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Her face lit like a struck match, and I had to turn aside to hide my smile.
“Everence mentioned an upcoming race. She said you hadn’t planned to enter Espera.” She pinched her lips, then added, “I would love to see him run.”
I grasped the saddle and stared into the dark woods. “Some races are not worth my time, or his.” I swung into the saddle.
“Would you enter it anyway? For me?”
Espera spun in an impatient circle, saving me from having to look directly at her. Bold of her to ask such a thing, when she knew so little of our world. And yet, when I finally did meet her expectant eyes, I couldn’t help but want to grant her request. Instead of answering, I said, “Tomorrow, you will meet Javier, the head trainer.”
I held Talia’s gaze longer than I should have, then kicked Espera into a gallop.
17
Talia
“Catch him,” I whispered over thundering hooves, smiling at the simple pleasure of racing again.
I leaned into the canter, which quickly became a gallop, as I left the woods with Rafael riding just ahead of me. I urged Alegria faster, smirking as we rode past Rafael and his prized stallion.
He cocked a half grin at me and whispered to his horse. In two strides, they were back in the lead, but I wasn’t about to let him win so easily. Every horse had more speed…if you knew how to ask. So I tried Rafael’s method and simply spoke to her.
The horse responded, shifting into what was surely her fastest speed. There was a subtle difference in the way it felt sitting atop a horse running fast and a horse racing to win.
My shrill, delighted laugh stole Rafael’s attention as we pulled up beside him once again. His fierce eyes flashed with mischief—and I nearly swooned out of my saddle. By the time I recovered, he was a length ahead, and stars above, his horse’s hooves were throwing sparks.
My gaping jaw snapped shut, and I bit my tongue. The pain dissolved as I watched tiny fires exploding along the ground with each hoofbeat. The horse was soon so far ahead, all I could see were orange flashes, like fireworks dancing down the path.
He rode all the way past the house without stopping and disappeared from view. Disappointed that he’d left me alone—again—I slowed Alegria and walked her past the front of the house. I stared in wonder at the great edifice. My house. I hadn’t yet seen the front from this distance, where I could take it all in at once.
The house sprawled rather than loomed, its pale gray walls reaching outward so far it seemed as if I were riding straight into its stony embrace. The front was half-covered in untrimmed ivy which drooped carelessly in some places and, in others, reached with greedy fingers toward unclaimed spaces. The windows in the entryway were dark and unwelcoming, as if the occupants were entirely at ease among themselves and wished for no one to intrude.
* * *
The following morning, I walked with a decided bounce in my step all the way to the stables. When I entered the shaded space, I breathed deeply.
Sunlight peeked through the branches, which waved slightly in a gentle breeze. Rafael seemed to have an aversion to ceilings. I wondered what happened when it rained, or if magic kept this place dry.
Several horses slept in their stalls. Others glanced up at me. Espera was back in his stall, resting.
“He said he was dangerous,” I whispered to the stallion, “but you aren’t afraid of him, are you?” Espera’s black eye stared at me. “That was impressive last night.”
At the end of the aisle, movement caught my eye. I spotted a familiar face and frowned. Hector strolled lazily toward me.
“Good morning.”
“Where’s Rafael?”
“Unavailable.”
I pinched my lips and turned back to stare angrily at Espera. “For how long?”
“You do realize our experience with time is quite different from yours? To us, a month is nothing. A year, even. We barely note its passing.”
Excellent. I changed the subject. “He told me I can assist in training the horses.” I would not become one of the idle rich, sitting alone with a paintbrush in my unskilled hand or practicing the piano forte.
Hector clapped once. “Indeed.” His tone was sharp, but his expression bordered on approval. “You are rather confident for a woman of your breeding.”
Breeding? Did he think me a horse?
