Choose the Sky: A Medieval Romance (Swordcross Knights Book 2) by Elizabeth Cole

down the slightly ruffled feathers.
    For no reason she could name, Mina imagined him doing exactly the same thing to her, running a finger down her back, from her shoulder all the way down…Mina fought off a little shiver of anticipation.
    Luc had noticed her staring. “Shall I give her back?”
    “No.” Mina shook her head, hoping to shake the odd thoughts. “That is, you don’t need to. I can see you know how to treat animals well. Not everyone does,” she added, her mood darkening.
    “I’ve seen that sometimes,” he agreed, with a frown. “I’ve no use for anyone who mistreats a creature, no matter what it is.”
    “Would you like to send Brilliant on another flight?” she asked.
    “Perhaps next time, when she’s more familiar with me.”
    Luc lifted his arm to give the bird back to Mina. When their forearms touched, he gave her a wink. “I hope there will be a next time.”
    Mina should have rolled her eyes at the comment, but the truth was, she actually enjoyed his company that day. “Perhaps,” she said, “if the king’s business allows you.”
    He gave her a half-smile. “Yes, that,” he said noncommittally. “We’ll see.”
    Domina called the boys back from their posts, and soon the little party was traveling back to the castle. Luc and Mina rode their horses, Mina bearing her hawk on her arm. The pages ran along behind, one pulling a small cart.
    “Has Haldan settled the matter of the trees?” Luc asked suddenly.
    Mina blinked. “What?”
    “I happened to overhear you say something to the effect of he had business in the trees this morning.”
    Luc’s tone was far too casual, and he couldn’t hide some spark of intense interest. But the remembrance of her order to Haldan made Mina so angry that she ignored Luc’s expression for the moment.
    “Mercy, he better have listened,” she muttered. “I must ride round to the other side of the castle. Excuse me.”
    “I’ll join you,” he said, expertly matching his steed’s pace to hers. Domina didn’t bother to protest. She rode at as quick a pace as she could with Brilliant on her arm.
    The view of the woods brought her up short. “I should have known! He didn’t do it after all.”
    Luc pulled up next to her. “What was he supposed to have done?”
    She pointed to a particular part of the woods, with visibly encroaching trees. “See there? The forest edge is much too close to the castle walls. I’ve been telling Haldan to take men to chop it back at least two hundred paces, though three would be better. He always finds excuses.”
    Luc surveyed the woods for a moment. “It could be a liability,” he agreed.
    “One easily solved,
if
I could find someone reliable to carry out the simplest order.” She forgot to pretend she wasn’t the person giving orders to Haldan. “I’m sick to death of his laziness.”
    “On that matter, I spoke with Haldan yesterday,” Luc said.
    Domina wrinkled her nose at the very thought of Haldan speaking to a better. “He wasn’t churlish, I hope.”
    “Not to me, but tell me more about him.”
    She shrugged. “He’s been here for just over two years, I think. Before that he served another lord in the shire. I can’t remember the name, but surely he’d tell you. Why?”
    “I wondered about his qualifications. He calls himself Sir Haldan.”
    “Another thing I’ve warned him against. He’s no knight, for all that he pretends to be something more than a soldier.”
    “Yet he’s in charge of the castle,” Luc said.
    “He is
not
in charge of the castle,” she said. “I am. That is, until my father returns, when he shall resume the duty,” she added hastily. “Haldan is in charge of the garrison.”
    “Yes, about that. I saw a demonstration yesterday. The garrison is…soft,” Luc said.
    “How so?” Anger flared up in Domina. “You tell me they are inadequate?”
    “Not lazy. But poor to respond to commands, as if they’ve forgotten what they once knew.”
    Her cheeks burned.