I toss Zadyn a pleading look.
“Alright,” he says, looking past my shoulder back to Jace. “But we do it safely.”
“Safe is my middle name.” Jace holds up his arms innocently, a dark smirk blooming on his full bottom lip. I fight the blush threatening to creep up my neck.
“We’ll find you when we’re done here,” Zadyn tells him dismissively.
“Oh, I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” Jace exaggerates with a dramatic sigh, planting his feet shoulder-width apart and crossing his arms. Zadyn and I simultaneously roll our eyes and turn back to the horse.
Riding a Stygian horse solo is…terrifying.It isn’t helped by the fact that Hansel, the eighty-five-year-old mare, is a living terror.
From the moment I ease into the saddle, Hansel bucks and brays wildly, seeking to flatten me on the ground beneath her massive hooves. I place a hand on her silken neck to soothe her,and the wretch actually strains her head to snap at my fingers. I pull back with a sharp yelp.
“Steady.” Zadyn tries to soothe her, his hands outstretched innocuously. He shifts his gaze to mine. “Tighten your grip. Lock your thighs. The more you squeeze, the more control you have. You have to show her who’s leading.”
I bring my thighs together as tight as I can until they strain, and Hansel simmers down slightly.
“Good. Hold that posture,” Zadyn encourages.
“How do I get her to go?”
“Tug the reins. Gently,” he directs.
The second I do, Hansel takes off like a bat out of hell toward the thicket of oak trees beyond the stables. A squeal bursts from me as I tighten my grip on the reins. Wind whips through my hair as we fly through the dense forest, my hips lifting from the saddle with every punishing gallop.
“Hansel!” I shout in command, locking my thighs together like Zadyn said. That at least keeps me from flying straight off the Stygian horse as she bounds toward a sizable body of water. There’s no way we’ll clear it, I think to myself. But the running jump we take sails us clean across the little lake, and we land with a thud on the other side. As soon as her feet touch the ground, she’s off again, faster than any racehorse alive. Thunderous gallops sound from behind, and I turn back to see Zadyn and Jace, each on their own horses, barreling toward me.
“The reins!” Jace shouts.
“What?” I yell back, seeing the panic edging their brows.
“Pull the reins! Now!” Zadyn screams at me.
Facing forward, I notice that not ten feet away, the clearing comes to a steep drop met only with mountain sky. I yank the reins back with all of my strength and pray that’s enough to stop us from careening over into the valley below. My heartthunders with every long stride we take. Hansel is slowing, but she hasn’t stopped.
Oh, god.
“Stop!” I shout at her. “Hansel, stop!”
Four more gallops, and we’ll be done for.
“Serena!” someone shouts from behind.
I grit my teeth against the horse’s strength and power, pulling the leather so hard it skins my sweating palms. The battle cry I loose bounds off the waiting canyon below as I brace myself to go over the edge. At the last possible moment, Hansel skids to a stop mere inches before we run out of forest. Mud and debris crumble from the edge of the drop, cascading into the deep valley below.
My heart thunders in my ears as I tug Hansel once more, and she turns obediently toward the two males behind me.
Two sets of worry-stricken eyes stare at me as they simultaneously dismount.
Zadyn reaches me first, a horrified look on his face.
“So much for lower risk.” Jace slows a few feet away from us, and I watch his gaze shift to Zadyn’s hand on my leg. When his eyes find mine again, he says, “I swear, witch, you could turn a morning stroll through the gardens into a near-death experience.”
I throw him a quick scowl.
“You’re alright,” Zadyn says, more to himself than to me. He takes the reins and leads us back the way we came.
“So clearly, the trade-off for Stygian size and speed is common sense.” I grimace as the creature below me snarls as if understanding my insult. Zadyn and Jace remount their horses, and Hansel thankfully behaves on our way back.
