Chapter 13

Tamlin led Vela down the hall of the barn, Vela nudging her nose through the skirts of my dress and the tangles of my hair along the way. Then we were outside, the sun bursting in our vision, and I saw Lucien atop his black stallion, Heron. The horse was walking around Elain, and Lucien had a hand extended to her.    "Luc—" She was warning, but he was talking over her.    "I promise you won't be hurt. I'll be right behind you, sweetheart," He winked.    Elain harrumphed and turned her attention to Vela as Tamlin led her out, already saddled. I still remember the way he slowly circled the strap of the cinch, glancing at me to make sure I was learning how to tie it. Then, he got me to tug on it, his voice a little fiercer with each of my tugs as he told me to tug harder, stronger, Vela had to actually feel the cinch around her; she would know when the saddle was sturdy.    In the end I let go and raised my brows at his arms, which were significantly larger than my own, and looked away as he did the job with one tug.    Lucien grinned, squinting down at me as I appeared past Vela. "You haven't picked a horse yet?" He called.    I opened my mouth to say something; as much of an honour it would be to ride a horse like Vela—a once in a lifetime experience, I was sure—I still felt uneasy. She was sure to buck me, and I would fall, and die trying. I didn't want to try. And I couldn't sit where the High Lord sat—not anywhere, not even on a horse.    But Tamlin was behind me, and I whipped around to face him as he asked, sounding breathless, "Ready? You alright with me helping you up?"    "I'm not going to die, am I?"    Tamlin glanced up at Vela, who in response nudged her nose into me, and he gave a half-smile.    "I don't think you will,"    "Wait, Tam," Lucien said, pulling his stallion closer. "She hasn't picked a horse though—"    "Is this okay?" Tamlin's voice was low as he reached forward, placing his hands on my sides, devouring my ribcage whole with their size.    "Yes?" I said, a little breathless as Lucien spoke again.    "Tam, what're you do—"    Then he was hoisting me up, and the ground shrank from beneath me, and Lucien shouted as the High Lord set me down in the saddle. I gripped the reins immediately, and when that didn't feel sturdy enough, reached forward for Vela's cream mane.    "What are you thinking Tam? Vela? You thought she could ride Vela?"    Tamlin's hands slid from me and he stalked toward Lucien, muttering something about being able to read his own horse.    "That mare is going to kill her—" Lucien argued back, but I wasn't listening any longer. Vela lifted her head, her ears twitching.    I had never been on a horse before. Never ridden. But I had watched the soldiers at fathers house. Had studied their movements.    I leaned forward, and whispered to the mare, "Please try not to kill me."    Vela shook her head, her mane twisting in my fingers as she nickered in response.    But she stood still, and then, when I tried squeezing my legs ever so slightly, she began forward, circling Lucien steadily. I grinned, my eyes searching for Tamlins but instead meeting Lucien's gaping stare.    "Ellaena, do you know how many hundreds of Fae have tried even approaching Vela?"    I shrugged, and Vela snorted toward Lucien in response.    "Honestly, I think she smells something on me," I patted her neck, and watched as Lucien's mouth closed and he blanched, his eyes immediately locking onto Tamlins. "What? I mean, maybe not, that's just what it seemed like. I don't have any food though," I added, more to Vela than to Lucien.    Lucien met my gaze again, his smile wavering—he was thinking something, something important, I knew, and I was dying to find out—but all he said was, "Maybe we should have all tried hugging Tamlin first. She's probably smelling him."    I pulled Vela to a stop and raised a brow.    He let loose a laugh. "What?"    "While Tamlin is right here? You don't think she can recognise her own rider from me?"    "I'm just saying, maybe she accepts anyone with his scent—"    "I did not hug him—"    "Lucien, I'll come with you," Elain said from beside his horse, and Lucien's gaze cut down to his mate. He extended a hand, and in one swift movement, pulled her up in front of him. His arms reached past her hips, and I watched as she turned her head, telling him something as he leaned into her.    I couldn't help but avert my eyes, my cheeks flaring.    There was something terribly powerful about mates together, I couldn't describe it—hadn't even known it existed until I met Feyre and she introduced Rhysand as her mate. I had no clue how it worked.    Tamlin was at the base of Vela's saddle, looking up at me. "Would you mind?" His eyes searched mine.    I couldn't deny him his own horse, and gave the smallest of nods in assent. Not a moment later he was hoisting himself up, his chest against my back as he reached past me for the reins. I could feel his breath on my ear, and found myself shifting, leaning into it.    "Where to?" Lucien called, already trotting ahead. Elain was grasping the saddle, her hands already turning white as she muttered something like, "Please don't ride too fast, it's so hard staying on..."    "Wherever Vela leads," Tamlin called back. Then, I felt his chest press into my back as he began speaking in a low voice, his arms tightening around me. "Are you alright going a little fast? Just a canter. You should be sturdy in the saddle—staying on is really mostly up to me."    "Mhm, yeah," I nodded. I heard his intake of breath as he paused for only a moment before pulling back.    And then we were off. The breeze began playing with the strands of my hair, and I risked letting one hand loose so I could brush it away, and out of his face. Almost immediately I lost balance, my inner thighs burning with the effort it took to stay on, my knuckles white and entwined with Vela's mane.    The fright of the speed faded as more ground was swallowed under Vela's hooves, and in the distance, I saw the mare leading us toward the edge of a forest. We crested a hill, and there, amidst bullrush and berry bushes, and an overhanging willow tree, was a pond. The geese on its surface took flight as we approached, the horses hooves thundering.    I heard a splash behind us, then a shriek, and Lucien's laughter. I glanced back at them for only a moment, and heard Tamlin chuckle behind me as Heron exited the pond, Elain and Lucien half soaked.    It was all I had dreamed and nothing like I had imagined. To soar free on a horse, to feel its thundering hooves on the earth, to breathe as one with it as it ran underneath you—and we were only cantering.    I leaned back and was jolted against Tamlin, who had to readjust the reins with my movement. But I turned my head, and asked him quickly, "Can we go any faster?"    With a grin, he yipped at Vela, and we took off, leaving Lucien and Elain far behind.