Page 98 of My Queendom for a Horse

Only Flaming Shot and Brigadier General are ahead of us as we sail over the second open ditch. I pull back on Obsidian a bit and we cruise along, gaining very slowly on the two frontrunners.

I watch them carefully as we approach. Flaming Shot’s sailing over his jumps, barely brushing the top of the sixth fence. Finn’s a talented rider, probably even better than I am, and Flaming Shot’s clearly in his element, running on boggy ground.

I glance up around the curve. After the sixth, there’s a long straight. “This is our window. Let’s do this.”

Obsidian’s hooves are churning already, but when I urge him to speed up, he shoots ahead like a rocket, plowing past Brigadier General, who shies right as we pass him. We pull up neck-and-neck with Flaming Shot as we go over the seventh jump. Obsidian bobs his head at Finn, who startles at being acknowledged by a horse, but he regains his focus and turns back to the course and his mount. We pound along, staying neck-and-neck through fences eight and nine and into the open stretch that follows.

I glance at Finn for a moment. If there was anyone I could ever tell, anyone who would believe me and keep his mouth shut, it’s him. I meet his eye once, and then I ask Obsidian to make his move. As fast as we’ve been going all along, I’ve never really asked Obsidian to pull out all the stops. We sail over the tenth fence, and I swear we’re defying gravity over the first open ditch in the second circuit.

I glance behind us just before the next jump, and I see that we’re five or six lengths ahead, and Brigadier trails Flaming Shot by almost as much. This race was supposed to be a close one, but we’ve blown the other grade one horses, including last year’s champion, out of the water. It’s a good thing Obsidian isn’t going to the Grand National, because today’s race will earn him a steep handicap.

Thankfully, it’ll also earn me a big pile of money.

All we have to do is maintain our monstrous lead through the end. Only, Obsidian stumbles. I very nearly topple over his ears, barely hanging on.

“What was that?” I gasp.

Obsidian rights himself, never really stopping, but slowing alarmingly before he picks up speed again.

I don’t dare look back, but I can hear how close the other riders have drawn. We’re still going to pull it off, but then he stumbles again, this time harder, like there’s something wrong with his front right hoof.

I was already nervous, so I was holding on tighter than usual. That means I don’t come close to falling, but it’s happened too near the finish line. Finn passed us just after the second stumble, and we don’t have time to recover.

We lose to Flaming Shot by a nose.

In the two months I’ve had him, I’ve never felt Obsidian stumble like that. In fact, I didn’t think he could.

While everyone cheers and shouts for Finn and Flaming Shot, I hop off Obsidian immediately. “Are you alright?” I stare him in the eyes.

He bobs his head.

“Are you sure?”

He tosses his head toward the stands.

I turn to look where he’s pointing, but my dad and Sean aren’t there. Actually, I don’t see anyone I recognize. “Did something happen?”

He bobs his head.

But, what?

I won’t know until I manage to get him alone and I can change him. Ugh, what a mess.

It hits me then, how bad it really is.

I was counting on the prize money. I needed it, not only to repay the balloon note, but to pay taxes on the winnings I used to buy Obsidian Devil. And on top of that, I bet every single euro I had left.

And I just lost all of that, too.

I’m dead broke, and I’m sure my dad is as well.

At this point, I’m out of options. I’m going to have to sell all the land and just pray that our new neighbor isn’t the villain I worry he might be.

Maybe it’s Sean. I’ve always thought that might be a possibility. But as I ponder that chance, for some reason, it doesn’t make me feel any better.

It makes me feel worse.

And I don’t want to explore what that means, but I’m terribly afraid it’s because I’ve just realized that my only option may be the one I don’t want.

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