Maybe she owed her father an apology for all the times she’d whined at him in an effort to get her own way. And maybe it was a good thing that he’d endured the whining and held the lines he’d drawn about proper behavior and following his rules.
“I’ll go down right now and see if I can catch Kieran before he starts his work,” she said quickly. “He’ll know if it’s proper for us to visit the puppy school.”
Shelby stopped whining and wagged his tail.
The Scelties had their meals in the kitchen, so Shelby headed in that direction, leaving Saetien to rush to the breakfast room on her own. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Kieran still at the table, talking to Kildare, Ryder, and Eileen.
“If you’re in that much of a rush to get to breakfast, people will think we aren’t feeding you enough at supper,” Eileen said, her voice filled with mild amusement.
“I wanted to catch Kieran,” Saetien said.
Kieran sipped his coffee. “Oh?”
“Shelby wants to visit the puppy school, but I wasn’t sure if that was permitted.” She said it fast. She wasn’t sure why, since Kieran didn’t seem to be in any hurry to leave the table.
“Have you ever been to puppy school?” Kieran asked.
The question sounded innocent, but she noticed Kildare wouldn’t look at her, and Ryder seemed fascinated by the crumbs that were left on his plate. “Nooo.”
“Well, then, it will do you both some good to go there.” Kieran smiled at her. “Since I have to be out and about this morning, I can drop you off at the school. We’ll leave in half an hour.” He stood, gave his mother a kiss on the cheek, and left the breakfast room, chuckling.
She was pretty sure that wasn’t a good sign for what she was about to do.
“Best get some food in you while you can,” Eileen said briskly, whisking Saetien’s plate off the table and going to the sideboard to fill it. “You’ll have a busy morning.”
“I will?”
Ryder began coughing loudly, then excused himself from the room.
The coughing sounded suspiciously like laughter.
Kildare carefully buttered a sweet roll before cutting it in half.
Saetien looked at Eileen when the woman put the full plate in front of her. She looked at Kildare, who wouldn’t look at her. “Is there something I should know about puppy school?”
“Some things are best learned for yourself,” Kildare said. Leaving the sweet roll, he excused himself.
“Eat up,” Eileen said, “or all the neighbors will know you’re late when Kieran starts hollering for you to hurry up. He takes after his father that way. When Kildare puts his mind to it, his voice can carry across all the pastures and fields when he’s looking for a wandering child.”
“Sometimes I used to think it would be fun to have an older brother,” Saetien muttered. Having met Ryder, she figured Mikal pretty much filled that spot. And then . . .
“Well, you’ve got a male cousin, don’t you? And him being Eyrien and a Warlord Prince, he’s probably well suited to being annoying and bossy like an older brother.”
She couldn’t argue with that.
“I know I’m late, but it’s not my fault,” Saetien said as she rushed toward where Kieran waited beside the pony cart. “Anya grabbed me and wouldn’t let me leave until she’d braided my hair properly.”
“You’ll thank me for it,” Anya had said.
Squeals. Stomps. And the small thunder of a stampede that Ryder stopped by throwing a shield across the open stable doors. Blocked by the shield, the handful of foals she’d played with yesterday stared at her, then squealed their demands for attention.
“Saeti and Shelby have to go to puppy school now,” Ryder said, raising his voice enough to be heard. “Saeti can play with you when they get back.”
Before she could give an opinion about that, Kieran boosted her into the pony cart and picked up Shelby. The moment he was seated, he told the Warlord pulling the cart to go.
“They won’t settle down for Ryder while you’re in sight,” he said, holding Shelby in his lap.
“I’m not sure . . .”
“Did you play with the foals yesterday?”
“Yes.”
“Did you think they would forget?”
“I . . .” She hadn’t considered that an hour of play might get her into trouble.
“As a human adult, or close enough when compared to their age, you have to help Ryder maintain the rules. Otherwise, we’ll have an unruly bunch of youngsters who will be bigger and stronger than a lot of humans can handle by the time they’re old enough to receive their Birthright Jewels.”
“I don’t have to play with them if it will cause trouble.” More trouble.
Kieran just looked at her.
Saetien sighed. There had been foals born at the Hall. Hadn’t there? Maybe she hadn’t paid much attention since she couldn’t ride them? Or maybe she’d just admired them and petted them but somehow hadn’t become a playmate?
“Is there anything I should know about puppy school?” she asked.
“It’s an experience,” Kieran replied.
After an hour of puppy school, Saetien decided that Kieran could have been a little more forthcoming about the “experience” of having that many kindred Scelties in one place. There were human teachers, and adult Scelties who were also teachers. And then there were the other helping hands who were supposed to corral and occupy the fuzz balls who were waiting their turn at a lesson or had finished a lesson.
If she stayed on her feet, the puppies, who had not yet absorbed the necessity of basic manners, scratched at her legs, clamoring to be petted or held or brushed or some combination of those things. If she sat on the floor to accommodate a pile of puppies in her lap, the ones standing behind her grabbed her braid and began an invigorating game of tug. When she’d finally rescued her hair, she stuffed it under her sweater—which, of course, was the hiding game, and the puppies who had learned to air walk clung to her shoulders while they grabbed the part of the braid they could see in order to pull the prize out of its hiding place.
Shelby was delighted with the lessons, delighted with the games, delighted to be around other puppies.
The teachers were delighted to have another human to help with the teaching games—although the female teachers suggested that she put her hair up tomorrow so that it wouldn’t be mistaken for a toy.
Was she really coming back tomorrow?
The pony cart, minus Kieran, waited for her when she walked out of the school.
“Home,” she told the Warlord. “Please.”
Since there were no reins on a vehicle pulled by one of the kindred, she let the Warlord take care of getting them home and closed her eyes. Just for a minute. Surely only a minute. Except the next thing she knew, Kildare was giving her a little shake.
Saetien opened her eyes.
Squeal. Stomp. Small thunder up to the paddock fence.
A handful of foals stared at her.
Kildare helped her down and smiled. “You’ll build up stamina. But if you’re seeing Butler this evening, you might want to have a little sleep after the midday meal.”
“That’s a good idea.”
Remembering that Ryder had promised the foals that she would play with them on her return, Saetien removed her sweater and vanished it as she walked to the paddock, where she would be the only two-legged contestant in the races.
“You said Surreal helped my father escape the guards who were hunting for him,” Saetien said. “What happened to him after that?”