Firelight: The Omega & His Match by Claire Cullen

Author:Claire Cullen [Cullen, Claire]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-07-26T18:30:00+00:00

After breakfast, he returned to his room to get ready and then met Davin in the corridor. The alpha led him across the palace and through a side door that opened right next to the stables. Two horses were waiting for them, already saddled. There was a large chestnut mare and a smaller black stallion with a splotch of white on his nose.

“Do I get the ginger?” he asked teasingly.

Davin grinned. “Oh, I’m sure you’re more than a match for Whisper, but she’s a little fussy with strangers. I think you’ll like Star better. He adores anyone who gives him a piece of apple or some sugar.”

Aiden made a face and stuck his empty hands in the equally empty pockets of his tunic.

“Here.”

Davin held out a little napkin-wrapped parcel. Aiden opened it to reveal three apple slices and four sugar cubes.

“You’ve come prepared.”

“Always.”

Aiden approached Star slowly, a piece of apple in his palm. The horse whinnied, his ears angled forward.

“Hello, Star. You’re quite the beauty, aren’t you?” Aiden murmured, keeping his pace even. When he was close enough, he stilled and waited. After a moment of intense scrutiny, the stallion dropped its head and took the offered apple slice, crunching on it happily.

Aiden waited another minute before stepping closer, pressing a light hand to Star’s nose and then his flank, rubbing gently.

Both their horses had saddlebags, and Aiden took a quick peek inside Star’s, spying the makings of a picnic lunch wrapped up securely. He stowed the rest of the napkin-wrapped treats away alongside it.

Behind him, Davin cleared his throat.

“Can I help you mount your horse?” the alpha asked.

It had been a while since Aiden had last ridden. And Star, though not as tall as Whisper, was no small pony.

“Please.”

It only took a moment, the alpha’s hands gentle but firm around his waist, and then he was in the saddle. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he took the reins in his hands. Lorgan had forbidden him from riding for some nonsensical reason years before. Aiden couldn’t even remember what it was, seeing it as just another tightening of the noose around him and his surviving brothers.

“Aiden?”

He hadn’t realized how far his thoughts had drifted or how hard his fingers were clenched around the reins until Davin’s hands touched his. Gentle fingers uncurled his, holding them lightly.

“Star will move with the softest of touches, I promise you. There’s no need to hold the reins so tight.”

With anyone else, he might have felt like a child being schooled, but there was a gentle understanding in Davin’s voice as if he knew what he could not know.

“I have it, thank you. I just forgot myself for a moment,” he assured the alpha.

“I could see it in your eyes. You were very distant. And very sad.”

That sadness reflected in Davin’s own dark eyes, even as the alpha smiled at him and stroked a thumb across the back of Aiden’s hand.

“I’m glad you’re here with me, Aiden.”

“I’m glad to be here with you.

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