Page 39 of My Queendom for a Horse

He’s not wrong about that. “Look, Dad, all of this happened really fast. I had a lot of decisions to make, and after seeing Rickets shout at Smithers over Obsidian Devil, when Finn told me about a Russian trainer who was a friend of a friend and asked if I had heard of any work at all, I told him yes.”

“But why didn’t you just tell me that it was Finn who knew him?”

“Because Finn doesn’t really know him personally, and also, you hate Finn.” I’m improvising, but I think it’s true.

“I do not.” But Dad’s protest isn’t very emphatic.

“You hated that he got me back into racing, and you hate that we’ve kept in touch all these years.”

“But, you, well.” He huffs. “The point is, we can’t have some strange man spending time in your bedroom.” He tosses his head at my doorway. “Especially not right now.”

“Right now?” Fury pulses through me. “You mean, because Sean’s around? And having Aleks in my bedroom might wreck that and ruin our chances of having him fix the mess you made?”

“You used to love him,” Dad says. “Do you really hate him, now?”

“I don’t know what I feel, but you haven’t left me much choice, have you?”

“I’m sorry,” he says. “I’ll say it a hundred more times if it will help. I never should have gambled and certainly not against Rickets. But it’s in the past, and I can’t change it. What I don’t want to do is have you keep making the same type of rash decisions and wind up like me.”

That’s a little bit irritating, coming from him. “I have some things to go over with Aleks—ideas I had about some training techniques. Once we’re done, I’ll rush him down to the old barn so we aren’t being inappropriate. Okay?”

Only, once I get Dad to leave us alone, Aleks has no intention of leaving.

“I have far too much to learn,” he says, never looking up from the computer. He sure adapted fast for an old geezer.

“You have to get your butt down to the barn,” I say. “I have to feed Obsidian Devil dinner, and if you aren’t there, eating hay, someone’s going to notice. And how am I going to explain that my big black demon horse who’s worth a quarter of a million euros is just gone?”

He finally looks away from the screen. His gorgeous golden eyes search my face. “But I’m coming back later to learn more.”

“You can’t stay in my room all night long, poking around on the internet.”

The corner of his mouth curls upward. His eyes track up my body and stop at my eyes. “Why not?” he asks slowly.

Is he serious? The little thrill that runs up my spine tells me that he may be out of the loop, but he’s not past his expiration date. “I sleep here,” I say. “You have to go to the barn and stay there, like I said.”

“I had two allies,” he says softly. “Among the five families, three of us were aligned. The Romanovs, my family—the Volkonskys—and the Khilkovs.”

“You were earth. The Romanovs were water. I don’t remember what the Khilkovs’ magic was.”

“Wind,” he says. “We were all descended from Prince Riurik, who was really the only rightful ruler of the Russian people.”

“Okay,” I say.

“According to your internet, all of the families descended from him were destroyed in this revolution that took place. But the two families who opposed us were not destroyed.”

“They weren’t?”

“The Yurovsky family, who controlled lightning, which we later began calling electricity, and the Kurakins, who mastered flame, had powers very well suited to warfare. . .and revolutions.” He pauses, but I can tell he’s not done. “I think, after they cursed us, they reconfigured the entire government. And I think that somehow, they’re still alive and well.”

“Wait, the same two men who cursed you?”

He shrugs. “Their powers don’t grant them longer life—but I imagine that was part of the curse. Had they just wanted us dead, they’d have killed me, not buried me underground. They may yet be alive, their lives extended by stealing my power.”

He really is from a whole world I know nothing about.

“Kris, they won’t be pleased to discover that I’m free.”

“Do you think they already know? I don’t know much about curses, but if they put a hex on you, wouldn’t they sense when it disappeared?”

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