Page 117 of My Queendom for a Horse

“It’s fine,” I say. “I swear, he’ll be very careful with me.”

“What if he spooks?” John asks. “We can’t have our star rider, who’s already injured, falling off and breaking her neck after the big race.”

“Nonsense,” I say. “Obsidian doesn’t spook. It’s one of his best traits.”

Obsidian Devil looks positively delighted right now, and it’s annoying me.

“The thing is,” Sean says, “I can’t really leave without—”

“Sean,” I say. “I’m so flattered that you’re here, and that you still care about me, but—”

He clears his throat. “It’s not what you think.” He looks down at his shoes. “But see, my dad said, if I bumped into you, that I might check and see whether you still wanted to keep that heart-shaped diamond.”

Well, that’s embarrassing.

“It’s just that, he thought we were getting married, or he’d never have suggested I give it to you, I guess.” His head snaps up, and his eyes look pained when they meet mine. “I know this is the height of rudeness.”

I laugh.

Laughing at a man in pain is also rude, and I know it is, but I can’t help it. “Oh, Sean, it’s hilarious when you think about it. I’m sitting here feeling sorry for you. I’ve started dating Aleks, and I thought your feelings would be hurt, and I was trying to be kind, but really, you’re only back to collect the hundred thousand euro diamond you gave me.”

“Two hundred,” he says. “Actually.”

That just makes me laugh harder.

“So, is that a no?”

I finally manage to stop. “Not at all.” I wipe the tears from my eyes. “It’s not here with me, but as soon as I get home, I’ll make sure it’s available for you or your men to pick up.”

“Thank you,” Sean says. “And I appreciate you being so understanding.” He turns to John. “I’ll leave her in your care. I think that perhaps my presence isn’t needed any longer.”

John’s smiling when Sean darts off. “If you think I’m letting you boost up on this horse, you’ve lost your mind.” He insists on sliding his shoulder underneath mine instead, which is hard because of how short I am.

If either of them would just let me touch Obsidian, he could probably start to heal me now. Assuming the injury’s something that will heal on its own, I suppose, and maybe it’s not.

“Your dad’s going to flip when he hears you’re dating that crazy trainer.”

“Are you upset?” I ask. “About Aleksandr, I mean?”

Obsidian Devil’s trailing us, behaving as meekly as a lamb now that I’m standing with John instead of Sean. In fact, John’s barely holding the lead rope. His deep black ears are turning slightly left and right, listening intently to this whole conversation.

“You probably think I’m a huge fan of Sean’s, given that we’re both British.” John stops, and then he sighs. “But he hurt you years ago, and I never really forgave him for that.”

“Oh.” That’s a surprise. He never said a word against him. We’re nearly to the barn, just ducking under the covered patio out in front of it.

“And what kind of guy, whether at his father’s prompting or not, asks to get a gift back?” He shakes his head. “Rich people are the biggest cheapskates of all.”

I can’t help chuckling at that.

Actually, both of us are laughing when the support beam holding up the metal cover over the courtyard creaks, moans, and collapses sideways.

It’s so unexpected, so shocking, that none of us are prepared in the slightest, including Obsidian. The ceiling crossbeam strikes John on its way down, and I’m terrified, as I’m knocked to my stomach, that he’s dead. I think I’m uninjured, except my leg, which feels worse, and a sharp pain in my shoulder where the impact of the fall wrenched it. I crawl toward John and press two fingers against his neck. I feel a pulse.

Thank goodness he’s just unconscious.

I look around desperately for Obsidian, worried that since he’s much larger, he could be more badly injured. I finally locate him. Perhaps as a defense mechanism, he shifted to his human form. It’s definitely for the best. The ceiling was made of a simple tin, but it’s vast and heavy, and there’s only about twenty inches or so between the ground and the new resting place of the tin above us. Aleks army crawls toward me, and once he’s close enough, his hand reaches for mine across the rubble.

When I take it, a warm and buzzy kind of energy passes through me. My leg, blessedly, stops throbbing. The acute pain in my shoulder also lessens, and it finally occurs to my groggy brain that he might be able to help John, too.

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