Zosina went outside into the yard.
She wanted to breathe the fresh air and it was an effort to speak, even to give her orders to the groom.
In a surprisingly short time Samu was brought out to her and from elsewhere in the yard a groom appeared on another stallion by no means as magnificent or, Zosina was sure, as fast.
The old groom helped her into the saddle.
“Your Royal Highness will remember,” he said, “that Samu is the fastest horse in the stable. He belongs to His Royal Highness the Regent and he says that he has never owned such a horse in his life.”
Zosina thought she might have guessed that the Regent would have found a horse to which she had been drawn instinctively.
She did not reply to the groom, she merely moved forward, aware that Niki on the other horse was following h
