Page 72 of This Dark Descent
She groaned, burying her face in her hands. Never in her life had she imagined that she’d have two people in her life that she cared for so deeply, and who were so completely different from each other. With Talyana, there were years of friendship behind them, and yet a thousand things to learn about each other again. She’d only just told her about her situation with Rezek, and why she was so reliant on Damien.
But Ari was right. She’d seen the way Reid looked at her, known that when he brewed her a pot of tea and stayed on the track with her until midnight, it was not out of loyalty to Damien—it was for her, and the sheer attention to detail he put into everything he did for her was unlike anything she’d ever experienced. Like Ari, he’d been there for her in ways no one had for a very long time.
“I honestly don’t know if I can think about this right now,” Mikira said as Ari tied off the braid. “There’s too much else going on. I just… want to enjoy it.”
“Then enjoy it,” Ari replied. “But enjoy it after I do your hair every night.”
Come the night of the third ball, Mikira sailed through conversations with Damien’s acquaintances, accepting praise and congratulations from people who once wouldn’t have given her the time of day. She took her own words to heart from her conversation with Ari: being scared of these people felt like letting them win, and she was done conceding to them. She might not have the enchanter’s newfound physical strength, but she had another kind of power now—a name that meant something.
Word had spread of the prince’s impending acquisition, and many were asking after the Rusel lines. Once the prince’s stable master came for Starling tomorrow and people saw the horse in his possession, things would change for her family’s ranch. She only wished her father were home to see it.
Having played her role, she feigned an upset stomach to leave the ball early, planning to meet Talyana at the festival. By the time she retrieved Irifrom the stables, a storm had set in, and she cursed herself for not bringing the horses into the stable before she left. She’d have to stop by the ranch first.
Iri’s ears danced to and fro the entire ride, and he jumped when thunder cracked in the distance. She brought him back under control with the press of the reins and a reassuring voice, but he wouldn’t settle. His restlessness only grew as the rain fell harder, biting through her clothes to graze skin.
As they followed the drive toward the house, his ears pressed near flat to his skull.
Something was wrong.
Splintering light burst across the darkened sky. Iri reared, throwing her from his back. She hit the muddy ground hard as the horse bolted. Gasping for air, she rolled slowly onto her side, wincing at a pain in her hip.
She hoisted herself to her feet using the pasture fence. Lightning lit the sky followed by another deafening crash, and this time, Mikira saw it. The fence at the far side of the pasture had been struck by lightning. Whatever fire it’d caused had died quickly in the pouring rain, leaving behind scorched wood and a gaping hole.
A sound echoed in the distance, carried on the rising wind. Loose hairs buffeted her face as Mikira strained to hear. Had that been a voice? No. Not a voice.
Barking.
Vaulting the fence, she sprinted for the far side of the field. The squelching grass pulled at her boots like hands seizing her from below and the wind shoved her back with every step, but she pushed through the obscuring rain until she reached the gap in the fence. Wolf, Ailene’s enchanted dog, was barking madly at something below.
The hill dropped away steeply before sloping into the rocky bank of the river. And there, struggling with a lead line attached to a frightened horse’s halter, was Ailene. The horse was half submerged in the turbulent river, trying and failing to find purchase on the slippery, moss-coveredstones. Each time she put pressure on her front left leg, she let out a high-pitched squeal and drew the leg up against her body, which only served to destabilize her more.
It was Starling.
“Ailene!” Mikira yelled.
Her sister turned, eyes wide and frantic. “Help me!”
Mikira dropped to the ground and hung her legs out over the ravine, sliding down on her side. The ground tore at her skin but she pushed to her feet, rushing to Ailene’s side.
“We need to get her to a different part of the river,” Mikira shouted over the tempest and Wolf’s wild barks. “Somewhere she can get footing.”
She reached for the lead line, but as she turned upriver, her heart stopped.
A wall of water was hurtling toward them.
“Flash flood!” Mikira seized her sister’s arm, dragging her away from Starling and toward higher ground, but Ailene refused to let go.
“We can’t leave her!” She ripped free of Mikira’s hold, stumbling toward the horse. At the same time, Starling’s hoof struck out, seeking purchase. It caught Ailene in the shin. She screamed, her leg giving out beneath her. Blood spurted from the wound, stark against the pale white bone protruding from her skin.
Mikira hauled her back to her feet even as Ailene cried out. The sound tore something apart inside her, but she didn’t stop as she slipped under Ailene’s arm. They staggered toward the incline. Mikira leaned Ailene against the slope and clambered up ahead of her. Sharp teeth pulled at her arm as Wolf tried to help drag her up.
The water was nearly upon them. She seized Ailene’s hand, pulling with all her strength, but it wasn’t enough. With Ailene’s injured leg, she could barely help propel her weight.
Then another pair of hands wrapped around her sister’s forearms. Together they pulled, yanking her up over the lip of the hill just as thewater crashed into where they’d been standing, splashing over the edge and upon them in a wave. The rush of water and a sickening thud cut off Starling’s keening cry.
Mikira lay panting in the muddy grass, her muscles sore and screaming. Ailene sobbed beside her, her entire body shaking, Wolf nudging her face with his nose.
And on her other side, his face pale and splattered with mud, was Reid.
