It made her uneasy. She wondered how he’d feel if he knew she was a liar.
“Okay,” she said, peering around for a stick.
“There should be some in the bushes over there. Did you use your magic on the animals yesterday or just make the sound?”
“I didn’t use my magic. All I did was distract them. . . .” Her voice trailed off, and she realized the thing she’d noticed about him, his change in energy. It wasn’t just his attitude.
It was his magic.
Veronyka reached out to the animals, confirming her suspicion. His pressure, his hold on them . . . it was different from yesterday. The dog and the bird had a loose understanding of what was happening beyond what they remembered from doing the course before. Wind, too, was familiar with the exercise, but even so, the magic that told him to stand still and be calm wasn’t a forceful push. . . . It was a request.
“Right,” Tristan said, straightening in the saddle, oblivious to her revelation. “Do it whenever you want, and I’ll try to keep them focused.”
“Don’t prepare them for it,” Veronyka warned, tugging a branch from a tangle of weeds and walking backward to the target. “That’s cheating.”
She actually heard him chuckle. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”
There was a hurdle coming up where horse and rider had to weave through a series of staggered poles jutting from the ground, and Veronyka decided this was when she’d make her move. She waited until he was about to finish, then hit the target as hard as she could. The sound echoed loudly, and she turned to see what Tristan did next.
The horse’s ears went flat, and the dog barked. Veronyka threw the stick into the air, and the dog leapt away from Wind—only to pause halfway across the clearing. Tristan was sweating, keeping Wind on course and the pigeon on his shoulder, and she could sense his pressure was increasing.
“Focus on the dog,” Veronyka found herself calling, remaining as still as she could. “You already have the bird and the horse—trust them, and focus on the dog.”
Tristan frowned, then gave her a small nod. His eyes closed. A heartbeat later the dog yipped and whirled around to rejoin him.
Tristan’s eyes flew open, lips parted in surprise, and Veronyka cheered. Overhead, Rex let out a musical screech, and a trail of fire streaked out behind him. Tristan looked up, watching his phoenix’s fiery arc across the sky, before looking back down at Veronyka.
He smiled at her, and the sight nearly knocked her off her feet. It transformed his usually haughty expression into something boyish and carefree. His cheeks dimpled on either side, and his brown eyes glittered with triumph. He looked like some mythical hero again, as he had the first time she’d seen him—except this time it was his smile that shattered the fanciful illusion, and not the fact that his drawn spear was leveled at her.
Veronyka swallowed, realizing that he had said something—and she hadn’t heard a word.
“P-pardon me?” she said, still slightly dazed.
His smile twisted into a quizzical frown. “I said, I think I want to have another go—can you stay?”
Veronyka did a double take. He wanted her to stay with him? Was she no longer an annoying presence, a punishment laid down by his father? Did he actually value her help? Warmth spread from her chest all the way to her fingertips.
“Of course,” she said.
He smiled gratefully, and the angry, mean boy from the days before was gone. Maybe that wasn’t who he truly was. . . . Maybe she’d had him wrong all along.
As Veronyka expected, Tristan did even better the second time around. Though the dog still turned and darted toward the stick, he didn’t move more than a few steps before Tristan got him back under control.
As they packed up, a cold wind whipped across the open field, and the lanterns atop the village gate swayed and guttered in the distance. Veronyka shivered, until a gust of warm wind enveloped her like a hug as Rex landed on the ground nearby.
Veronyka stared admiringly at the beautiful creature. His heat and his magic pulsed from him, leaving her both warm and covered in goose bumps. She couldn’t believe she’d had a phoenix of her own, for however brief a time.
Veronyka closed her eyes. Xephyra’s smoke-and-charcoal scent filled her nostrils, and her rustling feathers whispered in Veronyka’s ear. It was as comforting as a caress, as painful as a freshly