of and including Falaireâs head.
âThis is his domain.â She paused and looked at him. âDo you understand?â
Acair glared at her. âI am not such a simpleton.â
âAnd Iâm not the one with horse slobber on my arse, so swallow your pride and learn. Just as he has his domain, I have mine. I donât enter his; he doesnât enter mine.â
âThen how do you get a bloody rope around his neck?â Acair asked in exasperation.
âHalter,â she said. âItâs a halter and you put it over his head. He tolerates it from me because Iâve told him that is what he will do.â
âBossy, arenât you?â
âI am First Horse,â she said simply. âI will admit I am forced to remind him of that every time we have tea. I would say his memory is poor, but the truth is, heâs a stallion. He would run over me as soon as look at me if I allowed it.â
Acair frowned. âI daresay he doesnât have that same respect for me.â
âHe can tell you donât know the first thing about his noble kind, pitchforks, or the amount of manure the prince of beasts produces. I doubt heâll let you anywhere near him until you remedy all three.â
He snorted. âNot a prince, surely. Something far more lofty.â
âNay, kings generally sit upon their sorry arses and issue edicts. Princes do all the real labor.â
Acair turned and looked at her. âA useful thought issues forth.â
âI have many more of those,â she said smoothly, âand at the moment most concern where you might take yourself off to and what you might do there once youâve arrived.â
He looked briefly startled, then he smiled. âDo tell.â
âI imagine you would enjoy it overmuch,â she said. âBesides, the horses might hear. Wouldnât want to ruin their innocence.â
He pointed at Falaire. âThat one there is not an innocent.â
âAnd how would you know that?â
âHe has that look about him.â He stared suspiciously at the stallion. âHe knows things I think I donât care for him knowing.â
Odd, but Falaire was studying Acair with a fair bit of interest himself. He generally took no notice of who came to tend him saveher and, on occasion, Doghail. He didnât care for Slaidear or her uncle, but she supposed that shouldnât have surprised her. That he was willing to even favor Acair with a look instead of a hoof in the gut was something indeed.
âI do believe he knows what Iâm thinking,â Acair said finally.
âI wouldnât be surprised.â
Acair frowned. âI hadnât considered such a thing possible, but . . . well, it has been that sort of year so far.â
She suppressed the urge to ask him what a man of his obvious breeding found himself doing in a barn, mostly because she was tired and cross and there was a substantial number of stalls still to be tended. She took a halter off the stall door, then walked back to Falaire and looked at him briefly before she slipped the halter over his head.
âAh,â Acair said, âyouâre intimidating him.â
âAs I said, he and I have an understanding.â
âI donât think heâll care for that sort of thing with me.â
âDo a decent job of his stall and Iâm sure heâll reconsider.â She led Falaire out into the passageway, then stood with him while Acair did the worst job of mucking sheâd ever seen.
It took him at least half an hour and she suspected by the time sheâd corrected him for the sixth time that he was close to losing his temper. But he did the work just the same, then moved the wagon away from the stall door.
âSatisfactory?â
âYour work? Barely. Your attitude? Definitely not.â
âWould you prefer it if I were to whistle a cheerful tune or dance a jig as Iâm about these
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