Page 24 of Iron Unicorn

“We could have used more sleep last night.”

Olivia snickered. “Understatement, Terry. The first two days will be short scenarios and trail rides. I got briefed because I’m a delicate flower from Montana. They’re afraid I might faint away from such strenuous activities.”

I raised a brow at that. “And they said that to your face?”

“Yep. Texans are brave but foolish, Terry.We must destroy them.You hear me? The Texans are going down. Except you, Eddie. You’re an honorary member of Team Montana for parts of this exercise.”

“You are just like Mom once she gets a dumb idea in her head, Olivia. You’re going up against multiple RPS teams, and all the agents are edgy because of Sickly New Yorker.”

I got up and joined Olivia in the kitchen to discover she had both the stovetop and electric kettles going. The clay red pitcher on the counter indicated she meant to make Mexican hot chocolate. The glass pot beside it already had honey, lemon, and whole tea leaves ready to be steeped. “Am I playing at still being sickly for this exercise?”

The woman smirked. The time I’d spent sick had done a good job of acclimating me to her new appearance, although the playful expression worked wonders at transforming her from a lovely woman into a beautiful one. After a moment, she shrugged. “I’m game to do whatever is needed to crush them beneath the hooves of our horses. Are you bringing Black Sand, Eddie?”

“Yep.”

Eddie’s dossier had mentioned the horse, a rescue that King Patrick had given to him. At the time of being pulled out of the auction barn, the horse had suffered from a catastrophic break. Instead of putting the animal down, menders had gone to bat and saved the animal.

As a boy, Eddie had begged to save the horse.

Black Sand was flagged as Eddie’s bonded horse, a magical anomaly vexing talent evaluators and the RPS. Eddie failed every basic single horse empathy test, yet nobody could deny he’d somehow bonded with his horse. As Black Sand wasn’t an Andalusian, the sole breed confirmed to have a functioning empathy talent, the horse had undergone DNA testing to see if he’d somehow developed the gene.

The horse had tested negative.

Magic worked in mysterious ways. For the most part, everyone blamed King Patrick for Eddie’s bond with his horse. However, I suspected the young man harbored buried talents just like the woman he loved.

Once Eddie and Deidre came around to accepting their status as bonded, I expected both would need a crash course in their various talents. I worried for them, having witnessed Daphne’s distress upon the discovery she had the Montana talent in full force.

I would do what I could for the couple who hadn’t yet clued in they were a couple and likely wouldn’t without someone beating them over the head with the reality of their situation.

“Well, you won’t be bringing shame to the RPS stable with that horse,” I commented, allowing myself a low chuckle to put the young man at ease. “What are your thoughts on the exercise?”

“Only an idiot would try the Iron Unicorn, and testing Olivia is just about as stupid. Together? The RPS isn’t going to have much to worry about. And if Montana finds out anyone looked at his sister wrong? The RPS is going to be sitting around with a good drink while watching the fireworks. That Montana has been cornered into accepting that his sister has fled his kingdom for unknown reasons would only add to the blowout. There’s a betting pool going on.”

I loved when my fellow agents decided to start a pool. Without fail, entertainment happened. “Now we’re talking business. What’s the wager? How can I help manipulate it in your favor?”

“The winner gets a spot on a Californian detail as part of an agent trade. The agent with the highest number of tags on you gets the spot. We lose a point if you tag us.”

Yep. King Patrick was up to his trickster ways again, the betting was rigged, and everyone but Eddie was in on it. A week would have been more than enough time for the monarch to manipulate the RPS into doing what he wanted. The variable in the equation was Eddie. “And you want to do the trade?”

“Hell yeah. I get why I’m interior here. I’m good at it, but the real issue is Dad. Not that he’s trying to keep me interior. He’d let me do exterior in a heartbeat. He knows the risks as well as I do, but I’m my own man, he acknowledges that. The RPS isn’t having it. I get that, too. The detail is our safest rating, but I’d get to do exterior work. The simple stuff, augmented with the permanent RPS teams there, but I’m eligible.”

Of course he was eligible. He was the only true contender, and the rest of the Texan RPS would be putting on a damned good show for Eddie’s benefit. Every young agent needed such a push to build confidence, especially when being transitioned from interior to exterior.

I bet the entire Texan RPS was having a conniption fit. Their future monarch, running around Texas during a scenario where someone could grab him?

I resisted crossing my eyes at the thought of the mass anxiety likely plaguing their entire service force. Rather than indulge in any misgivings, I made the decision to side with Eddie.

One day, he would be one of the kings of Texas. Today was not that day. King Patrick and Queen Jessica, while aging, did so with grace and minimal health problems, promising years of prosperity for their kingdom to come. The reins would be handed over sooner than later, but it would be done after Eddie and Deidre were given an opportunity to resolve their bond and settle.

Then Prince Adam and Princess Mireya would do their share, form the Royal Quartet, and begin a whole new era of leadership within Texas.

Understanding Texas’s long history of struggle in the monarchy, I looked forward to the young couples bringing change—healthy change—to a society that overly valued working people to death.

I was guilty of that. I would make a point of doing better to balance my work and private life in the future, somehow. Pleased with yet another good decision, I grinned at the young man. “Eligible is good. Interior agents who shift to exterior tend to be more robust and versatile, too. They have a better view of the background working. That means they work with the interior agents better. California has a solid detail operation, so you’ll get to learn a lot in a safe environment. Any word on who the principal is?”

“No. Well, mostly no. It’ll be for a prominent foreign dignitary who will require additional protection.”

I could only assume that my queen had decided her brother would be sacrificed to help the Texan monarchs, a situation that might cause a short kerfuffle among the New York Royal family. But, having seen Prince Ian’s concerning behavior on the emotional front, his sister would readily overpower him.

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