The Queen's Court by Rookwood Helena

Author:Rookwood, Helena
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Helena Rookwood
Published: 2018-03-30T16:00:00+00:00

16

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

It was early in the morning – if you could call it morning here, as Tabitha was still struggling to understand whether the brightening and dimming of the light around them actually marked out the space of a day – and she had returned to working on the little boat they were making as a gift for the queen.

They hadn’t taken the horses far after they’d rounded them up again, just along the outskirts of the woods but not straying too far from the field. They had passed the giant toads Fionn had mentioned, basking in the river, and at the sight of them Tabitha had been more relieved than ever that they were going to be taking the horses. She hadn’t ridden before, but she very firmly believed that she had a better shot at managing on horseback than she did on toadback.

They were still in sight of the stables, which Fionn had been watching hauntedly for most of the evening, and at which he was still staring at when Tabitha and Lysander woke the next morning. But he had disappeared off when Tabitha had announced that she needed to spend some more time on the boat before they left for the queen’s court, muttering sulkily about needing food for the horses and leaving Tabitha and Lysander in the shade of some silver birch trees.

With Fionn gone, the two of them were unable to avoid each other. Tabitha was still cross with Lysander, and worried after his outburst yesterday, but she knew how important it was that they try and work things out between them. Lysander had been right – they couldn’t afford to be arguing with each other. They had plenty of other problems to be working out as it was. So although the atmosphere was tense and Tabitha couldn’t help thinking that there was still an awful lot unsaid between them, still they sat together, side-by-side, and made an effort to work things out. Perhaps it was for the best, Tabitha thought, that she had this enforced time to make things right with him.

As promised, Lysander had made her up some glue for the boat. He had ground up charcoal, and mixed this with the sawdust they had saved from her work the previous day, and placed both with the pine resin from his pack over a fire. As it turned into something resembling glue, he chatted easily to her, doing his best to lighten the mood or to make her laugh.

He was doing his best to make amends, Tabitha thought reluctantly. But she had been dwelling on what he’d said about her placing her trust too easily in people. Was that right? Truthfully, Tabitha knew that it probably was. But still… did she want to become someone who didn’t trust anyone she met? Her grandmother wouldn’t like it, she thought. She had always told Tabitha how important it was to give others the benefit of the doubt – to always be helpful, and if others didn’t want to do the same, to let them work out their problems on their own.

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