The mare swung her head in my direction, nostrils flared. She gave a solid huff, sending warmth across my face. Lifting a hoof to stamp the dirt, she froze, eyes locked into mine. Her heaving chest slowed; her tail stilled. She gazed at me, calmly rigid, her eyes wide.
A motion blurred at my side, and the horse gave a squeal. She lunged forward, snapping her flat teeth in my direction, and peeled away. A rust-haired man leaned against the paddock beside me.
A friendlier-looking version of his brother, Reija’s teeth sat bright and clean in his mouth, his russet locks tamed in thick curls over the dome of his head. He stared at the horse’s receding back and chuckled, the sound like a soft crack in my ear. “Every decade or so, I get one wild as the sea. All good horses give a fight, but some can never be mastered.” His accent vibrated in my ears, thicker than Veles’s, his cadence almost too heavy to follow. Kye slid in between us, casually leaning his forearms onthe paddock’s edge, and Reija’s attention shifted to him. “I hear you're in need of a mount.”
“Two,” Kye answered. My gaze returned to the black mare. Across the paddock, she’d stopped under a patch of thick sunshine to watch us, her hide glistening like ripples of cool water.
Reija motioned for us to follow.
Five horses seemed a poor variety for a market this large, but Kye favored the temperament of a dust-colored mare for me. The dun horse gazed at me with eyes that seemed wise and old, a patient, thoughtful energy flowing from her. The natural choice for a novice rider.
But I couldn’t help glancing over my shoulder at the black horse with hair like streaming water. Kye caught my stares. Standing beside me as we inspected Kye’s choice—a youthful gray fellow with hair just beginning to dapple in white spots—he leaned into my ear. “We can’t break a wild horse on the road, Leihani.”
I nodded, though I couldn’t tear my eyes away. His gaze remained on me a moment longer, soft and considering, but he turned to Reija. “I’d like to ride them first. Do you have saddles we could use?”
Reija nodded, motioning for Kye to follow him to the nearby stables. Veles trailed behind, joining the two of them at the door, a smugness between his brows. The brothers disappeared just inside, Kye remained in the open doorway, one eye loosely trained on me.
I stroked the neck of Kye’s gray horse. Sero was his name, Reija had said. He nipped playfully at my sleeve, his head drooped low over my shoulder. I scratched him absently with the pads of my fingers.
Across the paddock, the wild horse faced me at an angle. Long legs slanted, neck outstretched, her narrow muzzle tilted towardthe ground as she stared from under her lashes. I felt that shiver once more, trickling down my back. Something about the horse called to me, like the whisper of a voice I once knew.
Before I could stop myself, my legs slipped through the boards of the fence. Sero whinnied at my back, dismayed I’d stopped stroking him. Blades of grass slid past my ankles, hardened soil shifting beneath my toes.
The horse was suddenly a Naiad, and I was avacous, caught in a lure that broke away time and sense. My feet glided forward, my body no longer mine. The horse didn’t move, but a lure pulled at my middle, guiding me to the center of the paddock.
Somewhere in the distance, Kye’s voice called for me. I heard it, even as everything else fell away. Heard the demand in his tone, the sudden urgency. But I didn’t look back.
I had the strangest desire to sing.
So, I did.
15
Maren
The horse stared.
She hadn’t moved since I’d entered the paddock.
But I caught the small changes in her body. Her muscles slackened, the lines of her face softened, her wide eyes relaxed. She exhaled as slowly as a human might, her tail offering the briefest swish as though asking for the song again.
I sang just as quietly as I had the first time. Somewhere, in the corners of cognition, I became aware that the whole market had gone still. The buzz of voices from the square silenced, every face turned my way in rigid curiosity.
The horse’s ears flicked toward me. Her head lowered gracefully, bowing, and I followed, bending slowly at the waist. We straightened, and the mare nickered.
She stepped forward, hooves nimble in the grass. Her breath swept warmth against the back of my hand as she slid her nose into my palm. She smelled my other hand as well, searching for a treat. I had nothing to give her, so I gently grazed the creature’s long neck with quiet fingers until the urge that had lured me in here shrank away, satisfied. I cast a glance behindme. At the paddock edge, Reija and Veles watched with differing expressions of shock. Kye’s face had gone carefully blank, his arms crossed, eyes glitteringly hard on mine. With a final stroke against her fur, I stepped away from the horse, turning to walk back to the fence I’d climbed through. Hooves swished in the grass just behind my heels.
I squeezed back through the boards at Kye’s side. He met me with an expression I couldn’t read, but the two merchants gaped.
Reija recovered first. “Two thousandúcet.”
Kye released a short burst of air. “We’re not buying that horse.”
“But youmust,” Reija said, almost pleadingly. Kye raised a brow at him, but the man directed his words at me. His eyes glistened, and he clasped his hands together over his chest.
Veles snapped at him in Rivean, and the two brothers launched into an argument. As they flung their arms and hands, Kye’s eyes lifted to scan the market, its people beginning to return to their shopping. “We can’t affordthathorse and anotherone as well on top of supplies.”
“I know,” I said, the rush of heat brightening my cheeks. Half of the market continued watching us, and I wondered whether the black horse had earned itself a reputation here in Vranna.
