Page 90 of My Queendom for a Horse

There’s no room for him to pry us apart as some kind of weird joke.

Once I’m done with the pendant, Obsidian starts pawing the ground of the stall until the shavings are gone, and then he keeps right on going, dragging his hoof across the rubber mats.

I ignore him.

He whinnies and whickers and tries nuzzling my arm.

I slap him.

He tosses his head when I try to bridle him, and snaps at my fingers to show me he’s serious.

“I know you want me to change you back into human form. I know you want to talk to me.” I pause. “But I don’t want to hear what you have to say.” I fume. “You came to my boyfriend’s house last night because you were jealous. Not to help me, and not because you were worried about me. I remember what you said—you wrecked my night for you. You were being selfish. I’m delighted you’ve gotten your life back on track. I think it’s great you’ve found some rocks, though I do want know where the heck they came from. I’m happy that, once again, your DNA has landed you in the top quarter of a percent of the world’s wealthiest people or whatever. But I’m about done letting your whims wreck my life. Now that you’re fine?”

I make a decision in that moment. One I can’t come back from.

“I want you to leave after tomorrow’s race.”

It’s a little hypocritical of me. I do know that.

I mean, I should send him home today if that’s how I feel. Certainly, Sean would want me to if he knew Obsidian was Aleks, and that Aleks was Obsidian. If he knew the truth, I have no idea what he’d do to Aleks, but I know how he’d feel about them being the same being.

But with Five unable to race, well. I kind of need Obsidian’s help to win so I can pay the next loan payment. I’ve scraped together all the money I could in the hopes I might avoid either selling the family farm or begging Sean for more money.

But once I’ve won tomorrow? Then he can go without damaging me.

Doesn’t that mean I’m selfish too? Am I just as bad as I was accusing him of being?

The difference is that, as far as I know, one more day with me won’t cause him harm. He knew that causing a disturbance with Sean would be damaging to me.

“If, once you get back to Russia, you figure something out about the curse, you can come back and talk to me about it. I’ll be happy to do whatever I can do to help with that, even in the future.” It’s not like he doesn’t know where I live.

His eyes flash, and he throws his head. He lets out an almost startling neigh.

Even so, I shake my head. “No. I’ll change you tomorrow. You can yell at me then—after the race. You can plead your case, or whatever. I know you have money now. You even have a car. You don’t need me anymore for any of those things, so I’m going to tell Sean I sold you to Aleks. The irony makes me laugh. And then I’m going to leave you here.” I sigh. “No matter what you say.”

He’s still not happy, but Obsidian settles down after that and lets me lead him outside. I saddle him up, and when I’m about to swing onto his back, my phone rings.

It’s my real estate agent.

Calling on Christmas Day.

“You’ve gotten an offer,” she says.

“You’re kidding. Has anyone even seen the property?”

“We’ve had two showings while you’ve been gone,” she says. “It must be from one of them. And the offer is good. It’s actually ten percent above asking, which is almost unheard of right now. But there’s one strange thing.”

Of course there is. It is my life we’re talking about. “What?”

“I’m not sure who the offer’s from.”

“I’m sorry?”

“It’s through an intermediary. One of the terms of the offer is that you can’t know anything about the buyer.”

“But they’ll become my neighbor,” I say. “I’m keeping the house and the old barn, plus a few of the pastures. They’ll be right across a fence line. Won’t I eventually find out?”

“I think it’s likely to be someone you don’t like.” She’s quiet for a moment. “I mean, who else would keep it a secret?”

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