“Yeah, they are.”
“Do you want to win, Thayla?”
I swallow.
“Yeah, I do. Really bad.”
“Then let’s win.”
I hold his golden mane in a death grip as his front hooves come off the ground. The second they touch back down, we take off at the speed of light. A blast of power soars across the meadow and it washes across me in waves.
A shrill of pure, unfiltered adrenaline rips free from the confines of my chest as we gain on the other two.
They’re less than a Veilatara length ahead of us, and what looks like an actual finish line that Riven put together is about ten lengths away.
“Come on, Seismet, you got this.”
His neigh has Verlet returning one and picking up speed.
Their gallops thunder through the space and each powerful step pumps in my chest like a drum. Their strides send a ripple across the land and my senses.
“You got this, Seismet. Go, go, go.”
The second Riven’s arm is within my reach, I snatch my damn glow stick out of his hand and pump it in the air.
His laugh rings a warning in my ear and I continue to encourage Seismet on. He and Verlet trade the lead back and forth.
One moment, we’re a muzzle ahead, the next, they are.
You got this.
You can do it.
We can do it.
“No!”
My arms splay out beside me and my neck cranes toward the stars and full moon as a belly deep laugh pours through my lips. Riven’s roaring denial causes the noise spilling from me to grow louder.
Seismet’s victory trot bounces me all around, and I roam my hands up and down his neck as I wrap him in a hug.
“Fuck yes, Seismet.”
“That will teach the two of them about cheating against us again.”
“Hell yeah, it will.”
I grin and chuckle at the huff and stomp Verlet gives us. Seismet whips toward him, and I swear to the Valories, his responding breath sounds like a laugh.
“You’re getting slow in your old age, brother.”
“I’m most certainly not. Riven weighs more than Thayla does.”
“Pitiful excuse. You two even had a head start.”
That they did.
My Veilatara is a badass.
