In Honor Bound Read Online Free PDF Page A

apologize for it. It ill suits the son of Lynaleigh's king to make such common display before the court, and I crave your pardon."
    "Bravely spoken," Robert said, clasping his shoulder. "We were both of us too hot in speaking last night. Let us say no more of it and it will soon be forgotten. I have perhaps pushed too hard in this matter of marriages. You shall have until spring as I promised."
    "I shall?" A smile broke thorough Philip's incredulity. "Tell me what service I may do you now to prove my obedience."
    Robert ruffled his son's thick hair. "Go to your brothers, tell them to put on their royal white. We are to make procession through the streets this afternoon in further celebration of my reign. The lord mayor has asked it at the people's request, and I can grant them no less. Show bravely for Afton today, and I can wish no more."
    "I will!"
    At the appointed time, Philip and his brothers met in the courtyard, dressed as their father had requested. Their horses were also decked in the immaculate luster of the royal white, ready for them to mount. Beside them, the king's groomsman was calming a skittish Barbary roan, one the princes had never before seen.
    "Whose horse is that, Hawkins?" Richard asked, impressed by the beast's fiery temper.
    "His Majesty's, my lord. A gift from the lord mayor."
    Richard held out his hand. "Let me try him."
    "I cannot, my lord. Not until His Majesty says I might."
    Richard frowned, and Philip tried to stroke the roan's nose.
    "Have a care!" Hawkins warned as the horse snapped at him. "He's hardly tamed."
    "Father will let me ride him," Philip said lightly. "I shall see he is gentled down."
    Tom laid his hand on the roan's flank and was nearly kicked for it. "Best have a care, Philip. This one will throw you, like as not."
    "Nonsense. I've never been thrown yet."
    "Not true," Richard said, laughing. "I remember once you walked home bloodied and bruised because old Samson had tossed you off in the forest."
    "He did not!"
    "He did." Richard looked to Tom and John for confirmation. "You were no more than twelve, as I remember, but I thought it odd that you'd been thrown. You never had been before and not since."
    "I remember that day," John said before Philip could protest again. "You must have fallen hard, you were so battered."
    Tom laughed. "You were so mortified, you'd not even speak when Nathaniel was searching you over for broken bones."
    "Odd I'd not remember it," Philip said with a puzzled grin, "but it'll not likely happen again." He swung up onto his horse, a long-legged black, and patted his silken mane. "Not likely, my Alethia."
    "This one is not so fierce as Hawkins says," John said, feeding the roan a handful of fresh straw. The horse showed no hint of skittishness.
    "What's this, boys?" the king asked when he came into the courtyard with his dazzling queen on his arm, both of them also in white.
    "A gift from the lord mayor, Father," Richard said eagerly. "May I ride him?"
    "Sometime. Today, I shall."
    "You ought not, Your Majesty, pardon me," Hawkins said. "He is very skittish."
    "Do you let me decide on that, Hawkins. Give me the reins, man."
    Hawkins obeyed, and soon the king was in the saddle, the roan's only protest a whinny and a little pawing of the ground. Robert smiled.
    "There. No need to fear now. Come, let us go among the people. I would have the lord mayor see how fitting his gift is for a king."
    Hawkins helped the queen up onto her palfrey and, bowing, handed her the reins.
    "But where is your lady, Richard?" she asked.
    Richard's mouth turned down in annoyance. "She asks your pardon, madame, and yours, Father, but she is ill with the coming child and cannot ride today."
    "They say that happens often," Elaine said gaily, "though I have not found it so. Not once in four times."
    "Have patience, Richard," Robert advised, smiling upon his own wife. "You will find yourself well rewarded the first time you hold your heir. Let your lady have her rest now. You mustn't