Free Aurelia by Anne Osterlund

canvas draped to the ground on three and a half sides, with one corner flung up to provide a doorway.
    Horizon balked at the tent flap. powerful chest muscles rose above robert's head as the stallion reared, threatening the entire structure. drew moved to help, but robert stopped him. "Hold back. He's not reliable with strangers." As the stallion dropped down, robert grabbed the side of the bridle and glared at his mount. Cocky horse came all the way through the crowd but chose this moment to attract attention.
    Confident that Horizon was finished with his minor revolt, robert guided him into an almost barren retreat. several folded wooden chairs rested against the pole by the opening, and a painted white box stood two feet high in the center of the tent like an ivory monument.
    Fielding set up his own chair beside the box and motioned for robert to do the same. Not too much of a gentleman to do his own work and not enough of a gentleman to do the work of others.
    While robert struggled to find a smooth surface for his own chair, his host slipped a hand into the box and produced a bottle of cheap white wine.
    robert shook his head.
    The man reached back in and took out a bottle of Favinoit. robert struggled not to grin. drew placed a glass in front of his guest.
    "No, thank you." robert said, fully aware he was rejecting the best wine in the kingdom. "Too early in the day for me." He never drank alcohol but found this response gained fewer comments.
    Fielding arched an eyebrow but put the extra glass away and motioned toward Horizon. "Well then, lad , to our discussion. Where'd you find this temperamental masterpiece?"
    "raised him myself, on the frontier."
    robert launched into his own question without pause. "I'm looking for a big black stallion, saw him leading a team of six." Leaving out all the circumstances of his observation, he went on to describe the stallion with the scar, the other team members, and the carriage. "seemed like that stallion would do anything for his driver," robert ended. "put his life in danger charging right up to the edge of a cliff, just shifting direction at the last moment."
    Throughout the explanation, drew remained silent, seating himself in his chair. He now pushed the chair back, away from robert. "Noticed that, did you?" drew said. "And that devotion to the driver attracted you to that horse?" He took a deep breath. "Well, lad, I can tell you here and now you aren't going to talk the owner out of that stallion. might sound hard, but there's more to a good horse than obedience. If you think obedience without common sense makes a fine mount, you'll never be much of a horseman."
    Ignoring the slight, robert goaded, "How can you be sure I can't get the horse if you don't know who the owner is?"
    "Here now." The older man leaned back, propping his boots up on the white box. "I didn't say I don't know the owner. It's because I do know the owner, and the horse as well, that I told you what I just did. That team belongs to the queen's own stables. Not at the palace, but her personal stables back in midbury. Nobody but the queen herself selects those horses."
    Crash!
    Noise clattered through the tent. drew and robert sprang to their feet, whirling to face the entryway. scattered at the foot of the tent pole lay the remaining foldable chairs, toppled from their perch. standing above them in the open doorway was Aurelia Lauzon, princess of Tyralt, her face drained of color except for the streak of a bulging red vein running from jaw to collarbone.

Chapter Five
    HONESTY

    THAT TEAM BELONGS TO THE QUEEN'S OWN STABLES.
    drew's words repeated in Aurelia's mind, penetrating her thoughts, her conscience, her self-control. There was something ominous about that team. she could not shake the image of those broad black chests and pounding hooves. Nobody but the queen herself selects those horses.
    "Aurelia?" robert said.
    "Well, if it isn't Her majesty in the flesh, or rather in disguise," drew boomed,