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She’s also heavily in foal. Her udder is full, and I can see little tips of wax on her teats. She’s standing, sleeping, her head low. If I’m not very much mistaken, there’s going to be a golden baby here in a matter of days, if not hours. I’d have to go in and see how slack she is in the back end to know for sure.
Nobody’s around. The officials have found the king, and the stable is quiet. So I open the door and slip inside. She opens her eyes as I step in.
“Hey girl, how are you? What a good girl. Mind if I have a look?”
I smooth my hand over her shoulder and down her back. She stands still, well trained, and perfectly happy for me to inspect her. I imagine that this mare has been handed her whole life, treated like a queen. She seems to have a sweet nature, though at this stage of the proceedings she would probably be calm even if she was usually a raving wreck. Hormones do that to a lady.
I get all the way to the back and have a look. She’s really not very far away at all. Very relaxed. Very soft. Her tail head is drooped.
I’m going to see this foal being born.
The realization sees a flash of pure excitement and joy flashing through me. I’m going to see an alien bred foal in the first minutes of its life. Or I will if I leave her to it. Nobody wants to give birth with a stranger hovering around their hindquarters.
I step outside the stall and retreat to what I hope is a subtle distance. I’ve done this so many times on my own world. Long nights and exhausting days waiting for a baby to come. It was always hard, and it was always my favorite part.
There’s a smile on my face as I perch on the other staple of every horse facility in every part of every world: the hay bale. The grasses are sweet-smelling and lovely golden. The kind of hay we’d kill for on the farm.
I never want to leave this facility. Holy shit. I can imagine riding out from here every day, scouting the plains, working new horses, training young ones. This place is like my dream ranch, everything already in place, nobody, besides the Eponites and their poisoned arrows, to ruin things.
I’m so entranced by the sights and sounds and hell, even the smells of this place, I don’t notice that I’m being come up on, not until a big hand descends on the back of my shirt and grabs me up off the ground.
“What are you? What are you doing here?” The question is hissed in my ear with restrained fury, and if I’m not mistaken, there’s a blade at my neck. Certainly something sharp, anyway. This clown is going to get in so much fucking trouble if he hurts me.
“I’m Blaire.”
“What is a Blaire? Are you an Eponite spy?”
“Do I look like an Eponite spy?”
He turns me around, rotating me in his grip like a Christmas tree ornament.
“You’re short enough to be one.”
This guy is rude as hell and massive. He’s almost bigger than Equs. He might actually be bigger than Equs. His hair is thicker, longer, and more curly, as well as unruly. Instead of dark eyes, he has a splash of blue through both pupils. His pelt is darker and richer. He is a fucking massive monster.
“Who are you?” I return the demanding question.
The beast shakes me, rattling my teeth in my skull. I’ve forgotten that I’m not the center of the universe to every single one of these creatures. This one might tear me limb from limb if I am not careful.
“I’m the stable master who is going to break you into a thousand pieces, you little wretch.”
“Let her go, Vulpes. She’s with me.” Equs’s voice rings out in command. Thank god.
Vulpes drops me. I fall several inches to the ground, landing on my feet, but only just.
“Sorry, Sire. I assumed she was a spy of some kind.”
“That’s because she wandered off on her own,” Equs says, giving me a lifted brow stare. “After I specifically told her not to go too far.”
“How could I not? Look at this place. Look at that mare. She’s amazing.”
* * *
Equs
She’s so happy. For the first time since I’ve known her, she cannot stop smiling.
Vulpes is not well pleased with the intruder in his stable, but he knows better than to question my orders openly. I do not tolerate insubordination from anybody, except the horses, and my human lover.
"This is Blaire. She owns a horse farm on her world.”
“Ah.”
He is unimpressed. That’s because he’s looking at the size of her, and not her heart. He doesn’t know how much fight she’s got in her. And he has absolutely no idea what an incredible horsewoman she is. This girl could outride almost any of my warriors. She’s been caught twice, but that’s because of a stallion who wanted to fight, and a mare she wanted to set free. On her own accord, on the right horse, she’s like the wind.
