contained himself. Yorbel felt a burst of both pride and aching sympathy for this boy who was being forced to grow up so fast. “Yes, that is an excellent idea. As it happens, I am between duties now.” He shot a look at the stack of unsigned papers that remained. “Please lead the way.”
Raia coaxed the black lion into a stall and bolted the door after him. It seemed sturdy enough, and Tamra had pronounced it suitable—whichever emperor had commissioned it had poured plenty of gold into its original construction.
Beneath all the cobwebs and sand, the stable was still beautiful. Lady Evara’s servants were scurrying all over the grounds outside, cleaning the viewing area first, where Lady Evara might wish to sit, as well as the exterior of the stable, exposing the murals.
Guess I should make myself useful.
She darted out and helped herself to a bucket of soapy water and a sponge. Across the track, she saw Trainer Verlas with Lady Evara, greeting a contingent of guards. She hoped they’d come to help clean. Regardless, she knew Trainer Verlas would handle it.
She started with her kehok’s stall door, wiping it down while staying out of reach of his claws and jaws. He paced inside. Now that they’d arrived, he seemed to be growing more and more restless. “You want to be running,” Raia guessed. “Me too.”
Soon, she was sure, Trainer Verlas would have them out on the track. She wouldn’t want to waste much time—she wasn’t the type who cared about the aesthetics of a place. Lady Evara could keep neatening and prettifying as much as she wanted, but Raia knew her trainer’s patience for that would wear out quickly, which was good.
“We have to win next time,” Raia said.
The lion snarled, but he didn’t seem to be paying attention to her. She found a sink near one of the adjacent stalls—the fanciest sink she’d ever seen, with multiple faucets and a wide basin of black stone. She carried a bucket over to it and, after the pipes finally started spewing clean water, filled it and then lugged it back over to where the kehok could reach it.
Outside the stables, she heard a commotion, and without thinking, she ducked into the adjacent stall. As soon as she was hidden, it occurred to her that she didn’t need to hide. She was supposed to be here. This was her racer.
Then she heard Augur Yorbel say, “Your Greatness, it would be safest to view the kehok while he is secure in his stall.”
That can’t be . . . She peeked between the slats and saw the doors open. Sunlight flooded inside, silhouetting about a half-dozen guards who marched together into the stable. In between them was a taller figure, a man. But he was too shielded by guards for Raia to see his face.
She stayed hidden.
Filthy from the journey here and from scrubbing the filth from the stalls, Raia did not want the emperor-to-be of the Becar Empire to see her this way. Or at all.
Inside the adjacent stall, her kehok began to rage. Screaming, he fought his shackles and threw his body against the walls, as hard as his bindings would allow.
Steady, she thought at him. Calm down!
Beyond the stall, she heard Trainer Verlas boom, “Silence!”
The lion whimpered but continued to struggle quietly. Raia shifted so she could see him, drawn back into one corner. He looked as if he were in pain. She wished she dared go to him.
One of the guards asked, “What is agitating him?”
Another replied, “It’s a monster. They’re always like this.”
“Your Greatness,” Trainer Verlas said to the emperor-to-be, “it’s most likely your soldiers. No doubt their swords remind him of when he was captured. It’s a common reaction in kehoks.”
Lady Evara hurried to say, “I promise that his rider has complete control over him on the track. Let her demonstrate! Where is that girl?”
Raia knew that was her cue to expose herself, but she hesitated. She wasn’t certain she could control him when he felt so cornered, and she didn’t want to fail in front of the emperor-to-be of all Becar!
In that moment of hesitation, the emperor-to-be spoke. “I will view him alone.”
“Your Excellence . . .” a guard protested.
“He is secure, as you can see,” Prince Dar said. “And there is no threat here. Guard the door. Outside.”
Reluctantly, the guards shuffled out of the stable.
“Alone, I said.”
Raia saw her trainer, the augur, and Lady Evara bow and exit.