Page 3 of Wind Rider

“Keep looking. It’s notjusta phantom.”

River lifted the crystal, squinting to study it, and her eyes widened. “Oh, Mother Mare! It’s an amethyst phantom! Clayton, I can’t accept this. It’s way too valuable.”

Clayton gently closed her hand around the crystal. “Not to me it isn’t. To me it’s just beautiful. It takes a female Wind Rider of Herd Magenti to wake its secrets.”

“You could trade this for so many things—a whole tent of your own. Seriously, Clayton, take it back.”

“I believe it’s too late for that. You look relaxed—or at least you did before you noticed it was a phantom. It woke for you, didn’t it?”

River couldn’t help herself. She opened her palm and stared at the glistening gift. She could feel the rhythm of her heartbeat echoing through the crystal.

“Well? It’s awake, isn’t it?” he prodded.

“Yes.” She couldn’t take her eyes from the stone. “It’s definitely awake.”

“I knew it! You have more than your mother’s seat. You’re also a Crystal Seer!”

Her gaze snapped up from the crystal. She glanced around them as she told him, “Ssh! We can’t know that for sure unless I’m Chosen by a weanling. You know it would be looked at as pure arrogance if anyone heard either of us say something like that.”

“But it’s the truth—you’re holding the proof in your hand.”

“All I’m holding in my hand is an extremely unusual, powerful crystal that recognized and resonated with my blood.”

“Blood that has a history of producing powerful Seers,” Clayton added. “Do you know what property the amethyst phantom signifies? After I found it I didn’t want to ask anyone. I didn’t know exactly what it was, but I knew it was a phantom and that was enough to make me keep it hidden until I got it to you.”

River’s gaze went back to the crystal, warm and pulsing in her open palm. “The amethyst phantom allows Seers to see the beginnings of each life cycle.”

“Wow. But, uh, what does that mean?”

“It means that this crystal can be used to see what life lessons a person was meant to learn each life cycle, and knowing that, the Seer can help the person understand what he or she was meant to accomplish.” River looked from the crystal into Clayton’s dark eyes. “For instance, if you were depressed—I meanreallydepressed, not just a little sad—a Seer could use this phantom to look at your lives and see what it is that you haven’t accomplished inthislife that your soul is aching for.”

Clayton nodded. “There was a girl in Herd Cinnabar who was like that. So, so sad. She and her mare went over a cliff—purposefully.No one could stop them. No one could help her. Do you mean this crystal could’ve saved her?”

“In the hands of a Crystal Seer, yes, probably. But don’t be too hard on yourself. You didn’t have any way of knowing that.”

“It happened before I found the crystal. But I’m glad I know now, and I’m glad I found the stone and put it in your hands.” Clayton reached out and cupped one of those hands in both of his, rubbing his thumb in a slow, sensual caress across the skin of her wrist. “Use it to help others, Crystal Seer.”

“I’m not a Seer,” she said automatically, though she could feel the crystal echoing her heartbeat.

“Not yet you aren’t. Let’s see what happens later this morning, though. At least it has helped relax you a little.”

“More than a little,” River said. Impulsively she tiptoed, hugged him, and then kissed him softly on his cheek. “Thank you! This is a wonderful gift.”

As she pulled away he caught her face in his hands gently. “River, I thought about you every day I was gone.”

“Every day for six months is a lot of thinking,” she said. “I’m pretty sure you’re exaggerating.”

“I’m not exaggerating and I’m also not kidding around. I’d show you how serious I am if you’d give me the chance.”

Slowly, River stepped back so that Clayton had to stop cupping her face. “Clayton, all I’m thinking about right now is the Choosing.”

“That’s all youeverthink about.”

Her gaze remained steady on his. “You’re right. Becoming a Wind Rider is now, and has been for as long as I have memories, the most important thing in my life.”

“But when you’re Chosen today–”

“If,”she corrected. “No one can predict a Choosing.”