“I have no friends. Just people who admire me and wish they could be like me.” He added cynically, “Like my partner Masenak here. It appears his finances are in shambles. Even if Chaos wins and my money is in his pocket, he’ll still have problems making Chaos the asset he could be. He’s a criminal on the run, and he wouldn’t be able to handle either the racing or the breeding possibilities. But if he lets the world believe Chaos is mine, then all that hassle goes away. I’m a respectable businessman and no one knows any different. Masenak will split any future profits with me in return for me providing him with a front he couldn’t get anywhere else. So Nightshade will run in our race, but I’ll hedge my bet with Chaos. No matter what the outcome at the end of the race, the next day you and that horse will be coming home with me. Now get on that stallion and show me what he can do.”
She glanced at Masenak.
He nodded. “Not unreasonable considering our new arrangement. And Reardon wants you to come to dinner tonight in my suite. Seven, Sasha.”
She instantly shook her head. “I have to take care of Chaos and Nightshade.”
“Seven,” Reardon repeated. “Go to your suite first and change to the more suitable clothing I’ll have sent to you. I’ve designated myself to set up scheduling. I believe I’ll be better at it than Masenak. He appears to be a trifle overindulgent with you. His idea about holding your other horses hostage wasn’t bad, and I might sanction it, but I prefer more personal ways to break both of you.” His tone hardened. “Now mount Chaos and go twice around the track. I want speed and obedience. If I get less, you’ll both regret it. After that you may go back to the stable until it’s time for you to put in an appearance later.”
She hesitated. Defiance or temporary compliance? She was having trouble thinking through the frustration and panic. It was an entirely new ball game, and it was clear Reardon was in charge of every move. If she disobeyed, it would force him to punish immediately to establish his dominance. She had no choice.
She turned and jumped on Chaos’s back.
Run! Let’s get this over with.
Chaos sprang forward!
She bent low over his neck. No joy. No lightning. Just the glory of speed and the togetherness that even Reardon couldn’t smother.
Once around the track.
And Chaos was sensing something wrong. She could feel his muscles tightening. Why?
Just run.
Twice around the track.
Enough. She pulled him in, signaling him to stop.
He didn’t stop. Wrong. It should not have been like that for you. Should I go back and make them hurt?
No, we’re going back to the stable. He’d slowed down and she managed to jump off him. It wasn’t wrong. Sometimes you have to give up a little to win. She glanced back at Reardon and Masenak and she wished she hadn’t. Masenak was smiling, but Reardon’s exultant expression was triumphant. She shivered. Evil. Pure evil. She’d thought Masenak was terrible, but she had an idea Reardon was a devil incarnate. As well as having power over Masenak to shape his treatment of her and what happened at Jubaldar during the next days. She had never felt this helpless when dealing with Masenak.
It was not little. You’re shaking again. But Chaos was letting her lead him from the track. I don’t think I can let it happen again.
* * *
Sasha had to stop a moment to get her breath after she’d finished feeding and watering Chaos and Nightshade. Slow down, she told herself. She’d done all she could for the time being. She’d been working hurriedly, trying not to think, because she was dreading going to the suite for another encounter with Masenak and Reardon. But she had to face it.
Alone.
Gilroy hadn’t come last night. She really hadn’t expected him; had even told Alisa she shouldn’t let him come. He must have heard about Reardon’s arrival and known Nightshade was here and she might be having to make adjustments. But she had still found herself waiting.
Just as she had this evening.
But this evening if he came, he might find her gone. He’d never been able to get here before almost nine. It was almost six thirty and she had no intention of being late and giving Reardon a reason to go on the attack.
She left the stable and hurried across the courtyard and up to her suite. The outfit Reardon considered “suitable” was draped on the bed, and it wasn’t as bad as she’d thought. A simple white pleated tunic, tan trousers, sandals instead of boots. She ducked into the shower, was out and dressed in fifteen minutes, and then was running toward Masenak’s quarters.
“Right on time.” It was Reardon who opened the door. He said over his shoulder to Masenak, “I told you she’d be prompt. She’s very smart and wouldn’t want any immediate confrontation.” He pulled her into the suite. “Now let’s see how she looks before we sit down to dinner.” He tilted his head as he gazed at her from head to toe. “Not bad. That loose white shirt makes you look a couple of years younger, which I prefer. But the hair is all wrong.” He grasped her wrist and dragged her in front of a mirror over the sideboard. “But I can take care of that, pretty Sasha,” he whispered as he quickly began to unfasten her ponytail.
* * *
9 P.M.
44 Hours to Race Time
Sasha barely let the door of Masenak’s suite slam behind her before she was running down the stairs, and then across the courtyard to the stable.
Then she was inside. Safety.
She was breathing hard and leaning back against the door, panting.
“Sasha?”
Gilroy. Her gaze flew down the aisle of stalls to see him coming toward her. “Should you be here? Is it safe for you?” She was running toward him. “Reardon is here. Everything is different. Maybe you should—”
“Hush.” He took her shoulders in his hands and gave her a gentle shake. “I was careful. There’s so much fuss and confusion about Reardon’s arrival that it’s safer than it was before. I just had to be certain before I screwed up.” He was gazing at her. “But if I was reading body language right when you came through that door, you’re not finding it safer. Where were you?”
“Masenak’s suite, having dinner with him and Reardon.”
He gave a low whistle. “Not good.”
“No.” She was recovering now. “But it was stupid of me to panic. It was what Reardon wanted me to do. I couldn’t let him see that I—but I hardly made it out that door after dinner before I broke. He kept staring at me all through dinner with those pale eyes like a cat who wants to—” She broke off. “I hated it. Will you wait just a minute? I kept thinking of what he was seeing, and I have to get rid of it.” She pulled her hair back from her face and fastened it into the ponytail she usually wore. “That’s all I can do right now. But I can still feel his fingers in my hair while he was combing it out. It was…creepy.”
“I can imagine,” he said quietly. “Did he do anything else that was ‘creepy’?”
She shook her head. “Just threats.” She moistened her lips. “He likes young girls. When I was sitting across from him at the table, he made me feel…like Jeanne. I could see him treating me like those men treated Jeanne Palsan.”
He swore beneath his breath.
“But he didn’t touch me…except for my hair.” She tried desperately to put together anything else that might be of importance. “Masenak and he have some kind of deal about Chaos, and I think Reardon is in control. Or at least heading that way. Masenak’s given him permission to take Chaos and me home with him on the day after the race. But I believe Masenak would fight him if he tried to snatch Chaos away.” Yet she remembered how Reardon had almost ignored Masenak this evening, attempting to control the conversation and intimidate her. “I could see how much Reardon likes control. One of the reasons he might have wanted me to be afraid is that I can handle Chaos. He might think that to control me will be to control Chaos.”
“Don’t count on it. Korgan thinks that Reardon is a son of a bitch on every level, and no one knows him better.
”
“He might be right.” She shivered. “It’s just easier for me not to think of myself as another Jeanne Palsan. But I should let Alisa know that there might be a way to drive a wedge between Masenak and Reardon. I’ll call her soon.” She moistened her lips. “But I don’t want to have her asking me questions right now.”
“Because you don’t know if you can fend them off at the moment.” He shrugged. “I’ll do it, if you’ll fetch the phone from Chaos’s stall. I’d offer to do it myself after I proved myself so splendidly the other night, but he’s been very restless while I was waiting for you. I don’t want to damage my new image by having him pound me into the dirt. Maybe having to share his stable with Nightshade is causing him to be a little on edge?”
She shook her head. “No. He has no trouble at all with Nightshade. He’s been practically ignoring her all the time she’s been here. Even when I had them both on the track together for a while this morning, he was being his usual kingly self and showing off how much better he was than her. More likely it’s Reardon and Masenak who are making him edgy. He didn’t like what was happening on the track today.” Her lips tightened. “Neither did I.”
“And neither do I. So get me the phone so I can express my outrage to Alisa and Korgan and save you from doing it.”
She wasn’t going to argue with him, she thought wearily. She wasn’t able to be calm yet about what had happened tonight, and she didn’t want it to upset Alisa when there was nothing to be done about it. Better to let Gilroy handle it. “No outrage. Just give them the facts.” She turned and headed toward Chaos’s stall. “I’ll be right back.”
She heard Chaos moving before she reached him. Definitely restless. I’m coming in to get one of the things you’re guarding for me. Are you okay with it?
It’s good you ask permission. At least you realize my importance.
And definitely bad-tempered. I’ll be in and out in seconds. And then I’ll go and get you and Nightshade fresh water before I return the phone to you.
You need not get anything for her. She does not deserve it.
Don’t be selfish. She was in his stall and reaching for the phone. She hasn’t done anything to you. Of course I’ll get her water.
Then she was out of the stall and handing the phone to Gilroy, who was coming toward her. “It’s just as well you left it to me. He’s in a rotten humor.”
“I’ve always wondered how you could tell the difference.” He ducked into a stall four down from Chaos and started to make the call.
Sasha shrugged and shook her head. There was no way she could explain all the beauty and spirit that was Chaos, so she wouldn’t try. He had to be experienced. She turned, grabbed the buckets, and headed for the pump.
* * *
Gilroy didn’t try to reach Alisa. He called Korgan directly. “I’m giving you a report for Alisa. Sasha had a rough time today, but she said to tone down the outrage, so you do it for me. I’m in no mood.”
“How bad? Masenak?”
“For once he wasn’t the main perpetrator. Reardon showed up and stepped up to the plate. What you’ll be most interested in is that the situation is getting tighter. If you were planning on taking Reardon out on the day after the race, you might have a problem. When Reardon leaves Jubaldar, he’s taking Chaos and Sasha home with him.”
“What! Why?”
“Some deal Masenak and Reardon have concocted between them. But like I said, if you were counting on having another couple of days to stage the attack, or just to get her out of Jubaldar, you’d better consider that she might be joined at the hip to Reardon.”
Korgan was cursing. “Of course I was planning on staging the attack by the day after the race. And we can do it, dammit. I just heard from Novak that he’s on his way back to Samlir with his team. But this means there can’t be anything last minute about it. It’s almost the same as losing a day.” He paused. “And I don’t like this for a number of reasons. What kind of deal? What does it involve?”
“Chaos, of course.” He added bitterly, “And it might have something to do with Sasha. It seems he likes young girls and decided to groom Sasha to be his next choice.”
“Shit! My reports on Reardon indicated that might be a problem, but I was hoping it could be avoided if he showed up just before the race as usual.”
“Hoping?” Gilroy cursed low and vehemently. “Bullshit. You should have been prepared for it. He’s here, and Sasha is having to take care of it herself. I can’t do a damn thing about it.”
“Except you’re already planning on how you can,” Korgan said grimly. “And you could blow everything to hell and get her killed if you’re that reckless. How is she handling it?”
“How do you think? Like she always does. Like she did when she was facing Masenak in that prison encampment. Pure guts and endurance. But it’s different this time. I could see it when she ran into the stable tonight. She was scared and shaking and trying not to show it. But she was talking too fast and she mentioned Jeanne Palsan. She saw too much in Masenak’s camp, and she was always in danger herself.” He suddenly burst out, “Dammit, how much does she have to take?”
“More than she should. We all know that. The question is, How long do we have before Reardon’s threat becomes reality.” He paused. “Or has it already reached that point?”
“No. Masenak and Reardon are involved with Chaos and they may be using Sasha as a chess piece. But there’s no telling when one of them might declare checkmate before that. You can’t expect me to sit here and let that happen. I won’t do it, Korgan.”
“I’m not asking, I’m just telling you that you have to cool down and let me see what I can do to change the scenario. Reardon screwed us by showing up early. He had time to assess the situation and start negotiating. Now he’s ready to fold his tents and leave with the spoils.” He was silent, thinking. “All Masenak’s guests have arrived at the castle now, is that right? How many?”
“Fifty or sixty. Davidow and the housekeepers are going crazy.”
“Why?”
“Why do you think? When they come, it’s nonstop turmoil in the castle and stables. Masenak’s choice of party friends are generally petty criminals and whores who are here to curry favor and provide an enthusiastic audience. In return they’re allowed to have the run of the place.”
“Good to know.” He was quiet again. “Very disruptive on the day before the race. Anything could happen.”
“What?”
“I’ll let you know,” he said. “But the situation isn’t that bad. With Jed Novak on board with handling the attack from Samlir, and Vogel delivering those drones to him sometime tomorrow, it will cinch the preparations.”
“I don’t want promises. I want you to come through for her.”
“And I will. Do you think I could face Alisa if I didn’t? Do you think I could look in the mirror?”
“No,” he said harshly, “I just feel so damn helpless.”
“Well, that’s a first. All I can suggest is that you be sure you’re as ready as you can be. We’ll do the same.” He cut the connection.
Gilroy sat for a moment, looking down at the phone. He was still pissed off and frustrated and scared for Sasha, but talking to Korgan had helped a little to make him remember that he didn’t have to shoulder the nightmare alone. That was Korgan’s job, wasn’t it, he thought sourly. Why become a damn icon if you didn’t want to accept the bullshit that went along with it?
He got to his feet and strode out of the stall to see Sasha standing a few feet away in front of Chaos’s stall. “I didn’t talk to Alisa, but I gave your message to Korgan not to alarm her.”
“That’s good,” she said absently, not looking away from Chaos. “I could have done it, but it gave me time to get over being such a wuss.” She held out her hand to take the phone. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” He ignored her outstretched hand. “I think I’ll keep my phone for the time being.” As she started to protest, he shook his head. �
�If you hadn’t been so determined to make Chaos guardian of our stash, I would have found a place before this. Using him was a good idea, but Korgan said that from now on we should be as ready as we could be for anything that comes our way. I can’t do that unless I can get to my gun and that phone quickly. I’ll take over the job of finding a safe place for mine.”
“‘Anything that comes our way…’” She shook her head. “I don’t think you were successful in not alarming him.”
“He won’t let Alisa see it.” He shrugged. “I’m not too proud to call in reinforcements.” He turned to open Chaos’s stall. “To prove it, I’ll have you stand there on guard while I go in and get my gun from Chaos’s less-than-tender care.”
“No!” She jerked him back. “I’ll do it. I told you something wasn’t right with him.” She slipped inside, got his gun, and then was back. “Change ‘bad-humored’ to ‘savage.’ Don’t go near him.”
“Sick?”
“I don’t think so. I hope not. Masenak isn’t going to believe me if I tell him he’s too ill to run.” She squeezed his arm. “Get out of here and find a place to hide that gun and phone.”
He still hesitated.
“Nothing’s going to happen to me. I couldn’t be safer than I am here.” She made a face. “If I get nervous, I’ll take a blanket and sleep in Chaos’s stall. He might not be liking me right now, but he’d really hate anyone who tried to bother him tonight. And I’ll be just as safe once I’m on the track tomorrow with all of Masenak’s guests gawking at us. Masenak won’t want my concentration disturbed any more than necessary.”
“You have it all thought out. You’ve been planning strategy.” He smiled. “I told Korgan, all guts and endurance.” He turned and added lightly as he headed out the door, “But do me a favor and take good care of yourself? I can’t be bothered to be worried about you when I have to find somewhere to stash this gun.”
* * *
Midnight
41 Hours to Race Time
Chaos Page 35
