The King's Mistress

Chapter 91: What A Waste

"But still, you own him."

Alistair shook his head as he looked over at the stallion, "He used to belong to a good friend of mine. Someone who’s no longer around. As such, this proud stallion had lost his rider."

He turned to look at Sierra with a smile, "But it looks like he’s found someone new to be his rider now." freeweɓnøvel.com

She widened her eyes in shock. She knew what Alistair meant.

"Your Majesty, I... I cannot accept this gi-"

Alistair chuckled as he stopped her mid-sentence once more.

"You must be tired, Princess Sierra. Macadamia here was never owned by me and hence is not mine to give. He chose you, princess, and I think he chose well. I’ll leave him in your care."

With that, he turned to take his leave.

Sierra was left stunned. She turned to Macadamia, who nuzzled against her cheek. She reached her hand out to caress his long neck. A horse like Macadamia was not only hard to come by, but also really expensive to purchase.

Never in all her life would she have thought she would have the chance to own a horse like Macadamia, let alone ride one. Everyone around her was surprised too.

"Well, now that you’re in my care, I’m going to give you the best life you truly deserve," Sierra whispered to Macadamia.

As promised, she fulfilled her end of the bargain with the war stallion. She mounted onto his back and left in the direction of the forest.

"When will you be back, Princess?" Ida asked, catching her right as she was about to leave.

"I should be back right after sunset."

With that, she took off. Not wanting to startle anyone, Macadamia walked through the castle grounds. The closer they got to the forest, the more excited he got. By the time they were at the edge of the forest, the war stallion was ready.

As soon as they were on forest grounds, A huge grin formed on Sierra’s face. She leaned down and whispered into the stallion’s ear.

"Let’s go."

From a walk, Macadamia picked up his pace. He cantered through the forest and quickly began to gallop. Sierra leaned forward, keeping her body close to her horse as they moved swiftly through the forest. The stallion gave no sign of wanting to slow down and she was not about to stop him.

She could not imagine how long it had been since he got a chance to gallop through the forest like this. She could feel Macadamia’s labored breathing as he slowed down. Though he was a warhorse, he was a few years past his prime. His age caught up to him, and his lack of training did too.

Sierra took a carrot out of the saddlebag and fed it to him.

"We’ll get you back to how you were in the past. You just need a little training," she whispered to him.

That evening, when Sierra returned to Celestial Lodge, arrangements had already been made on her behalf for Macadamia. But before she returned him to the care of the stable masters, she made sure to give him a bath and groom him.

"Your Highness, you can leave these tasks to us." One of the stable masters said as he tried to stop Sierra from doing it on her own.

After all, who’s heard of a princess bathing her own horse?

"That’s alright, I’ll do it."

Sierra went on to spend the next two hours giving Macadamia a well-deserved bath. By the end of it, he almost looked like a completely different horse. His coat was shiny and she could see it in his eyes that he was very grateful.

"You’re most welcome," she whispered to him before handing him over to the stable masters.

They were clearly afraid of him and he did not cut them any slack either.

She whistled to the stallion, which immediately caught his attention.

"Remember to behave, Macadamia. Or no treats for you," she warned.

The stallion seemingly understood what she had said. He simmered down and was no longer confrontational with the stable masters. Once she saw him return to the stable, she heaved a sigh of relief and headed back to the main building of the lodge.

As soon as she entered through the doors, she was met with unpleasantries.

"What’s that stench in the air?"

"Do you smell it?"

"Yes I do! I think it’s coming from over there."

Sierra recognized some of the voices instantly. She glanced over just to confirm her suspicions. It was Cassandra, Agnes, and another princess. They were looking over in her direction as they made those remarks.

She clenched her jaw as she was about to make her way up the stairs. All three of them had already taken a bath and changed into fresh clothes. Glancing up at the stairs, Sierra paused for a moment.

"I’m so glad that stench is gone now," Agnes said loudly to Cassandra, she made sure it would be loud enough for Sierra to hear.

She looked down at her shoes. Her boots were caked in dirt, with blades of grass stuck on the soles and sides.

"It would be such a waste," she whispered to herself.

Sierra turned away from the staircase. She walked over to Cassandra, Agnes and the other princess who were giggling away. Without asking for permission or even giving them a proper greeting, she sat down right next to them and placed her boots up on the coffee table.

The giggling and chatter immediately died down. The look of horror on their faces was priceless. It took everything in Sierra to keep a straight face. She wanted to burst into laughter so badly.

Sierra had purposely chosen to sit extremely close to Princess Agnes. She could tell the princess was extremely uncomfortable and was leaning away from her. The combined sweat and dirt she had accumulated from the riding test and her ride through the forest was more than enough to make the princess squeal.

"Princess Agnes, are you alright?" Sierra asked as she furrowed her eyebrows. She filled her voice with as much genuine concern as she could muster.

She placed her hand on Agnes’ arm. She felt her flinch.

"You don’t look so well," Sierra continued as she was about to reach over her hand to place it on Agnes’ forehead.

The look on her face was priceless. As soon as Sierra got close, she swatted her hand away and got out of her seat.

"Get away from me!" She yelled at Sierra, losing any resemblance of a princess she had maintained moments before.