studied him again as he sat down on the grass. Did he realize he was relaxing around her? Not wanting to spook him, she remained standing afraid that sitting down next to him might have been too intimate. He might realize he was very close to accepting her as a friend if she did something so shocking as sit there next to him.

‘That was fun.’ He tilted his head and looked at her, generating a crooked smile from her before she looked down at her feet again, carefully hiding a larger smile. It had been fun and obviously the adrenaline was starting to fade and things were clearer. Was this him trusting her?

“It was.” Reaching her toe out, she nudged his ankle playfully with a smile. “No risk, no reward.” Slanting her dark eyes, she looked at him curiously but didn’t press him too quickly for more acceptance of relaxing around her. After a moment, she straightened and looked away. He’d come to her when he trusted her enough. It was very similar to waiting on the acceptance from a horse. She just had to be patient and not scare him with more than he could handle.

“Amyntas is faster than I expected,” Glancing over her shoulder, she ran a careful gaze over the King’s bay stallion. “Especially carrying a big lug like you around…,” She goaded, glancing back at him with a teasing smirk. “He might have actually passed us if he’d had a lighter rider.”