Guards and race officials swarmed around them, clamping shackles on him.
Don’t fight them, she thought at him. You won! We won! She didn’t know if he could feel her thoughts beneath the barrage of others, but he didn’t resist.
Trainer Verlas appeared at her side, as if by magic. She hauled Raia off the lion’s back and hugged her. “You did it!” she shouted. “I knew you would!”
Raia felt as if she’d never stop smiling. She’d never felt this kind of overflowing joy, as if she wanted to wrap the whole city, the whole desert, the whole empire, and everyone in it in her arms. Joy had replaced her blood, coursing through her and making her laugh and cry all at once. She was lifted up on the shoulders of riders and trainers. Cheering, they carried her to the base of the royal viewing box and set her down.
Smoothing her tunic, she smiled up at Dar. With palace guards on either side of him, he approached her.
“Congratulations, Rider Raia!” His voice rang across the sands. “Grand champion!”
The crowd roared loud enough to shake the sky. She thought they’d be heard across the desert. The cheers rang in her skull, and she thought she’d never, ever forget this moment.
Carrying an ornate black box, the high augurs filed onto the sands, and Dar led Raia to a dais that had been constructed during the chaos under the finish line banner. Trainer Verlas was already standing on it, beaming at her.
Where’s my lion?
Raia scanned the crowd—if he wasn’t with Trainer Verlas . . .
“Steady,” Trainer Verlas whispered. “First you, then the kehok. It’s how it’s done.”
Squashing her worries, Raia waved at the spectators as Dar led her up the steps and presented her to the stands. “Your grand champion, Rider Raia!”
She waved at the crowd as Dar presented her with a medallion. It was stamped with the symbol of the Becaran Races, the victory charm, and it hung from a blue silk ribbon. He lowered the ribbon around her neck. She felt the heavy weight of the medal. She waved again, and in the sea of faces, she saw Silar, still on the shoulders of Jalimo and Algana. As the others cheered for her, Silar clapped her hands together and shook them in victory.
As Raia came off the dais, Trainer Verlas wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Shalla hugged her waist. Lady Evara fluttered around them, proclaiming how she always knew, she always believed in them, and she was so very proud.
Next, it was her kehok’s turn.
The crowd hushed as her lion was led in shackles by guards and trainers toward the dais. Growling, he was trying to snap at them through the chain muzzle. Raia broke away from her friends and ran toward him. As soon as he saw her, he calmed. She knelt in front of him.
“You don’t need the chains,” she told the guards.
“He can’t approach the emperor-to-be unchained.”
She didn’t argue with them. This will all be over soon, she thought at him. At sundown, he’d be reborn and have no more need of chains or cages. Clasping the lion’s face in her hands, she said out loud, “It’s all right. You did it. Everything’s going to be fine now. Very soon, you’ll be free.”
She then walked alongside him up to the dais.
Dar bowed to the kehok.
The lion knelt and inclined his head.
Around Raia, she heard gasps and then whispers—people were amazed at the control she had over the lion, that she could make him bow. She didn’t say that she hadn’t done it. The lion had bowed on his own.
Soon, he’ll be free.
I’ll miss him.
She kept that voice inside her very quiet. This was a joyous day, and she wanted the kehok to know she was proud of him and happy for him.
Then the high augurs stepped forward, and one of the high augurs, an ancient man with a face as weathered as a rock in the wind, addressed the crowd. “As the winner of the Becaran Races, this kehok is to be redeemed.”
Beside Raia, the lion tensed.
She laid a hand on his mane. It’s all right, she soothed him.
The high augur went on with his speech, and Raia sensed the lion becoming more and more agitated. She whispered, “What’s wrong?”
This didn’t make sense. The lion understood what was going on, at least she thought he did. He wanted this! She wondered if he was afraid of how it would happen. To be reborn,