Page 17 of Queen of War and Ruin

“We get through the toll,” she mutters through gritted teeth.

I follow her in silence. The road curves, and the forest opens up to reveal a squat, dark building on the other side of a small meadow. Above the building, a massive flag flying the blue and scarlet of Vsenrog sits limp in the afternoon sun.

The stallion whinnies behind us, high-pitched and brokenhearted. Lilias’s mare prances to the side with her tail raised.

“Maybe we shouldn’t stand in the way of true love,” I suggest.

Lilias glares at me. Her mare snorts and presses her ears back, and a man’s voice calls something from down the road. I turn to see two armed guards approaching us from the toll station.

Shit. I pull my horse back, falling in behind the carts. Toth struts out to meet the guards, ignoring the frantic stallion behind him. I watch the men from Vsenrog carefully as they approach.

Oh, godsdamnit.

Yves and Gell. I know both of them.

Worse, they know me. They used to be stationed at the palace, both of these assholes. We played cards together. Or we used to play cards, until Yves accused me of cheating. I was cheating, of course, but I didn’t think they were smart enough to notice. I wonder how badly these assholes fucked up at the palace to get stationed out here, and I pull my cloak up and over my head.

“Dismount for inspection,” Yves barks as he approaches the caravan.

I slide off my horse, and Lilias does the same. I stare at the ground, watching Yves out of the corner of my eye. Lilias’s mare raises her tail again. The stallion snorts frantically, his cock huge and heavy between his hind legs. The guards watch him and snicker. I catch something that sounds like hung like me, and then the guards pull the canvas off the first cart.

That cart obviously has a false bottom. It’s half loaded with broken crates, which is bullshit even if you don’t know anything about trading. Toth waves his arm over the cart with its broken crate cargo, then shakes Yves’s hand. He doesn’t even try to hide the fact that he’s pressing coins into his palm. Yves shakes his head. Toth does it again. More coins.

“Well, this looks good,” Yves declares.

He moves toward the second cart, the one tethered to the lovesick stallion.

And all the nine hells break loose.

The stallion rears. The rope holding him to the cart snaps. The stallion backs up, snorting and shaking his head like he’s trying to understand what just happened.

And then it hits him. Freedom.

He bolts toward Lilias’s mare. Lilias drops her mare’s lead rope and steps back. The stallion circles the mare, smacking his lips and snorting. The mare raises her tail and lowers her hind end in a way that can only be described as seductive.

“Holy hells, look at the balls on him,” Gell snickers.

“I could fuck your wife with that cock,” Yves replies, punching Gell on the shoulder.

The stallion circles the mare a second time, nipping at her flanks.

And then he’s on her. He jumps on her back, ignoring the saddle she’s still wearing, and begins thrusting desperately against her hind end. The mare stands motionless, looking vaguely bored as the stallion pants and grunts above her.

Moments later, he collapses on top of her, his legs sprawled out to either side, his neck draped over her back.

“That’s it?” Yves snorts, smacking his friend on the arm. “Hells, he’s even faster than you!”

“He’ll have to fuck her again,” Gell replies. “She blinked and missed it!”

Both of the guards start laughing like they’re about to bust a gut.

“That’s my foal!” Toth suddenly screams, waving his hands at Lilias’s mare and the stallion still draped over her back, his sides heaving as he pants for breath. “That’s my stallion, that’s my foal!”

“Fucking gods,” Yves snorts. “He’s not even off her yet.”

“Oh, he’s off,” Gell replies. “He’s definitely off.”

They both explode into laughter again. Most of the smugglers join in this time. Toth stares at us, red-faced and furious.