Page 108 of Iron Unicorn

I shrugged. “The vet said the owner was an idiot, and the owners set the buyout prices when they’re dumped like that. If the owner didn’t want a higher value, the owner wouldn’t have set a buyout price. I got all mine at buyout. Olivia hates money and went in for auctions.”

“The ones I bought did not have buyout prices,” she informed me with a sniff. “Otherwise, my princes and princesses would have been bought at buyout.”

“Some owners are smarter than others, and the owners of those weanlings were the smarter ones.” Wes introduced himself to the grullo, and within minutes, she’d charmed him. “I’ll pay good money for a breeding, Terry. I want her in my lines.”

“From Willow?”

“I’d pay extra for a breeding with Willow.”

“Sure. Get me a line on a recip mare. I won’t be having this little lady carrying often, as I’d like her for one of my work horses. But I’m more than happy to work with some recip mares so you can have some foals. One of my new RPS horses is intact, and he might make a good future stud. How many of Willow’s boys are studding for you?”

“We’ve got three good stallions out of his breedings, but they’re not at our farm. They’re working the show circuits and helping Willow become even more of a legend. Most of Willow’s foals are working in the RPS, so we don’t breed as often as we’d like or should. We also don’t want to put too much of his genetics in the bloodlines. If you can get me a good stallion off your grullo and a Texan stud, that would refresh our stock nicely.”

The beauty of recip mares involved being able to breed my mare, transferring the embryo to a career broodmare, who would take on the job of being the foal’s mom. A good recip mare loved foals, showed stress when not being bred, and had low loss of embryos.

I could work at getting Wes a stud, keep my new mare working, and give a good recip mare an important job all in one swoop. “We’ll work something out. Clearly, I need one of Willow’s sons under foot as a future legend of the stud books.”

“You’re something else,” Wes said, shaking his head. “All right. Show me the other Standardbreds, that way I can get in touch with New York and have the right staff on hand for their starter stable. Theyareworking on a stable, right?”

“It’s being built as we speak, and they’re cleaning up the yard at the palace. There’ll be plenty of space for horses.”

“Good. I’ll make sure they do the job right, and I’ll give them the information they’ll need to set up a proper RPS breeding stable in their kingdom. Good work. If you need any help with the transport, let me know. I can fly six horses out at a time, and I’m happy to go invade New York for a while to make sure their barn is set up to your standards. His Royal Majesty may have suggested that I make myself useful for such a thing.”

With Wes setting up the palace stable, I wouldn’t be worried about the horses—and he’d be able to help find skilled staff. “Actually, I’d really appreciate that. I got a pony for a little girl up in Maine that needs to be transported, too.”

“I’ve been informed I will be transporting the pony, but we’ll stop in New York on the way to unload the first batch of horses. You’re going to need a start stock of RPS horses. You can’t just breed them, Terry.”

I laughed. “I know. That’s why I went on a shopping spree at the barn. I know I need them. If you can get me some recommendations on what a good starting point for mounted RPS agents is, I’d appreciate it. I know the job well enough, but I don’t know much about setting up for the job.”

“That’s why I like you, Terry. When you don’t know something, you go learn it. When you do know something, if you have any reason for doubt, you investigate. And when you learn something new? You adapt rather than ignore. You let me worry about New York. You worry about getting these beauties settled and feeling like they’ve won the lottery of life. And as far as I’m concerned, they have. When you do get back to New York, you’ll find the stabling issue will be the least of your concerns.”

TWENTY-SIX

Chaos always reigned when shit hit the fan.

We spentthree weeks at the royal ranch near Austin, and I dedicated the final five days to planning my assault on the Dallas palace. I opted to make the whole venture a little harder on myself, selecting the role of an agent unfamiliar with the palace, newly transferred without general access to the royals and the interior staff. While I’d been to the Texan palace, I felt my knowledge matched the scenario.

A Texan RPS agent would know far more than I did about the layout of the place, security measures, and general defenses.

As such, I’d make the run somewhat blind—and without the fancy access their interior agents enjoyed.

With my talent, I viewed the whole thing as a pleasant challenge giving me an opportunity to strut my stuff. As long as I penetrated through the first layers of palace defenses, I’d consider it my win. I’d even take the whole thing a step further.

I’d go in as someone completely unauthorized, taking advantage of a few lax points in security to pull it off.

In addition to the preparation work, I also began the process of easing my way back into my duties, handling an hour of active duty a day, all conducted on the phone with my queen and the poor bastard trying to fill my shoes. Marcus had come from the New York RPS, and he was one of the few agents who’d treated a much younger Princess Rachel as a person.

His compassion had been among the reasons he’d remained employed, and his ability to charm our queen had secured his job as my backup.

Overall, Marcus handled the stress well, I appreciated his dislike of doing my job, and life went on in New York with minimal problems. My queen wanted me back, but she accepted the reality of the situation with good cheer.

Willow’s favorite mare had dropped her foal two days after arrival, and I had a beautiful colt that might live up to his father’s legacy. Upon receiving pictures of the little ones, my queen had determined she lived for foals and wanted them underfoot at all times.

I’d have New York properly converted into a kingdom of horse lovers within a few years.

As promised, Will provided a kit for me. He sent one of his aides to make the delivery, one with a love of makeup and a tendency to cause trouble. If Holly couldn’t transform me into a beautiful woman in two hours flat, nobody could. To make sure Holly stuck around, I ‘borrowed’ her from Will for some RPS matters, which meant the woman’s presence went unnoticed by everybody, Olivia included.

The day after our arrival in Dallas, I texted Carl to confirm the royals were at the palace and were ready to be snatched at my whim. As the RPS needed to be ready for the scenario to work, the staff would know the game was afoot. The regular staff would be under orders to behave normally unless the scenario triggered an emergency protocol. Upon activation of their protocols, they were to do as they normally would.

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