Page 116 of My Dark Horse Prince

“Okay, but come on,” Kristiana says. “You’re already kind of cheating. Your horse is not a normal horse.”

I rub his neck. “He looks and feels perfectly normal. Obsidian Devil passed all the drug and chemical tests they do.”

Kris rolls her eyes. “Sure, he did. But a magical horse isn’t really a regular horse.”

“Do you think I shouldn’t compete at all, then?” I ask.

“I think.” Kris folds her arms. “When I needed the money, I guess I thought it was totally fine.” She laughs. “I don’t know what I think. I was just arguing for Grigoriy winning by using magic, so I could be the wrong person to ask.”

“It’s fine,” I say. “I’ll just hop in my new car and head for the library to research the ethics of magic horses in the real world.”

“Wait, I know you’re kidding about the library, but are you really going for a drive?” Kris asks. “Because I want to go with you if you are.”

“When did they even get it?” I ask.

“Remember when I said they were going out drinking?” Kris shrugs. “That was a lie. They went to get your car.”

“That’s a pretty good surprise.”

“Speaking of magic,” Kristiana says, “Aleks brought something up last night.”

“Okay.” I slide off Charlemagne’s back and exit the arena. “What?”

Kris starts walking too, so I assume she’s alright with following me to the old barn. “He said that when you first tried ‘forgiving’ Grigoriy, there was nothing for you to forgive. Maybe that’s why it didn’t work.”

I think about what she’s saying. “You’re telling me that maybe I should try again? That maybe I could restore his powers and break the curse now.” I don’t tell her that I’d already thought of that, but that I wasn’t really feeling ready to try. It makes me sound like kind of a brat.

She shrugs. “What could it hurt?”

“What do I have to forgive him for?”

Kris arches one eyebrow.

So she knows, too. It’s the murdering and general violence, and that’s going to be hard, if I have to be honest.

“He did it to save your life and to keep those men from coming back again.”

“That’s what he says.”

“It’s what we all think,” Kristiana says quietly. “If you knew everything, you might think better of him, too.”

“What do you mean, ‘if I knew everything?’” I don’t like the sound of that.

“Nothing,” Kris says.

“Tell me.” I tilt my head.

She sighs. “He had Aleksandr help him track down that woman and her child,” she says. “He had money from the first payment he received on that wind energy sent to her, and he put out word that the same man who slaughtered all those men will eliminate anyone who touches her, without warning, if she’s not allowed to leave peacefully.”

“A violent man made more violent threats?” I’m not surprised he threatened to kill more people. But I am surprised, and impressed, that he remembered what I said about Yevginiy’s wife and her daughter and took steps to keep her safe. But admitting that I’m happy with that feels. . .I can’t do it.

“I know your history isn’t mine,” Kris says, “and I know it’s very real. I still think that, as you get some distance, you might understand that he was trying to help you the best way he knew how.”

“He killed the doctor,” I say. “And that guy had only helped me.”

“I mean, not really,” Kris says. “He accepted a bribe so some people could come kill his patient, and that may not be all of it, right?”

I frown.

---