Kye rolled his eyes. “So then why—”
“Pah!” Reija shouted, his open palm slamming into Veles’s chest. He turned to Kye. “Where are these rings my brother is willing to trademyhorses for?”
Kye blinked, darting a quick glance at the crowd across the field. He turned his back to the market, fishing out the two rings and the timepiece.
Reija sucked his breath in with a sharp lurch. He lifted the pocket watch, eyes wide as though he were a man starved of food and someone had just offered him a dripping hock of ham. Turning the pocket watch in his fingers, he murmuredsomething in Rivean to his brother. Veles’s eyes flicked back to us, and he answered just as softly. Reija opened the watch, gazing at the diamonds inside. He stared for a moment, then snapped it shut. “This I will trade for Sero and the black mare.”
A flush of excitement sprouted in my chest at the words. Veles snarled his brother’s name, and Reija rounded on him. They began another tirade, and Kye’s mouth flattened into a narrow line. He laid his fingers on Reija’s arm, interrupting. “We need saddles and gear as well.”
“I will give these things to you,” Reija answered, glaring at his brother, fingers curling around the pocket watch, waiting for Kye to agree as he slipped the timepiece into his pocket. Veles gave a low snort, crossing his arms over his chest, but Reija waved Kye back to the stables.
“Don’t climb in there again,” Kye murmured to me, eyes rough with warning. He threw a hesitant glance at the mare, then followed Reija to the pile of dropped tack near the stable door.
The sweet and sudden drums of victory pounded in my ribcage as my eyes found her again. A horse.Myhorse. I’d never owned one. That was, if Kye let me keep her. He’d just spent a small fortune on her, it was entirely possible he’d want his money back after we crossed into Calder.
I’d only just met her, but my heart already ached at the thought. A statue of ebony, her eyes met mine, the only hint of movement in the flick of her ear or swish of her tail.
Beside me, Veles snorted. “Good luck,” he spat. “He’s been working on that horse for six months and was going to sell her for meat at the end of the week. Have you purchased a horse before?”
I abruptly became exhausted of his company. Arms crossed over the paddock fence, I watched the sunlight sparkle over the horse’s back, ignoring him.
Veles clicked his tongue. “I didn’t think so. You’ve never encountered the deception of a horse priced too low. When you are face-down in the dirt after being thrown, remember thatthathorse should have been worth twice what you paid. You can only afford her because she’ll always be wild.”
He strode past the paddock, and I frowned after him. “That timepiece is worth three times what you offered.”
He turned slowly, a ragged smile dripping across his mouth as he leaned on the fence. “In a position such as yours, it’s not your concern how much I will make in selling your things. You need only worry about how much I offer.” His gaze dragged over my face, glossing over my pirate clothes. Too loose, my shirt hung from me, leaving a shoulder open, three missing buttons offering hints of my bare skin. He inclined his head in Kye’s direction. “I couldn’t help but notice he wears a ring, and you do not,” Veles said, taking a small step closer. “Where did he steal you? The slave markets up north?”
I opened my mouth—but the horse whinnied, shrill and loud. Pounding hoofbeats turned both our heads in her direction as she charged at Veles, leaning on the paddock fence. The man’s feet dropped out from under him as he scurried to escape her bared teeth, landing hard on his rump in the dirt. He coughed in the wake of dust, shaking it loose from his velvet jacket, then raised his brows at me, a hand thrust out to indicate his point. "See what I mean? This horse is wild."
I rolled my shoulders and stepped away, leaning against the fence with eyes straight forward. Kye joined me as Veles pulled himself to his feet, scoffing as he patted the dust from himself.
“Are you sure you want her?” Kye asked, not bothering to glance at Veles either as the jeweler stamped back to his own stand. His arm brushed mine, igniting a ripple of warmth over my skin. A flutter brushed the sides of my ribcage as I nodded. Kye blew a short breath, glancing hesitantly at the horse a finaltime, and began stacking supplies over the fence. “Can you saddle her without my help?”
I gnawed on my lip, immediately sensing the true nature of his willingness to agree.Mihauna, what an arrogant man you created. He was testing me, the smug fool. Leaving a way for himself to back out, should the mare not let me ride.
Shoulders set, I climbed through the paddock again, offering soothing words as my feet crossed over the short grass. The dark beauty swished her tail, sunlight dancing off her back. Kye passed me a comb through, silently pointing to the dust and granules of mud that had dried to the sides of her stomach, concentration etched hard between his brows. I brushed slowly, taking extra care with her tail, watching her hind legs for any sign of a stray kick. But the horse stood calm and still, lulled by my touch.
“Alright,” Kye said, unimpressed. “Get her saddle.”
I’d ridden before, but horses had always been saddled for me. From his safe perch outside the paddock gate, Kye observed as I laid a blanket over her back and set her saddle into place over it.
“That’s backwards,” he said.
Backwards? I leaned away to inspect my work, frowning. But the pommel was facing forward.
Kye snickered.
Haughty pride washed over me in radiating waves of heat, and I refused to listen to any other advice he spouted, checking the fit of the girth so it didn’t pinch her. He stiffened, his jaw clenched as I slid the bridle over the mare’s snout and the bit through her jaws to attach my reins. I sent him a testy smile when I finished, hands on my hips.
He raised his brows. “Climb on.”
Determined now, I faced the horse again, a soft hand at the pommel of my saddle. Threading one foot through a stirrup, I swung my other up and over. A grin blazed across my face.
Arms resting against the paddock, Kye simply nodded, grimly accepting his fate.
Reija whistled at me. Having saddled Sero for Kye, the red-haired Rivean passed the reins to him, his eyes bright at the sight of the black horse mounted. “I called herKolibriwhen I first bought her,” he said, aiming the words softly up at me. “It means hummingbird.”
Kolibri. I gazed down, stroking the mare’s black hair. Shewasa hummingbird, her coat iridescent in the sun. Something caught in my throat, hot and raw, burning the backs of my eyes. I smiled at Reija.
