“No. I’m fairly certain you are a great deal better rider than everyone believes,” Lord Rigel said.
“Oh?”
“When I was staking out a place to hide and then kill you, I saw inside your barn.” He ignored Lord Linus when he squawked like an angry seagull. “Based on the kinds of equipment I saw, you’ve been riding a long time, and in a variety of styles.”
“Excellent observation.”
We followed megaphone man—who was repeating the announcement as he made his way to the starting point.
When we got closer, I could actually see more of the contestants, all preparing their mounts—which were mostly sun stallions.
I’d bet the Day or Night Courts founded this race since they were the only two Courts with magical horse mounts—I’d say it was that annoying jerk of a Night King, because as a first class fun sucker it seemed like it would totally be his thing. Regardless, talk about stacking the deck in your favor!
Of course, there were winged horses and unicorns, but neither of those animals were exactly common, and they didn’t readily allow themselves to be ridden. Plus, it was extremely rare that anyone could successfully domesticate one of them, so even if there was a domesticated unicorn or winged horse trotting around, their owner wasn’t going to risk entering them in a potentially dangerous race.
There were a few regular-ish horses—those were mostly owned by the less powerful seelie and unseelie Courts. And I say ‘ish’ because a lot of them still gave off a faint aura of magic—I was guessing they’d been stabled in the fae realm long enough to pick up some of the place’s natural magic, or they had a fae on staff that—like me—had some natural animal magic.
It was pretty easy to pick out the riders representing the Winter, Autumn, Summer, Spring, and Day Courts.
Day’s riders all wore golden robes and had gorgeous suns emblazoned on their tunics. Autumn’s wore crimson shirts swirled with shades of orange and red, and had extravagant tack emblazoned with brightly colored leaves. Spring’s sun stallions all had wreaths of flowers tied around their necks and twined around the tack, while Winter’s tack were all a stark white that had shades of blue in it. Finally, Summer’s people wore brilliant shades of blue and orange, and their sun stallions had brightly colored ribbons braided into their manes and tails.
The monarchs were nowhere to be seen on the bustling city street.
“The other Courts didn’t bring any of their magical mounts?” I asked.
I think the Autumn Court has griffins? I don’t remember what the others have.
“Only equines can be used in the hunts and races,” Lord Linus said.
“Yeah, I’m well aware of the rules,” I sourly said. “I meant why wouldn’t the kings and queens ride their mounts here?”
“Not everyone treats their Court’s magical creatures as pets,” Lord Linus said. “Or, more correctly, the creatures don’t always trust their Court enough to establish the bond needed to be a pet.”
“It’s time for the opening ceremony!” megaphone guy shouted. “Here to mark the festivities are our venerable rulers of the Midwest region. Queen Rime of the Winter Court!”
The representatives for and the fae from the Winter Court howled like wolves as Queen Rime—eye catching with her white hair, pale skin, and stark white clothes—stepped out of a fancy car, sunglasses covering her eyes.
“King Fell of the Autumn Court!”
A handsome fae who looked just a little older than me casually jogged down the stairs of a store, holding out his hands and smirking as his people cheered loudly for him.
He had perfect, brunette hair and a classically handsome face, but his clothes were…unusual. He wore a sort of gold-plated breastplate that just covered his upper chest—leaving the lean muscles of his waist uncovered—fitted red pants, gold wrist cuffs, and a red cloak that draped over one shoulder.
He looked like the kind of guy I justitchedto punch—cocky, smug, andannoying.
“King Birch and Consort Flora of the Summer Court!”
I couldn’t spy the Summer monarchs—judging by how far off the cheers for them were, I was guessing they were farther up the street, closer to the starting line.
“King Solis of the Day Court!”
All the sun stallions in the area—regardless of who owned them—raised their heads and neighed in tribute to their true owner as King Solis waved from where he had emerged at the base of the street with a few additional riders.
“Queen Verdant of the Spring Court!”
Queen Verdant—clothed in a gauzy green gown—laughed as she rode in on a sun stallion, her long, curly blond hair cascading over her shoulder, barefoot, and a crown of flowers with a set of white antlers on her head.
Her people cheered for her, making her smile bigger, as she waved like a royal attending a ball.
