"I can do it on my own," Circe said, swatting away Ragnar's hand for the second time when he tried to help her mount the horse.
It wasn't as though he hadn't seen her mount a horse by herself before. She was perfectly capable. He was purposely being overbearing. The pond incident had happened over a week ago, and she hated how Ragnar still behaved as though she were some frail, defenseless creature that could be knocked over by a stiff breeze.
Once she adjusted her posture in the saddle, she looked down at him with a glower. Ragnar only responded with an amused, almost teasing smile.
There had been a shift in the way he behaved around her lately, something she could not ignore. Ragnar had always been stubborn, a painful thorn in her side most of the time but lately there was a gentleness beneath it, subtle but constant. She could not make sense of it and what she didn't understand often unsettled her.
