Leon Lifted her up into the saddle of the waiting horse with a practiced ease.  Then putting his foot of the stirrup on the near side he swung his leg up and over the side. “Do you know why I mounted on that side?”  he asked her, she shook her head indicating no.

He had said he was going to teach her, and so he would do so. “It is an old custom that comes from when people used to wear swords.”

“Peasants use swords, but they can't ride on horses.” she said, looking back at him in confusion. Her current position caused her to blush slightly, she was sitting sideways on the saddle with her legs hanging off the right side, in front of her was the horn and behind her, with his arms wrapped around her was leon.

“Oh? Well it is tradition to mount up on this side because if you mounted on the other side the sword would get in the way.” he looked at her and smiled, she was desperately trying not to touch him, that would be an impossible task once they actually started moving however.

The lead coach driver looked back at them and gave them a nod, which Leon promptly returned. With a word the gate swung open and all four of the carriages rumbled out and onto the dirt path that they called a road around here.

“To make the horse move forward tap its haunches lightly with your heels.”  he said, and he did exactly that.

“How do you make it turn?”  she asked.

“He will go the direction his head is pointing, so pull the reins the direction you want.” he leaned forward and wrapped the excess of the reins around the horn. “However this is a well trained horse and we will not need to do much.” he said, he wrapped his arms around her and pressed her back against his chest, he could feel her tremble ever so slightly.

“How-How do you know?” she asked.

“The way he is moving, he is making an effort to not sway side to side to much so we don't feel any discomfort. ”  he patted the horse softly on the neck, and receive a whinny as a thank you. “Horses are smart animals, for the most part you only have to point them in the right direction and give them a speed, they can do the rest.”

“I-is that so?”  she asked, she didn't want to admit it, but with the swaying movement, and the comforting solidity of his back, she was starting to relax, in fact she was liking it. She smiled, and closed her eyes, allowing herself to lean back into his chest further.

The girls looked out of the carriages expecting to find some hilarious sight, but were only greeted by leon sitting up straight and noble on a horse, and Lira leaning back against him with a contented smile.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“So, tell me Lira, what was it like growing up in a barony?” he asked, he was not simply making idle conversation, he needed to know as much as possible about this world and how it was structured, and the best way he could think of at the moment was through talking with her.

Lira’s smile disappeared.

“It was, well awful.” she said, opening her eyes, the rumble of the carriages provided a background noise as she started her story. “It wasn't bad, not until I turned nine, that was when we started to learn magic...”

[Eight years ago]

“Ahaha, can you even call yourself a member of this family?”

“This is the daughter of the great flame of the east? Are we sure this is not a joke!?”

The laughter of the children around Lira set her heart ablaze, but she stifled the rage, it would serve her no good here. A kick came flying at her face as she lay in the dirt, Lira promptly rolled, protecting her head and catching the kick in his gut instead. Though the kick was launched by an twelve year old child that was sneering down at her as she lay in the dirt it did a good amount of damage to the nine year old girl, flipping her in the air and landing her on her back.

“Ugh-” Lira groaned as she coughed out a mouthful of blood, gritting her teeth Lira pushed herself up off the ground with shaking arms.

“I can’t believe a failure like you is the daughter of the duke! You can’t even cast a simple flame spell, do you really have any noble blood in you?” one of the youths sneered, edging closer to the battered Lira with a dangerous gleam in his eyes.

“I heard her father was drunk, and got with this ugly bitch’s mother, and when he awoke it was all he could do not to kill the mother outright .” Laughed another, one.

The leader stepped forward, pushing past his cronies; he was a boy around twelve, with dark hair and blue eyes, Richard Waltren, third son of the head of the branch family, and Lira’s cousin. “You are a disgrace to the family name, no to even the name of all nobles; I doubt if we beat you to death we would even get a slap on the wrist.”

He walked forward and grabbed the front of Lira’s shirt, lifting her a full foot off the ground. “But I won’t kill you today; I will wait until I learn the spell mind break, that would be more fun if you ask me.” He laughed, and punched the struggling Lira in the stomach as hard as he could, before dropping her to the ground. “Come on guys, let’s go look for something else to do.”

She lay there for a few moments before picking herself up off the ground.  She looked down and wanted to cry, the new dress her mother had spent so long making was ruined, what was she supposed to do now?

Fighting back the tears she went to her mother’s room inside the castle. It was a small room, dark and dingy with only one small high window a cabinet and a bed, almost more like a prison than a room.

“I’m so sorry to be putting this burden onto you my little Lira,” the middle aged woman sighed, her deep gold eyes filled with discomfort.  She looked to be around the age of thirty, but there deep wrinkles that caressed her face that shouldn’t have been there.

Her mother was a commoner, and a servant at that, she had been sold to the house at the young age of ten, where she had met and served Lira’s father.  Over the time they had grown close, and it was not too long before she was intimate with the man.

It was not socially acceptable however, and his parents had forced him to marry a noblewoman. It had been all Lira’s father could do to make sure Lira’s mom wasn't thrown out with nowhere to go.

Soon after they had married however it came to light that Lira’s mother was pregnant.

“I'm so sorry child.”  she reached out a shaky weakened arm and pulled her daughter into her embrace. As she felt her daughter sobbing in her embrace she also let out a few tears.

“I'm so sorry...” she whispered as she held the one thing that kept her going in this world close to her chest.