“Love you too, honey! Goodbye!”
The call disconnected, and I slipped my phone into a back pocket of my jeans, then stopped in front of Comet’s stall to kiss the mare on her scratchy muzzle. “Okay, I’m out. I just wanted to check on you lovelies to make sure everyone is doing good.”
I did a quick visual sweep of the stables—all of the sun stallions were gone now, except for Fax, obviously. My six night mares had claimed stalls as soon as they opened up, but mine weren’t the only night mares, because over the past few days new night mares had appeared. Now, we were up to twelve.
I made my way back up the stable aisle, pausing when Eclipse bobbed her head invitingly at me. “Chase?” I called to my director of security—he was speaking in a lowered tone with Dawn, but when I called out he swiveled to face me with very precise and crisp movements.
“Yes, Queen Leila?”
“Can we head out yet?”
To celebrate the victory of surviving my first social—and because Skye and Indigo had the day off—I was busting out of this joint to pursue the worthiest of goals: coffee.
Specifically, coffee at my favorite café in Magiford, which was human owned and human run, so I’d be safe ordering there. That’s why part two of my plan was to buy my weight’s worth in breakfast sandwiches.
I was sick of eating jerky, protein bars, and raw fruits and veggies. It got old after the second week of it.
But I couldn’t go out alone anymore, so I asked Chase to come with. I’d been hoping he was a coffee fan—no dice, I was still the sole coffee lover in my mansion—but he agreed to come with me anyway.
Chase bowed slightly. “I will notify Azure to pull the car up around the front—”
Eclipse screamed and banged on her door, making the hinges creak ominously.
“Hey, hey, what’s wrong?” I soothingly stroked her neck as she pushed her head into my chest.
Since she seemed fine, I started to walk away.
This time EclipseandSolstice screamed—their calls loud and piercing and very not-at-all-horse-like.
Chase thoughtfully studied them, slightly tilting his head in a very wolf-like manner.
Dawn rubbed her hands together, then asked in a voice loaded with tension, “Do you think they want to come with you?”
“Nah!” I laughed. “Why would the night mares want to go with me to get coffee?”
Chapter Thirteen
Leila
Turns out, they wanted to go with me to get coffee.
About half an hour later I was mounted up on Eclipse, squinting even though I wore sunglasses, as I studied Solstice—who was riderless but wearing a leather halter for our jaunt—and Chase—who was riding Fax.
The helmet I borrowed from Dawn was squeezing my head a little, and everything felt a littleoff. Eclipse was so skinny the saddle sat differently on her, but her movements were a lot smoother than I’d prepared myself for.
“Are we sure this is going to work?” I asked.
“Absolutely, Queen Leila.” Dusk fed Solstice a chunk of carrot. “One of the reasons why the night mares are revered is because of their ability to make their own fae gates. They can walk into the Night Realm and then create another gate to drop you straight into the human realm. You just have to think of where you want the new gate to drop you.”
“Yeah, but as much as I love my beauties, I don’t know how well they’re going to deal with all the noises and sights of downtown Magiford.” I glanced nervously down at Eclipse, who was standing placidly.
Dusk brushed a leaf that was drooping over his right eye back into his hair. “It will be fine, Queen Leila.”
“I don’t want them to make a gate to the café and then get scared because they hear a car horn,” I said.
Dawn joined her brother, and the two stood shoulder to shoulder. “In truth, Queen Leila, the time when the night mares were most likely to…expressthemselves is when you first mounted Eclipse.” She glanced from Solstice to Eclipse, then added, “I don’t believe Dusk or I have seen anyone ride the night mares since we were kids.”
That explains why they were nervous when I first hopped on.
