Her neck arched as she threw her back legs up with a force to be reckoned with. My legs squeezed around her sides to keep my seat. She threw two more, and I tugged one side of her lead to the right, pulling her head along with it before yanking it back tightly. She yielded for a heartbeat before she realized what I’d done. She ripped the lead back, straightening out and took off down the field.
For fuck’s sake.
My thighs burned as she flew down the brown field. Drops of rain slickened the ground while she threw in bucks along the way. I clung to her as she turned sideways, crow-hopping like a psychotic idiot.
Get off her,Tiberius commanded.
Stay out of it,I snapped.
She’s a lost cause,he said.
You are distracting me!
Thunder clapped again, and I used the distraction to grab hold of her head with the lead. I kept talking to her, soothing her through ragged breath, finally gaining enough control to turn her back to the direction of the prison. Ti’s wave of concern reached me before his shadow passed overhead.
We neared the stables, and she didn’t slow. I dug my right boot into her side, sliding it back as I pulled with the right rein.
Fuck, we had to slow down.
Tempest eyed the building as we neared, seeming to realize it too late, and slammed on her hooves, sending her rear end slipping beneath her as she tumbled to the ground.
My head slammed into the mud, right leg barking in pain as she landed on top of me for a heartbeat before leaping to her feet and trotting off.
I blinked against the stars forming in my vision and groaned as I rolled to my side. Thunder cracked again, followed by an intense downpour. Tempest crept toward me, her velvety snout blowing a puff of air against my head. Footsteps approached, and she backed away.
A hand reached down, hauling me to my feet. My vision tunneled, and I swayed, another hand gripping my other arm, steadying me. I scowled as I turned to find Astraeus’s smirk too close for my liking.
“That was fun to watch,” he murmured, his dark eyes changing from two to four and back to two again.
Bile rose to my throat as I tried to pull out of his arms, but he held firm. I opened my mouth to say something rude when nausea seized me, and I emptied the contents of my stomach across the front of his sea blue coat.
“Oh gods, Lyvia!” Vienah called from nearby.
Mumbled talking sounded before I yielded to the beckoning darkness.
