“And what of a wife and children to sharethis dream with?”Anya teased.
Aleksi made a show of taking in the maidservants bustling about.“Is there an especially pleasing, easytempered, hard-working maid servant you care to recommend?”
Anya laughed.“I am no matchmaker.Besides, Iwould have sworn you already had your eye on a certainprincess.”
“I am done with princesses,” Aleksi scoffed.“Spoilt, selfish creatures, every last one of them who care notwhat a man truly is, only that he be a prince.”
“Be careful of your words, Aleksandr, for youand I both know that is not true and speaks somewhat of souredhopes.”
Aleksi shrugged.
“However,” Anya lowered her voice, “thepalace gossip says that Yago the Wolf has not only been keepingcompany with Princess Sahar, but with your half-sister, PrincessAnastasia, as well.I would be careful if I were you.”
“Don’t worry about me,” he said, making lightof the matter, though Anastasia was easily as vindictive as hermother, Queen Theodesia.“I sleep with one eye open.”
“Princess Sahar says you sleep with Kiskatucked under your chin.”
“Does she now?”Aleksi spied Sahar hoveringat the door to the kitchens.
He grinned and winked at a pretty servingmaid who had been trying to catch his attention since he sat downwith Anya.The maid’s plump cheeks reddened as her high-pitchedgiggle filled the kitchen.Sahar’s glare could have frozen ice asshe stiffened and spun on her heels, giving him her back yet again,a not altogether unwelcome view.
“Easy Lasair, easy.”Sahar patted the mare’sarched neck.“We’ll be off and running soon enough.”
The riders were lined up and waiting for thesignal to start the race, the horses dancing and shaking theirheads against their tight reins, eager to be given their heads.Yesterday had been a day of rest for both the horses and theirriders in preparation for today, though for Sahar it had been a dayof poor rest and a restless night.
After breaking her fast and tending toLasair, she had spent the better part of yesterday morning pacingher bed chambers trying to contain her thoughts and put them tosome kind of order.She should have been concentrating on therace’s course, but her mind kept wandering to Aleksandr and Yago,to all of the words spoken between herself and them, fromAleksandr’s bold marriage proposal and his heated kiss to Yago’scool, dry lips on her hand after his apology, which had only servedto revive the awful memory of Ommar.
She wanted to believe Yago sincere almost asmuch as she wanted to believe Aleksandr a brutish oaf who hadkissed her with as little forethought as he had knocked out Yago.But try as she might, she couldn’t rid herself of a nigglingfeeling in her gut that told her there was more to both of themthan either was letting on.It angered her to no end that they hadtaken over her thoughts.She had meant what she said about neitherwanting nor needing a husband, or a man.
Unable to rest in the confines of herbedchambers, she had strolled through the palace garden and thenreturned to the stables, where she had brushed Lasair ‘til themare’s coat shone like polished rubies, then she combed and braidedLasair’s mane in an intricate pattern laced with gardenia buds andflowers in full, fragrant bloom.After, she’d lain down on Ratter’scot and had fallen asleep only to wake with Kiska snuggled underher chin, and the sun setting.She’d a vague memory of warm lips onher forehead and a low, deep voice whispering soothing endearmentsinto her ear.When she returned Kiska to her box, Aleksandr wasn’tthere.
Now, she glanced down the line at Aleksandr,his corded forearm holding his dancing stallion’s reins close, hissun-bleached hair falling over his forehead as he leaned into thehorse’s neck and whispered into the golden stallion’s ear, whichtwitched back and forth as the steed snorted and pawed at theground.He turned his head and caught her watching him and gave herthat cocksure grin that made her grind her teeth and her belly floplike a fish caught on dry land.
On the far side of the line, Yago yanked onTor’s reins as the black stallion reared and struck out at thehorse beside him.
“Control your mounts,” Brawn called outloudly.Yago brought Tor to earth, and then pulled a riding whipfrom the side of his saddle.
Her father, whose own father had beenrenowned for the cruelness of his whip hand, glowered at the whipin Yago’s, and then he raised his banner and held it high for along, interminable moment before swinging it down with a greatswoosh.Sahar gave Lasair a quick squeeze of her knees and the mareleapt forward.
Though tall and leggy and deep chested,Lasair was not as large as most stallions, but she was faster,especially for the first ten paces when speed mattered more thanpower.She was a good three paces ahead of the others and holdingher lead as first Zolotoy, then Tor, and then Munir’s sorrelgelding, Kedar, charged out from the cloud of dust that was the mobof horses and riders behind them.
Sahar kept Lasair to an easy gallop, stayingahead of the crowd as they raced past a field of drying sunflowers.She knew her mare, and she knew Lasair could keep the same pace forthe entire three leagues, the only thing she did not know was howhard and fast a pace the others could keep up.She would soon findout.
They approached the river crossing and Saharslowed Lasair to a trot, eyeing the swift moving water withtrepidation.She had crossed it without incident in the twopractice runs, but she had had Brawn by her side then.Now…
“Hold on.”
She heard Aleksandr’s warning at the sametime she heard the slap on Lasair’s rump and the mare jumpedforward into the river.She hugged Lasair’s sides tight and grippedher mane as they splashed into water that instantly rose up to themare’s belly.When she could take a full breath again, she realizedthat Aleksandr was keeping Zolotoy at Lasair’s downriver side ather pace.The cursed stallion could swim almost as well as he ranand could easily have taken the lead.
“Nice day for a swim.”Aleksandr was grinningfrom ear to ear.
“If you like swimming,” Sahar grit out, herteeth as clenched as her fists.
“What is there to not like about a swim in acool, refreshing river on a hot, autumn day?”
“Soggy boots and chafed thighs.”
Aleksandr’s laugh turned into a scowl, andshe followed his glare over her shoulder to see Yago and the Jackalmaking headway and passing them.She fully expected Aleksandr toleave her and surge ahead, but he stayed by her side, teasing herabout how poorly tigresses swam until they reached the farshore.
