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My face starts to burn. “Then why doesn’t your stallion act the same way?”
“Maybe he’s a gelding. I didn’t check.”
“Or maybe it’s something else,” I mutter. “Did you notice how well Kiaran’s horse behaved at the gates of the town when he went berserk?”
“Took to the fight like a fish to water,” Taj mutters.
“Exactly.”
“So what, it likes fighting and now it’s bored?”
“No, stupid horse, no!” Kiaran pulls on the reins, and his stallion rears back, almost throwing Kiaran off, but Kiaran’s thighs must be like steel, locking against the horse’s sides, and he remains glued to the saddle. His glare could set the next town on fire.
“Speaking of gates…” Taj points.
I narrow my eyes. “There’s a town on the hill. Which one could it be?”
“By my guess, this could be Staton, one of the last stops before Eremis.”
“Last stops?”
“See that smudge in the distance?”
I slit my eyes, Kiaran’s horse dancing back and forth at the edge of my vision. “Yeah?”
“That’s the Summer Capital.”
“We’re so close! Shit!”
“Shit is exactly right,” Taj says grimly. “We need to catch up with the Firebrand Brigade quickly.”
“But then where are they? We’ve been after them for days and not a single sighting.” I press a hand to my middle, wincing. “Oof…”
“How are you faring?” Taj asks. “Looks like the pain is back.”
“I’ll be okay.”
“Ari… you have to tell us how you feel. If your heat starts—”
“You’ll be the first to know.”
“Whoa!” Kiaran’s stallion takes off toward the town. “Stop! Stop, wait!”
“Oh hells,” Taj mutters. “After him!”
With a sigh, I nudge my tired mare into a gallop and we chase after Kiaran and his stupid horse.
By the time the stallion has slowed down and an irate Kiaran has jumped off, holding him by the reins and walking him around to calm him down some more, we’re within sight of the city’s flags and of the people passing through its gates along with carts and carriages and horses and donkeys.
Among them, I see something else that makes me loosen a long breath.
“Are you seeing that, Taj?”
“Army banners,” Taj says, squinting at a group of riders before the town gates. “Holy shit, it could be them!”
“Can you make the banners out?”
“No.”
