Why was she there?

Ari buried his head in my neck and nodded. My poor boy.

I turned to the stable master and said, "Be there at my study in half an hour and report what went wrong."

I walked away with Ari without sparing Tatiana another glance. She might have saved my son's life today but I had strong doubts about her instigating the whole thing too. I didn't want to give her the satisfaction of me owing her one if she had anything to do with this.

I went back to the mansion and took Ari to his room. I laid him down on his bed under the covers and got in with him. He had been sobbing lightly with tears running down his face, my heart kept on breaking as I saw his silent tears.

"It's alright, baby! You don't have to go anywhere near a horse again. Mama will be here with you. Nothing is going to happen to you."

"But, mama, I wanted to learn it like uncle Luke. I should not be scared. I am a big boy!" He hit the bed in anger as he ended his sentence. I was failing to understand where was all this disappointment and anger for himself coming from.

"Ari, you might be a big boy to learn certain things but you are not big enough for horse riding yet. What happened today was not your fault. Horses get frightened easily and your horse was frightened that's why he ran away from everyone. Won't you be frightened if someone puts ropes around your mouth?"

He nodded and then looked like he was thinking something so I waited for him to voice his thoughts.

He turned his face to me and asked in a sullen voice, "It really wasn't my fault, mama? I am not a big boy for horse riding?"

"It definitely wasn't your fault, baby. Stop thinking about it. And you might not be big enough to ride a horse now but if you want, you can learn later. Okay?"

"Really?"

"Really."

"Yay!"

"Do you want to go to the kitchen and steal some candy from the chef?"

"Yes!"

Romero, our chef, had a sweet tooth and always kept a stash of candies around the kitchen. Everyone knew about it and the thief that regularly stole from his stash. No one knew it was me and my son who stole it. I saw it as an opportunity to teach my son to be stealthy. Right now though, I just wanted him to smile again. Thankfully, children are fickle minded.

***

The stable master was waiting outside my study when I went back after making sure Ari was fine. I let him in after me and closed the door.

I asked, "What happened?"

"Young master was on the horse and the horse was just trotting around the grounds and one of the men was walking by the side with a grip on the rein. The horse was being directed by the young master still. Suddenly, something spooked the horse and it shook off the grip that the man had on the reins and ran away. The young master remembered to keep a tight grip and bent forward or else he would've fallen as the horse ran away. I asked around but nobody present at the grounds knew why the horse went mad."

"What was Ms.Mathews doing there?"

"She was there before the young master's lesson began. She said she came to admire the horses and then decided to stick around when we began the lesson. As soon as Johnny was spooked, She was the one who took Bianca and rode out after him. She came back with the young master, on Johnny and told us where we could find Bianca. Something dangerous could have happened if she wasn't there."

"Or nothing would've happened", I murmured. I couldn't help but doubt her. Nobody saw how she calmed the horse or saved Ari. Would she dare to harm my son in my house? I will have to interrogate my three year old to know more.

"Pardon, Madam?"

"Nothing", I said while I flicked my wrist. "I am guessing Johnny and Bianca are our horses?"

"Yes, madam. Johnny is Young Master's horse and Bianca is the one Ms. Mathews took to chase Johnny down."

"Hmm... What are the usual reasons for a horse to.. be spooked?"

"Well horses are easily startled by change. Sudden change around them in what they hear, see or feel spooks them. Some get startled by seeing a particular color, or when strong wind starts to blow or when the horse is in pain and some get startled even when you open an umbrella around them. Each horse is still peculiar and they get spooked by random things apart from general reasons..."

"Okay, stop. What spooked Ari's horse? Did you check if the horse was in pain?"

That was the only way she could have controlled it. All the other reasons were something you can't control or something one can't carry out in hiding.

"Yes madam. We did. But we couldn't find anything that would cause it pain."

Right as he finished, my phone rang. It was Miraj calling. I told the stable master to leave for now and picked up the call.