I shrugged innocently. Couldn’t have a wager meant to stop the fae war without a representative from the other side here. “She’s bound by the terms we agreed upon. This is our wager.”
“Very well then. She can start this race.” He jutted his chin at the track. “Don’t make them wait very long.”
“Riders ready?” She called. Two nods answered her. She raised her arm into the air. “Set!” Brie crouched over Lady’s neck, balanced lightly in the saddle. The jockey for the stallion followed suit. A heartbeat later, Flora squeezed the trigger of the starter’s pistol. “Go!”
The horses took off as if the bell had run and the starting gates opened. I gathered my energy and my wits. A race this short would pass quickly, and I didn’t want to push too soon. Lady settled into a nice stalking pace, letting the stallion surge forward. Lady kept to the stallion’s shoulder, never letting him get more than a neck ahead. A dark glow surrounded the horse, the pull of magic unmistakable as the horse pulled half a length and the a length ahead.
Lady drew back within stalking distance. The first quarter set a blazing fast speed, one I feared Lady couldn’t maintain. Then again, neither had the stallion, at least not in regulated racing. Here, now, with his veins pumped full of whatever Cameron’s labs had concocted and with some Unseelie magic to push him down the stretch, I admitted I knew nothing of his capabilities. Workout numbers could, and had been, fabricated.
Halfway through the race and Lady kept the stalking pace, though sweat bloomed on her coat. Flora glanced at me, as if it were solely up to me to keep Cameron’s horse from winning. And maybe it was. As someone who hadn’t been a party to the wager, perhaps her interference was forbidden. Damn fae rules anyway. My blessing remained on Brie and Lady, lending both of them strength and stamina. A touch of luck, perhaps from Tyche, lit their aura with bright green energy. I sent more speed. Just a touch, enough to pull her even.
The stallion’s jockey swung at Brie with his whip. Brie swerved, taking Lady into the next lane, still determined. I longed to smack the jockey with my energy, let him feel the sting of a goddess’ wrath. Interfering with him at least during the race also was forbidden. The horse—a dark malevolence swirled within the creature’s energy, a demon of a beast driving it, pushing it so it ran itself to death-literally. And that’s what Cameron intended. For the horse to get so pumped up with juice and speed to run this race. And then, its heart exhausted, it’d collapse. A sad tragedy in a sport that had too many already.
“No,” I whispered, whirling to face Cameron. “You bastard! How dare you do that to your horse?!” Rage borne on the memories of the horses I’d laid down in their stalls, the people stripped of their souls to work forever in servitude, rose within me. “Run, Lady! Run!” I flung the rage, channeled into speed, toward my girls, and Lady shot to the front. First by a nose, then a head, and then a neck, as she powered ahead of the clearly waning stallion. Whatever they’d done to him hadn’t been enough to overcome the exhaustion from his body.
“You won’t win.” Cameron growled and sickly purple magic whipped from his fingertips to lash the stallion. The horse’s ears pinned flat and it lunged for Lady. Teeth connected, not with horse, but with human, as the stallion clamped down on Brie’s lower leg. She cried out as she pulled Lady out of the way. Blood soaked through her breeches and ran down over her boot. To her credit, she continued riding, pouring on more speed, urging Lady for every ounce of strength, and I fed them more.
I pressed energy against the wound on Brie’s leg, though the pain and blood loss had to be taking its toll. Her face turned into a grimace of sheer guts and determination. The stallion pressed forward, more interested in attacking Brie and Lady now rather than running the race. A side effect of the chemicals or Cameron’s magic?
“Control your horse,” Flora sneered at him. “Is this a race or the gladiator ring?”
I focused on shielding my ladies from the worst of the blows, putting up a wall of magic between them and the stallion. Lady ran neck and neck with the stallion. The brief tussle had taken the speed from both of them. Then, the stallion raced alongside. Ears pinned, teeth bared, the beast stared at Lady as its jockey steered it toward the finish pole.
They couldn’t win.
I drew on my reserves, my hands shaking with the effort it took to push them forward. Flora glanced at me, worry in her eyes. We have to win. Magic sparkled on the ends of my fingers and I reached for the railing. My fingers curled around the plastic-coated board and I struggled to remain upright. Flora nodded and laid her hands alongside mine. She couldn’t interfere with the horses and riders. No one had said anything about lending me strength.
I accepted it, passing it through to Lady and Brie as soon as I could. I leaned forward. Energy swirled around me, and once more the great horses—Seabiscuit, Secretariat, Barbaro, Eight Belles, Mongolian Groom—raced along the track with them. My heartbreak, some driven to loss by human decisions, others living a long life, all lost to us now, rode alongside, and I vowed Lady would not be that kind of a statistic. Tears for the horses found in the barn and tears for the people wet my cheeks. When this was over, I vowed to expose all that Cameron’s company, and in turn the trainers who had used it, had done. But first, we had to win.
The rustling of wings brought my attention to the light posts. On each one sat a
