the corner of her eye, she saw the guards staring at her, their weapons ready but hesitating to strike at the racers—it was worth their jobs if they damaged any racers unnecessarily.
“Back!” she commanded. She felt fury surging through her, and she directed every drop of it at them. “Get back!”
Cowed, all three scuttled backward.
“Into your stalls!”
Heads down, they scooted backward. They retreated into their stalls while she continued to bear pressure on their minds. She was implacable, pinning them inside their stalls as if they were bugs pinned under her thumb.
To the guards, she ordered, “Shackle them.”
The guards obeyed, rushing into the stalls and securing the shackles while she held the three kehoks down with the strength of her mind. When all three were secure, they shut the doors, and she turned back to the black lion.
He was unharmed, thank the Lady.
One of the guards ventured, “That was incredible, Trainer . . .”
“Verlas,” another guard said. “That’s Trainer Verlas.”
“You held three kehoks at once! Three that weren’t even your racers!”
All the guards started gushing at once.
Tamra just felt tired. She held up a hand. “Screws and a screwdriver? So we can fix the latches and ensure this doesn’t happen again?” She eyed the latches of the other stalls. “And you should check all the latches.”
“Yes, ma’am.” One of the guards scurried out of the stable in search of tools, while the others began checking the latches on the stalls. She propped up the door of the lion’s stall. The kehoks had broken through the weakened latch, but it was fixable. It was almost as if—
“Excuse me, who owns the three kehoks who escaped?” she asked.
The guard checked the labels beside the stalls. “All three are owned by Trainer Limra.”
Tamra wasn’t familiar with the name, but it was suspicious that all three who attacked were owned by the same trainer. “Is there a shield on the kehok stable?”
“No, ma’am, only the racetrack.”
She nodded. So this Trainer Limra could have directed all three of his or her kehoks to attack hers, if he or she knew that the latches were faulty. Tamra didn’t have any proof, of course. But it was an unsettling suspicion. “I’ll be keeping my kehok by my tent for the duration of the races.”
“We are deeply sorry this incident occurred,” one of the guards said. “The latches will be fixed, and the incident will be reported to the race council. You can trust that—”
“I’ll sleep easier if he’s near me,” Tamra said. “But thank you for your quick reactions.” At least the guards tried to protect her lion. With three kehoks targeting him, if she hadn’t been here, he’d have most likely been killed regardless, but at least they’d tried. She unhooked the lion’s shackles, kept her mind fixed on him so he’d behave, and led him out of the stable.
He walked placidly beside her, like a tame pet.
She kept a lid on her simmering fury, trying not to think too hard about the suspicion that this was a deliberate attempt at sabotage. Or call it what it really was: attempted murder.
“Raia?” she called to the tent. “Come help me set up the cage.”
Raia popped out of the tent, saw the lion, and immediately took his chains, cooing to him while Tamra swung open the cage door. The lion walked in without any resistance, curled up, and lay down in the center of the cage.
“I’ll guard him,” Tamra said. “You sleep.”
“Guard him? But . . .”
“Sleep, Raia. He’s safe now.”
Raia woke, convinced her lion was in danger, and burst out of the tent.
“If you don’t go back to sleep,” Trainer Verlas said, “I will tie you to your cot.” She was seated by a campfire, placidly sewing up a rip in her tunic. She barely glanced at Raia. Most of the camp was quiet, with a few lit fires nearby and the clatter of wagon wheels in the distance.
“Sorry,” Raia mumbled. She reassured herself that her kehok was still in his cage, and then she ducked back in and tried to fall asleep. She woke again. And again. Each time, the kehok was safely in his cage, pacing as if he were trying to guard her, rather than the other way around. Each time, Trainer Verlas sent her back inside as if she were an unruly toddler.
When dawn came, she gave up on sleep and tossed her blankets off. Her mouth felt full of cobwebs, and her eyelids felt stiff. Her leg muscles ached, which could have