Page 52 of Rainshadow

Flora had never heard a horse scream, but, like a rabbit, they can make a terrible, high pitched shrieking noise, prey animals until the end. The horse’s cannon bone, Flora was sure, had broken, a horrible, deadly injury. Kentucky Derby horses had been euthanized on the track for cannon breaks, then buried on the field.

In the woods, beside the dark little ravine cut into the earth, the crouched figure of Sylvia reminded Flora of a gnome or a golem. She looked down on Sylvia, sobbing, screaming, running her hands over Mithras’s long, straining neck, and felt nothing.

Sylvia turned and saw her. “Flora!” she gasped. “Oh my god. Go back to the house and call Doctor Stevens! His number is on the first page of the black book next to the phone!”

Flora, pulling tight on Mars’s reins, only stared at Sylvia.

“Flora, please. Please, this horse can live. We can help him. Go call Doctor Stevens?—”

“Sylvia—”

“Listen to me,” Sylvia cried. “Life is long. You can get all the things you want, the things you only think you can have if?—”

“Ok,” Flora said. “Ok, Sylvia. I’ll call Doctor Stevens.”

Sylvia visibly relaxed, closed her eyes, and let her shoulders drop. “Thank you,” she said. “We can figure out what to do next tomorrow. Thank you.”

She turned and put her hands back on her horse, trying to soothe him, trying to calm him. Flora slipped silently from Mars’s back, then slapped him hard on the rump, sending him running off toward Rainshadow, his hoofbeats like a drum.

“Shh, shh,” Sylvia said, bending down over her horse.

Flora knelt down silently and picked up a smooth, heavy rock.

26

Flora staggered from the wood in a swimming, dreamy daze.

On the edge of the wood stood a familiar form, solid and tall, beckoning and beautiful.

“Ethan,” Flora cried.

He looked at her, and his nostrils flared. She looked down and realized she was covered in blood.

“The queen is dead,” said Ethan. “Long live the queen.”

She collapsed into his arms, and finally let go of herself as he caught her.

He brought her back into the house, into Rainshadow, carrying her like a bride over a threshold. He took her to the bathroom in Sylvia’s old bedroom, where the smell of sickness still lingered. As he filled the tub for her, helped her into it, and bathed her, she thought of how, in the morning, she would open the windows, let in air.

Ethan cleaned her body so tenderly, it was as though he were preparing her for something. For himself, Flora thought dreamily, smiling and letting his strong, cool hands move over her in the hot water. She wanted to belong to him, wanted him topossess and care for her. She opened her eyes and looked up at him. He gazed down at her, mouth open, and she saw his sharp white teeth. His eyes were shining and he seemed to be panting.

“Are you ok?”

He looked at her and blinked. “I’m just excited.”

“What’s going to happen now?”

Ethan shrugged. “We will go on with life. I’ll give you access to the accounts, so you can buy anything you need.”

“I can’t wait to replace the furniture,” she said, letting Ethan wash her hair.

He looked at her, surprised. “I chose the furniture,” he said. “I choose the furniture, Sylvia’s clothes. I choose everything. She just bought it.”

“Oh,” Flora said, relaxing back into the water and telling herself that it wasn’t that big of a deal. She didn’t really care about furniture.

“You can buy what you need for the horses, that sort of thing.”

Flora reflected that she didn’t even like the horses that much. All she cared about was Rainshadow, and it was hers now. She would never have to leave. She closed her eyes again as Ethan rinsed her hair with a hose attachment.

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