As we rode away from the buildings and into the wide, open fields, I could feel myself slowly getting the hang of this. The first few minutes had been awkward, my balance unsure, my grip stiff but now the movement felt almost natural.
The wind brushed against my cheeks, carrying the scent of grass and earth, a calmness settling over me with every passing second.
We'd been riding for about ten minutes now. Alexander, surprisingly, wasn't going as fast as he usually did. His pace had settled into something steady, almost patient, while Lucian and Kael who was had Kathy in front of him were already far ahead, their figures growing smaller as they disappeared toward the next stretch of field.
"Couldn't you move a bit faster?" I called out, leaning slightly to the side so he could hear me. I wasn't trying to annoy him even though it probably would but I wanted to catch up to Kathy before she started bragging about how "naturally gifted" she was at riding.
I felt Alexander's gaze on me even though he sat behind me. It was the kind of stare that made my shoulders tense. Then his voice came, low and maddeningly calm.
"Would you like to ride the horse yourself?"
The answer flew out of my mouth before he even finished the question. "No."
He hummed as if he expected that. "Then brace yourself."
His next words were slow...too slow and the moment they left his mouth, the horse shot forward like it had been waiting its whole life for that command.
"A–Alexander!" I gasped, grabbing the horse's mane with both hands as the world blurred around us.
We flew past Kael and Lucian so quickly that Kael let out a startled shout. For a few seconds, I expected Alexander to slow down maybe just enough to tease me, maybe enough to let me breathe. But no. He didn't slow down at all. If anything, he urged the horse forward with even more confidence.
The wind slapped against my face, stinging my eyes and making my stomach twist. I regretted every single complaint I'd made in the last ten minutes. The ground thudded beneath us so rapidly it felt like the earth was shaking.
"Are you trying to make me vomit?!" I yelled over the thunder of hooves, my voice snatched away by the rushing air.
He didn't answer. I didn't know if he was ignoring me or just enjoying the fact that I was suffering.
The fields stretched endlessly, and each second felt longer than the last. By the time he finally slowed down, my legs felt numb and my heartbeat was somewhere up in my throat.
We came to a stop at the edge of an open forest, a wide place surrounded by massive trees with thick trunks. The air here felt different cooler, quieter, almost too peaceful after the chaos of Alexander's idea of "faster."
I slid down from the horse the moment it stopped, landing on shaky feet as I tried to gather whatever dignity I had left. My stomach churned in warning, and I pressed a hand against it.
"It felt like an eternity," I muttered, taking a step back from the horse just in case. "You're unbelievable."
Alexander finally looked at me fully, his expression unreadable but far too satisfied for someone who had nearly launched me into another dimension.
"You were the one who told me to move fast," he said, voice calm as if he hadn't just risked my entire existence on horseback.
"I didn't tell you to speed up like you were being chased," I snapped back, brushing dust off my clothes even though the real problem was the way my legs were still shaking.
A low grin tugged at the corner of his mouth...slow, deliberate, and far too confident. "You know," he said, folding his arms, "I actually prefer you when you're asleep. At least then you're not yelling at me every five minutes."
I blinked. "When I'm asleep?"
"Yes," he replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "When you slept on my couch in the library. Who did you think carried you to your room? You looked so small in my arms..."
My riding shoe left my leg then my hand before I even realized I had grabbed it. The shoe spun through the air with all my irritation behind it.
Alexander tilted his head slightly, easily dodging it. The shoe hit a tree with a loud thud and slid down pathetically.
"Has this become a hobby now, throwing shoes?" he asked. Not even annoyed. More… amused. Which annoyed me even more.
I glared at him, wishing glares could actually set people on fire. "Maybe if you stopped talking nonsense, I wouldn't feel the need to throw anything."
He raised an eyebrow. "Nonsense? I was simply stating a fact."
My second riding shoe was already in my hand.
"Don't you dare," he warned, though he didn't look afraid, just entertained.
I threw it anyway.
This time, he didn't even dodge. He caught it mid-air with one hand, like it was nothing. And somehow, that made me even angrier. How was I supposed to express my frustration when he treated everything like a game he was winning?
"You're impossible!" I shouted.
"And you're predictable," he replied, tossing my shoe lightly in the air and catching it again. "If you keep throwing them, you'll walk back barefoot."
My mouth fell open. "Give me my shoes!"
"In a moment." He turned the shoe over in his hand as if inspecting it. "You know, for someone who says she hates me, you rely on me quite a lot."
"I do not!"
He lifted a brow again. "I'll take that."
I stomped toward him...well, as much as someone barefooted could stomp and reached for the one he was still holding hostage. He simply raised his hand higher, just out of reach.
That smug expression was back.
"Say please," he said.
The audacity.
"I am not saying please."
"Then I suppose the forest floor will become your new friend."
I clenched my teeth so tightly it hurt. My hands curled into fists at my sides. He was doing this on purpose. Absolutely on purpose.
"Fine," I hissed. "Please."
A wide smirk grazed his lips. "What? I didn't hear you."
"You heard me."
"I'm not sure, one more time."
Instead of wasting more energy begging him and chasing after him, I turned around and walked toward the tree where my shoe had landed. It was still lying pitifully in the grass, as if embarrassed by its own flight. I picked it up, dusted it off, and shoved my foot back into it as gracefully as someone fuming with irritation could.
When I walked back to Alexander, he was still standing exactly where I left him, his arms crossed, posture infuriatingly relaxed, as though he had all the time in the world to watch me struggle.
"Where did you disappear to last night?" I asked, squinting at him. "You were there a second ago then the next second you were gone."
His lips curved slowly, too smoothly. He placed a dramatic hand over his chest. "I really like the fact that you find me alluring..." he said in a tone dripping with sarcasm, "...but your sudden interest in me is something I won't take lightly."
Alluring?
Sudden interest?
My eye twitched.
He said it with such confidence, such undeserved confidence that for a second, words refused to leave my mouth. Then the glare came naturally, almost effortlessly.
"My sudden interest?" I repeated, "In you?"
He only smirked deeper making me more pissed.
I scoffed...a loud, sharp scoff and lunged forward to snatch my other shoe from his hand. He didn't even bother playing keep-away this time. He handed it over easily, almost as if he had expected my reaction.
"Thank you," I muttered, sarcasm thick.
"You're welcome," he replied, voice annoyingly gentle.
"You're definitely delusional," I added, sliding the shoe on while still glaring at him.
"Am I?" he asked, in that steady voice he used whenever he knew he had successfully annoyed me. "Because everything you do seems to say otherwise."
I almost choked on the air.
"Everything I do?" I asked, arms thrown up. "Like throwing shoes at your head?"
"No, falling asleep on my couch and making you carry you." he said with a nod, as if that made perfect sense.
"That level of attention is rare." He said and clicked his tongue like he pitied me.
I stared at him, unable to believe that a one person could be this infuriating and this amused by my irritation.
"You're unbelievable," I muttered.
"And you're consistent," he replied simply. "It's comforting."
My jaw dropped open again but before I could retaliate, he turned away and clicked his tongue for his horse. The tall white stallion trotted toward him obediently, all graceful and majestic.
"Now that you've finished your shoe war," he said without looking at me, "The others will be here soon enough, are you ready to hunt?"
Hunt?
The word made my stomach sink. I'd spent twenty minutes with this annoying man just to hunt...
This day wasn't getting any better.