Page 108 of This Dark Descent
“Threatening a royal guard is—”
“Leave.” Damien’s command was a thunderclap. The guard started, the first indication that he wasn’t actually a machine. He continued down the line, but he didn’t search a single other rider.
“We can give her other weapons?” Ari suggested.
“No. They’re watching us now.” Damien made a point of turning his back on Rezek. “We’ll just have to hope you don’t have to fight.”
They had a better chance of Atara flying.
“Are you ready?” Damien asked as the announcer called the riders to the line.
A flutter turned Mikira’s stomach like the upheaval of wings. “As I can be.”
He nodded. “Good luck. We’ll see you at the end.”
If she made it there.
She guided Atara toward the other riders, where she mounted and allowed an assistant starter to lead them into the gate with the other horses. The positioning hardly mattered. It was merely tradition, meant to begin all the racers at the same point.
The space next to her was still empty, and there was only one rider missing, one horse. A sharp whinny cut through the air, and she craned her neck around. Iri reared, fighting the gate crew trying to bring him into the stall. As his front hooves came down, Gren jerked viciously on the reins.
Mikira choked down a cry as the crew finally forced Iri inside.
Gren laughed at the fury winding through her face and slapped Iri’s neck hard. The horse fidgeted in the small space. He’d never been trained for this. He didn’t know what was happening.
She snarled. “If you hurt him—”
“You’ll do what?” Gren growled back. “He’s my horse.”
“To the line!” boomed the announcer’s voice.
“I’ll kill you!” she shouted.
The crowd’s cry nearly drowned her out. “For Enderlain! For the Harbingers! For Sendia!”
As the bell rang, Mikira looked up into Gren’s grinning face.
The horses took off.
CHAPTER 39
ARIELLE
ARI LAUNCHED MAZALinto the air. The hawk spiraled upward and set out across the sky, tracking Mikira.
“You’re cutting it close,” she told Reid as he approached the trailer. She’d expected him to be here in time to see Mikira off, but he’d appeared so soon after she trotted away that Ari suspected that he’d been waiting for her to leave. Did it have something to do with why he’d never delivered her father’s message?
Reid untethered the reins of the speed-charmed stallion they’d brought with them. “I’m here, aren’t I?” He swung up into the saddle, ignoring Damien’s assessing gaze. “How will I know if she’s in trouble?”
“Mazal will circle,” Ari replied.
“Be sure the other riders don’t see you,” Damien warned. “Take the city streets to the Traveler’s Road.”
Reid clicked his tongue to the stallion, and the horse set off at a trot away from them. He’d volunteered to be the one to follow Mikira, but he looked more like they’d signed him up to watch a feral dog. Had something happened between them?
“Damien,” she said, catching sight of a familiar face cutting through the crowd. A thin, blond man with a narrow face. “Isn’t that one of your people?”
Damien’s gaze followed hers. “Hyle. He isn’t supposed to be here.”
