Chapter 28: Spring Turns to Winter

Their hearts bloomed as beautifully as the gardens of Count Mikael's manor. Rather than the loneliness Leonor had grown accustomed to, sunshine cleared away the emptiness of her heart. Time became as precious as Valerio told her it was. 

Not one second of Leonor's time lacked a whisper of Valerio. 

She knew the day would come when her father told her she needed to resume her horseback riding lessons. Her mistake of getting lost in a storm and injured needed to be corrected. She could not afford deficiencies. 

Yet she wasn't all that disappointed to have to get into riding clothing and meet her instructor at the stables. She conveniently arrived early and slipped into her horse's stall. Just as the times before, her blue eyes searched elsewhere as her hands tended to her horse.