Page 16

The crowd cleared a little and I spotted Alina charging off on the back of my brindle mare. A cattish hiss escaped me at the injustice of it.

I turned, seeking out another horse who was just as fine, or at least ample for a race. But all I found was the donkey whose eyes looked in two different directions, one to the sky and one to the ground.

Calcifiend crawled out of my hair with a cluck of his tongue as if he was as disappointed in my steed as I was.

With every other horse now on the move, I tossed a prayer to Delphinus for luck and ran over to the donkey, starting the process to bond with it. I petted him, cooed and stroked him, wanting to at least secure a whisper from the stars today.

“Look, this is nothing against you or anything, but you’re not a war horse. You’re a donkey. As donkeys go, you look like a great ass. But I really, really need you to be a war horse right now, okay?”

The donkey stared at me, well, actually he was still staring in two opposing directions, but he seemed to be listening.

I patted his head and he let out a an ee-or that was pretty encouraging, all things considered.

A strange warmth settled my chest and I felt his soul connecting to mine in a touch of gentle power that alighted upon my veins like a landing feather.

His name came to me in a whisper spoken inside my mind, placed there by the stars themselves. Goddrick .

A real smile pulled at my lips. I’d done it. If nothing else, I’d managed to Familiarise.

“Of course. Great name. Perfect. Regal actually. So, Goddrick, how fast can you move?” I swung my leg over his back, settling myself onto the saddle and taking the reins.

Ransom was only just mounting his stallion and I despised how damn warrior-like and fucking majestic he looked as he went charging after the rear line.

I urged Goddrick into a canter that was more of a fast lollop but we were definitely going places and I quickly steered him after Ransom’s horse, keeping my gaze fixed on the white swish of his tail.

“I could outride you on a donkey or a dolphin,” I muttered to myself, echoing my former declaration to Ransom and seething at how I seemed to have manifested that test for myself.

“Very funny, Cancer.” I shot a glance at the heavens, almost hearing her clacking her claws in amusement at my predicament.

She would be behind this for sure, her games of trickery written in songs and stories for all Raincarvers to recite.

Father would be smugly thinking of me riding his gifted steed right now, chuckling to himself or guffawing among his unbearable friends at my expense. The thought spurred me on and I urged Goddrick faster, finding the newfound bond between us meant I could do so with little more than a thought.

Calcifiend clicked his tongue and went scurrying down my back. I shot a glance at him as he leapt onto the donkey’s ass and he gave me a mischievous look then sank his teeth into Goddrick’s butt.

The donkey let out an almighty ee-or and charged forward at an alarming speed, but his hooves began to sink into the snow, slowing him down.

I threw out my hand, hardening it beneath him and Goddrick’s pace increased again until we were gaining on Ransom’s stallion.

A thought occurred to me that ignited hope in my chest. I didn’t have to beat every Raincarver in this race to feel victorious, I just had to beat him .

My teeth clenched hard together and I focused on the snow beneath Goddrick’s hooves, sending my magic deep into it and latching it to his legs.

He let out a surprised honk as I helped his legs move faster and faster, wielding the snow to take the load off his body and allow him to move as fast as the wind.

Ransom glanced back over his shoulder and I sent a snowball at him, pelting him in the face and nearly unseating him as he lurched sideways with a yell.

Goddrick practically flew across the land, soon running flank to flank with Ransom’s stallion. The white beast gave my donkey a confused side-eye as we began to outpace him, and I shot Ransom a taunting grin.

Ransom reached down with a snarl, grabbing a fistful of my hair and trying to hurl me off of my steed. With my focus on wielding the snow around Goddrick’s legs, it was difficult to fight him off. My ass began to lift from the saddle and my stomach lurched with the coming fall.

A blur of blue in my periphery marked the flying form of Calcifiend whipping past my head and landing on Ransom before sinking his fangs into my brother’s hand.

Ransom yelped, shaking Calcifiend off and the lizard circled back to nestle in my hair.

With my full focus returned, Goddrick sailed past the stallion, letting out an excited ee-or.

I could almost taste Ransom’s anger on the air and I cast a shield of ice at my back on instinct, feeling the hard thump of something heavy slamming into it half a breath later.

A riotous laugh fell from my lungs as a glowing blue finish line came into view, the powdery white spray of snow causing a fog behind the charging horses ahead. I might not have been first, but I sure as shit wouldn’t be last. And so long as I crossed before Ransom did, I was calling it a win.

With a surge of speed, Goddrick galloped over the line behind the final row of horses and Galomp cheered to me from the saddle of a large black mare. Ransom bolted in after me, but he was last and it couldn’t have been clearer.

“She cheated!” he bellowed, beckoning the Reapers over and pointing at me. “She cast magic to increase the speed of her ass.”

“My girlfriend did that last night. Bouncy Brenda I called her,” a boy in a blue coat yelled and a few laughs rippled through the crowd.

“There were no rules against using magic, Mr Rake,” Reaper Lily announced.

“Perhaps you should take notes from your sister’s innovativeness.

” She turned away from Ransom and directed everyone back to the Keep, leaving me with a smug fucking grin on my face and Ransom directing a fiery glare at my head.

I patted Goddrick’s shoulder, not breaking eye contact with my brother as he considered me, probably deciding whether he wanted to start another fight.

But he pursed his lips and nudged his stallion back in the direction of the Keep, leaving me with Galomp drawing closer on his mare and my chest swelling with pride.

“He is a very nice ass,” Galomp commented, reaching down to tickle Goddrick’s ears. “My uncle collects them, you know?”

“What, asses?” I sniggered.

“Yes indeed. The finest asses around. Aw, his eyes look hither and tither, oh boy. How rare. He would like him very much.”

“Perhaps Goddrick would like to go and live with him then?” I suggested as we turned to head back toward the hulking walls of Never Keep. I set my gaze on Ransom’s horse and my heart thundered with an idea. “Because my war horse is right there. ”

“But that is your brother’s horse, Miss Everest,” Galomp said in confusion.

I smiled. “For now.”