couple kehoks out of the desert and forced them to run as fast as they could. And thus, every year when Ferlar flicks his tail and floods the farmlands, the Becaran people hold their races to distract themselves from the tragedies they can’t control.
Except for the part with the enormous crocodile, Tamra thought that was a plausible explanation. For at least a thousand years, the races had been giving people something to cheer for, and Tamra had the feeling that this year Becarans needed to cheer more than ever. Turnout is going to be massive, she thought.
She hoped Raia wouldn’t be distracted by the size of the audience. She was glad Raia had done the extra focusing exercises on the trip here—that would help. As they drove through the city, Tamra silently crafted her training schedule.
Soon, they saw the palace, and Raia gasped so loudly that Tamra laughed. Composed of several sprawling buildings, the palace was painted every color imaginable: vast murals of river scenes, beside massive thirty-foot-tall portraits of every emperor and empress who had ever ruled.
They circled around it, driving behind and beyond. Still on the palace grounds, the royal kehok stables were through three archways and beyond a high-walled garden, tucked out of sight. After a surprised-looking set of guards yanked open a black gate, they rode inside, and Tamra saw that Yorbel had not exaggerated. She climbed off the cart, wincing as her leg ached, and joined Lady Evara in surveying their new home.
As Yorbel had said, the royal kehok stables had not been maintained.
That’s the polite way to put it, Tamra thought.
Lady Evara, however, had no interest in putting it politely. “I have housed rats in better accommodations than these.” She had her hands on her hips, her voluminous hat was askew, and her cheeks were flushed.
“Technically, kehoks are lower than rats,” Tamra said. She supposed there were some people who could even want to be reborn as rats, especially given a worse alternative.
Lady Evara fixed Tamra with a glare and then pivoted to face Augur Yorbel, who was inching backward as if he wanted to be elsewhere. “This does not begin to fit the requirements I detailed to you. I question whether the emperor-to-be is serious about this endeavor.”
“He’s more serious than you know,” Augur Yorbel said. “If you will excuse me, I will see what can be done to rectify this situation.” He bowed twice before exiting quickly, out through the black gate, toward the palace.
Lady Evara glowered at his retreating back, at the weed-choked practice track, and at the dilapidated stables. “I don’t even comprehend how anything so close to the palace was allowed to fall into such a state of disrepair. This is absolutely unacceptable.”
Raia, who had gone inside the stable to explore, poked her head out. “It’s not so bad.”
“Your rider is too cheerful,” Lady Evara informed Tamra.
“She’s young,” Tamra said. “It’ll fade.”
“True.” Then Lady Evara lowered her voice, so only Tamra could hear. “Tell me the truth: Can you do this? Can you shape that girl and her monster into champions? Because this is an opportunity for all of us. Yes, for me as well. You needn’t look so surprised.”
Tamra knew why she needed this, but Lady Evara? She hadn’t questioned it when Lady Evara had insisted on coming, but now that they were here, she thought it was an odd choice. Lady Evara could have bargained for more gold from the emperor-to-be’s bottomless coffers, rather than tying herself to the risk of the races. She could have stayed in the comfort of her own palace, with all her luxuries around her. “Why do you want a champion so badly?”
Lady Evara waved an arm at the palace spires that rose above them. “For fame! For glory! For personal reasons that I have no intention of sharing with you.” She laughed airily, as if none of this meant anything to her and it was all a grand joke.
“Fine. Yes, we can win.”
“What do you need to make it happen? Tell me, and I will secure it for you.”
It was so similar to Augur Yorbel’s offer that Tamra thought Lady Evara must have overheard their conversation on the boat. She wondered if the lady had thought of Tamra and Yorbel’s interaction the same way Raia had, and then firmly told herself to stop it with the ridiculous thoughts. “That’s a far cry from offering only two hundred gold pieces to buy a racer.” She would have asked what changed, but she