Page 30 of My Trojan Horse Majesty

“I’ll ask again, since you appear to be disinclined to answer. What business do you have at the jail?”

“Well, for one, Tim’s going to be royally ticked that I don’t have his bail money yet.”

“It’s not reasonable for a criminal like him to expect you to clean up his messes.”

She sighs. “Well, that’s another thing I want to ask him about. Until today, I hadn’t even considered that he might be guilty of what he’s accused of doing.” Her shoulders slump. “He’s not the kind of person who would ever need to break the law. He’s got everything going for him—” She shakes her head. “It doesn’t matter. I need to ask him about something I saw, and he’s going to be really upset when I do.”

“I’m already upset,” I say. “I don’t think you should go. Don’t give that man another moment of your time.”

“You sound like Paige.”

“Paige is clearly both intelligent and wise,” I say. “Who is she?”

“My best friend.” She grabs the rolling chair, yanks it over, and sits down. “Or, you know, she was. I don’t see her that often anymore. She hates Tim, and no matter what I said, she wouldn’t change her mind about it.”

“Okay, so we’ve decided. You won’t go to the jail. We’ll stay here.”

She stands. “No, we haven’t decided that at all. You can’t just tell me someone’s bad—just because you think it, or Paige thinks it—and expect that to be that. This is an important person to me, and I never let people in my life down. No matter what questions I may have, that’s not who I am.”

She’s magnificent.

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a woman stand up for a terrible guy quite so vehemently. “Alright.”

“Alright?” She blinks. “Alright, what?”

“You want this man to be released from jail, and you require a hundred thousand dollars to do it. Yes?”

She nods.

“I’ll pay the bail for his release, and then you can confirm that he’s not worth your time. After that, I’ll kill him so you can focus on me.”

She laughs. “Sure. You’ll kill him.”

“But I need to go by a bank first.”

“Wait.” She peers at me. “Why aren’t you laughing? It’s a joke, right, the killing thing?”

I force a smile. “Sure. It was a joke.”

She stares at me for a long moment before deciding it must have been. “I can’t possibly let you pay for his bail, but I can call the Russian Embassy for you. I’m assuming you lost your phone in the ‘stuck-as-a-horse’ debacle. The media hasn’t mentioned that you’re missing, but you’re either a crazy impersonator, or you’re really their new czar.” Her brow furrows. “At least if the Russian embassy comes and picks you up, my parents don’t ever need to know I stole a horse from them.” She still looks sad, though.

“I’m serious about the money,” I say. “It’s nothing to me, and then you can stop scrounging around, trying to sell your meager belongings or earn the money in other ways.”

“You hate him even though you haven’t met him.”

“You work with horses a lot, right?”

She frowns, but then she nods.

“Have you ever watched someone having a problem on a horse, and it’s been plain to you exactly what’s wrong?” I wait. “Maybe they have no idea what’s going on, or they’re blaming the horse, but you can see what’s happening, and it’s their error?”

“Are you saying I’m an idiot? That even a stolen horse-man can see that my boyfriend’s a jerk, but I can’t?” She scowls. “Because?—”

I lower my voice until she can barely hear it. “Yousaid he was like the sun and you’re the moon.”

Her eyes widen and she rolls several feet away from me. “I—I wasn’t—you were a horse when I said all that.”

I step closer, almost stalking her now. “You said you were the moon, but I think that’s wrong. I think you have no idea how brightly you could shine if he wasn’t actively dimming your light. I’ve known enough men like him that I don’t even have to meet him. Hearing your conversation on the phone was enough.”

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