Page 6 of Savage Reins
"We'll start early tomorrow," I say.
"At dawn… We have work to do."
We move through the barn together, checking water buckets and feed bins from habit. The routine feels normal, but everything has changed. The enforcer's words echo. Thirty days. The timeline feels both generous and impossibly short.
"The east paddock fence needs repair,"Batyasays, voice steadier now. "Two posts are rotting through. If Rusalka spooks during training and hits that section, she could get hurt."
"I'll fix it tomorrow morning before we start with her."
"The track needs dragging too. the surface is too hard. She needs good footing if we're going to push her speed."
I nod, mentally adding items to an already overwhelming list. Thirty days to transform an untrained mare into a racehorse. Thirty days to save our lives.
"Batya, what if I can't do this?"
He stops and faces me in the dim light filtering through the barn windows. His features look carved from stone. This is the man who taught me to ride before I could tie my shoes. Who stayed up all night with sick horses. Who never backed down from a fight about family.
"You remember when you were twelve and Midnight's Daughter got colic?"
"Of course."
"Three days of walking her. Three days forcing her to move when all she wanted was to lie down and die. Dr. Kozlov said we should put her down. Said the odds were too long."
"But we didn't give up."
"No. And on the fourth morning, she passed the blockage. Lived another eight years. Had four foals, including Rusalka."
He touches my cheek with one weathered hand. "You have your mother's stubbornness and my knowledge of horses. If anyone can do this, it's you."
His faith settles on my shoulders. I want to live up to it, but I know the costs of failure. Not just death, but destruction of everything three generations of Petrovs built on this land.
"What about the enforcer? Renat. Can we trust him?"
Batyaconsiders this. "He could have killed us both tonight. Instead, he listened. That means something."
"Or it means he's playing games."
"Maybe. But I saw how he looked at Rusalka. He knows horses. He understands what we're trying to do."
"That doesn't mean he'll honor the deal if his boss changes his mind."
"No. But it's better than no chance at all."
We finish rounds and head toward the house. The kitchen light glows yellow in the darkness, and I see Mama's curtains hanging in the window. She made them the summer before she died, stitching tiny flowers along edges while recovering from her first round of chemotherapy.
"I miss her," I say suddenly.
"Every day."
"She would have hated this. The threats, the violence. She wanted us to sell the ranch after she died, move somewhere safe."
"Your mother was practical. But she understood legacy. She knew this place was in your blood."
We climb the porch steps, andBatyapauses with his hand on the door handle. "Mira, if this goes bad…"
"It won't."
"If it does, I want you to know I'm proud of you. Proud of the woman you've become. Your mother would be too."
