“Faster, my love,” she called to him with her mind, heart, and soul.
She was aware of the other racers: a red lizard who breathed fire, a silver-and-black jackal with a snake’s tail, a winged crocodile, a beetle the size of a hippo, an elephant that looked as if it were made of rocks. . . . All of them were racing with her, kicking sand into the sky. She felt as if she were buoyed by them, by their speed, as they careened along the first straightaway.
Ahead of her was Gette, whipping his silver spider kehok.
She saw every movement with clarity. Beside her the rock elephant bashed against the shoulder of the beetle. It bashed back, biting. Sand clouded the air, thrown upward in the clash, and she felt as if she could see every grain.
The crowd’s cheers roared louder as Raia saw the first turn ahead. Own the turn, she thought. Use the turn. She felt the lion run faster, his paws digging into the sand, shoveling it behind him. She was shoulder-to-shoulder with the red lizard. Flames ringed its neck, and Raia breathed in the heat. She lay flat against her lion’s cool metal mane.
Another racer slammed hard into her side—the silver-and-black jackal. She slipped an inch to the side, then righted herself. Her lion shouldered the jackal back and kept running. Now the red lizard was ahead of them.
Next straightaway.
She was speed. She was wind. She was a sandstorm. The lion ran faster than he’d ever run before, gaining on the lizard. Raia heard the pounding of racers’ hooves and paws behind them, as if the sound was pushing them forward. As they neared the next turn, the lion ran low, his strides so smooth that Raia could barely feel the impact of his paws on the sand.
They whipped around the turn, and they passed the red lizard. She heard its rider screaming and saw him in a frenzy, beating the lizard with a spiked club as they fell behind.
Only Gette and the spider were left in front of her. He twisted in his saddle to look at the competitors behind him, and their eyes met. His lips quirked into a smile, and he faced forward, rose up in his saddle, and hit the spider so fast and hard that his arm was a blur.
Beneath her, she felt her lion’s growl build. It vibrated her legs until she felt herself growling with him. Her focus narrowed to Gette, and she felt a strange kind of hunger, sharp and predatory.
Faster, Raia and the lion closed the distance between them.
Closer. Closer.
They were inches behind them, with the spider’s many legs stabbing the sand in front. Her kehok roared, his jaws open, snapping at the spider’s legs, and Gette steered sharply left. The lion’s teeth closed on empty air. For an instant, she thought she saw fear in Gette’s eyes. She now snarled at him and in that instant he was everyone who had ever let her down: her parents, the augurs who turned her away, all the people who had never cared but were supposed to.
In the stands beyond Gette, Raia caught a glimpse of three familiar faces: Jalimo and Algana, with Silar hoisted between them on their shoulders. Their mouths were open, screaming for Raia and cheering her on as they’d promised they would. Silar was punching the sky.
Raia saw the scene in a millisecond, and it wiped all thought of Gette from her mind. He no longer mattered. And he had no power to stop her.
As the spider lunged to attack, the lion spurted ahead, and Gette faltered as their target suddenly disengaged. She heard his kehok scream in rage, but Raia didn’t look back. As she and the lion took the lead, everything and everyone faded behind them until there was only her and her kehok. They ran as one.
“Fly, my love,” Raia whispered to the lion.
Smooth, fast, and strong as wind, they flew through the final lap.
Alone in the lead, they surged across the finish line.
Chapter 28
As the crowd cheered, Raia soothed her lion, “Slow, slow, it’s over. Breathe.”
Flowers were tossed onto the racetrack, as the other racers were led back to the stable. Soon, Raia and the lion were the only rider-and-racer pair left on the track. She felt enveloped in cheers, as if the excitement of the crowd were lifting her into the sky. She raised her arms and, with her thoughts alone, guided