Counting Shadows (Duplicity)

something under his breath.
    “Haven’t you ridden a horse before?” I ask. “It couldn’t have been
that
bad.”
    “No,” he says. “I’ve never ridden one before.”
    I raise an eyebrow and lean against a post holding up the stable ceiling. Ashe once taught me that if one person acts at ease, others are likely to follow along. Although I’m not sure convincing Lor to ride a horse will be quite as simple as leaning against a wooden post. “You’ve never ridden one? Then how have you traveled? By foot?”
    He scoffs. “Of course not. My people aren’t barbarians. We travel using gryphons.”
    “Gryphons?”
    He rolls his eyes and mutters something else under his breath. Then he rubs his temples, like he’s preparing to explain something to a stubborn toddler. “Yes, gryphons. You know what I’m talking about… Don’t you?”
    I shake my head, and he groans.
    “Your people are so uncivilized,” he grumbles.
    “Civilized or not, you’re stuck with us for the moment,” I say. “And these—“ I gesture to the horses around us, “—are what we use for travel. So chose one, and I’ll have Keth saddle him.”
    Lor makes that little hum-growl noise. “At least you know how to use saddles.” He pushes past me and strides down the aisle with a stiff walk, recoiling when one of the horses whinnies.
    I stare after him, shaking my head. He’s going to have to be more careful to hide displays that show he’s a foreigner. If he’s going to survive in Irrador, he’ll have to conceal his Angel side.
    I brush a stray strand of hair from my face, and do my best to also brush away the thought. Now isn’t the time for it; I need to concentrate on keeping Lor from having a full-on panic attack. Besides, word has already spread around that he’s an Angel, and I don’t think his actions could do much more harm. Father already wants him dead, and I’m already disgraced. I don’t see how he could do much more damage.
    “I’ll ride this one,” Lor calls from down the aisle.
    Lifting my skirts a little, I walk toward him. I take a take breath and focus on exhaling to keep myself from cursing the person who came up with the most recent women’s fashion. All the royal women are expected to wear long dresses with poofy skirts and flowing fabrics. They might as well have put a ball and chain around all our ankles.
    As I reach Lor’s side, my stomach churns, and my deep breath turns into a hiccup. No. Lor can’t choose this horse. Any horse but this horse.
    “He’s pretty,” Lor says. He peers closer at the pure-black mare and frowns. “He is… Isn’t he?”
    “
She
,” I snap. “Em is a girl. She’s gorgeous, and you can’t ride her.”
    Lor reaches his hand out to pet the mare. But he looks more like he’s about to poke her, and I swat his hand away. Lor yelps and recoils. He shakes out his hand, as if I’ve actually hurt him, and then sticks it under his other arm. I pet Em’s neck the correct way, and pretend not to notice as Lor glares at me.
    “What is with you?” Lor demands. “First you tell me to choose a horse, and then you beat me when I just do what I’m told.”
    I roll my eyes. “Don’t be overly-dramatic.”
    “I want to ride this one,” he says, and he makes a hesitant gesture toward Em. “Is there something terribly wrong with that?”
    “Yes,” I snap. “She’s vicious. She’ll buck you off and trample you if you even try to ride her.”
    I wait for Lor to recoil again, but he just shoots me a suspicious look. He glances to Em, and then back to me. “She doesn’t seem all that vicious to me.”
    “She is,” I insist weakly. “She’ll kill you.”
    Lor reaches out presses his broad palm against Em’s forehead. The mare doesn’t react, other than to toss her head a little. “This was Jay’s mare,” he murmurs. “Wasn’t she?”
    I look away. I just can’t…
watch
. Watch as Lor presses his hand against the mare in the same place Ashe always did. Watch as he smiles a little, hesitantly admiring Em with the same uncertainty as Ashe. Watch as Lor steps in and tries to replace my Guardian. My best friend, the Angel I loved.
    “No,” I lie.
    In the back of my mind, I remember what Ashe once said about this mare when I asked why he liked the horse so much:
“She has a spirit like yours, my little sparrowhawk,”
he’d explained to me.
“She’s strong-willed, but kind at heart. How could I not love her?”
    I blink away tears as Lor continues