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Karege, Tuura, and Hoyefe had already claimed three other horses. Kella rubbed Tilili’s cheek. “I may have no need of a set of hooves myself, but you have my thanks for bringing my Ashes’ mounts to them.”
There was one horse left. She looked as if she’d danced through a wagon load of cinnamon and emerged with dusted legs, mane, and tail and little spots all over her white body. Unlike the massive Warmbloods bred for tall Hesperines, she was as petite as a woman’s palfrey, but too spirited to be a lady’s horse, judging by the cross look in her eye.
Lio rested a hand on Moonflower’s shoulder. “As much as I enjoy you riding double with me, that mare looks like the right size for you.”
“I’m not sure I can handle her,” Cassia said, “but I dare hope that little rebel is for me.”
“She is,” Nike replied. “Mother has been saving her for someone who’s a match for her.”
“I’ll do my best. I’m afraid my only experience is sitting like a display piece on the back of docile creatures.” Usually while riding beside Flavian, unfortunately.
And Lio knew it. His tone perfectly innocent, he said, “You do very well on our rides. You have an excellent seat.”
She tried not to blush, thinking of how their wild rides on Moonflower usually took them to a secluded place for an entirely different sort of ride.
“A woman needs her own horse,” Nike said firmly. “First, let her sniff you. Then, once she’s had a chance to smell who you are, get acquainted by blowing in each other's nostrils.”
Sniff. Share breath. Cassia could do this. She was excellent with dogs. She could learn the ways of horses, too.
Cassia held out her hand. The mare put her ears back and snorted.
“Not so easily impressed, are you?” Cassia mused.
“She’s self-reliant,” Nike said.
“I can understand that.” Cassia met the mare’s gaze. Her eyes were startling. Rather than the solid brown eyes of most horses, she had white irises like a human.
Cassia reached for the feeling she had when she was speaking the training tongue to Knight. A moment of connection, when it seemed as if he might speak right back to her. “I’m looking for a horse who isn’t intimidated by evil kings and necromancers. You seem like just the one.”
The mare twitched her tail, then stretched out her neck and gave Cassia’s hand a sniff.
Cassia leaned forward. A little more. She blew gently in the mare’s nose. Her nostrils flared, and she puffed back. Her breaths warmed Cassia outside and in.
“I’m Cassia,” she said. “Who are you?”
“Celeris’s baby,” Nike answered.
“Celeris?” Solia asked. “Isn’t she the founding mare of the Orthros Warmblood breed?”
Nike nodded. “My mother’s familiar, who carried her across Tenebra to evacuate Hesperite villages during the Last War. Mother doesn’t breed her anymore, but Celeris has a mind of her own. When Mother secured breeding rights to an Imperial stud with rare red leopard markings, she was planning to pair him with one of the warhorses. Imagine her surprise when she realized Celeris was in foal. When this filly dropped, it was obvious who her papa was. It’s no secret she can get in and out of any gate she pleases, but she really pulled the veil over our eyes that time.”
Cassia gasped at the mare and covered her mouth. “Why, you are the lovechild of a forbidden tryst. How delightful.”
Nike gestured to Knight. “Let’s see how well she tolerates a liegehound.”
With a hand on the mare’s neck, Nike led her away from the other horses. Cassia called Knight over. At the sight of a liegehound racing toward her, the spotted mare merely looked bored.
“Not afraid of liegehounds,” Lio said with approval. “A necessary skill for anyone who intends to be part of your life.”
Cassia slid her fingers through the mare’s mane. Knight nudged his head under her other hand, jealous for pets. She hugged him against her. The three of them might make a fine company…except… “I’m not much of a horsewoman.”
“Good,” was Solia’s unexpected response. “It will be easier for you to unlearn Tenebran riding and adopt Imperial or Hesperine styles.”
Cassia started to protest that the daughter of Celeris was too special a steed for someone like her, but then stopped herself.
She was Cassia Komnena. She needed a truly Hesperine horse for her own.
“I love her,” she confessed. “Does she have a name?”
