Page 24 of My Queendom for a Horse

“No? Do you want to be in a stall?”

Another head shake.

“What do you want?” He heads toward the house at a trot.

“Oh, no.” I yank on the reins, but he ignores me. Until this moment, I didn’t realize how much I relied on him to be compliant. “Obsidian, you need to be with the horses. I have to meet Sean without worrying about you.” I pull him left, back toward the barn, but he throws his head up so the bit isn’t really controlling him anymore.

Butthead.

Is he kidding? “You said you’d behave,” I hiss. “You can’t meet Sean. Listen, I’m stressed enough right now. I can’t be riding a demon-horse, which you promised not to be.”

He paws the ground.

“Kristiana?”

And now it’s too late. Sean’s spotted us, and he’s angling toward us at a brisk-but-still-proper British walk.

“How was the ride?” My dad stops his approach a few paces away. “It looks like. . .” He squints. “You didn’t fall, did you?”

I roll my eyes. “I didn’t fall, but we had an incident.”

Dad blinks.

Sean scans me head to toe. “Other than the mud, are you alright?”

“I’m fine. I’ll just go put Obsidian away, and I’ll be right back.”

Only, Obsidian’s still being a bit of a jerk, and he won’t go.

“Come on,” I hiss. “Now.”

“I thought you said he was an angel for her,” Sean says. “I can’t say I’m keen on her riding a horse that no one can control.”

“It’s fine,” I say. “We may not even have him very long.” I squeeze my legs and press him forward.

“Wait, you may not keep him?” Sean asks. “I wish you’d told your dad that before we signed papers.”

“Papers?”

Obsidian’s ears perk up too.

“We had to list something as collateral other than the farm,” Dad says. “And we needed to get it submitted today so we’d have funds in the next thirty-six hours.”

“That’s why I came early,” Sean says. “I realized that if I met you for lunch, we might not get it processed in time.”

“Wait.” I can barely breathe. “You listed Obsidian Devil as collateral on the new loan?” I feel like I might explode on them in this moment.

“We only did paperwork today on a loan large enough for the first payment,” Sean says. “Since he’s worth a quarter of a million and you just bought him, the bill of sale was all we needed to prove it up with the underwriters. Easy peasy.”

Well, he agreed to stick around to help me pay the balance off, so he can’t be too angry to have been treated like chattel.

Obsidian’s looking around now, his head swiveling frantically. “What are you doing?” I whisper-hiss.

He snorts, as if that’s a real response. Although, I suppose it’s the best he can do right now.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Sean asks.

“Fine.” I dig my heels into his side. “Totally fine.”

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