Page 14 of The Mirror and the Curse

“Pretty close. You should feel honored. A colt his age is reluctant to express deeper feelings. But he has them, never fear.”

Eddi glanced at Kai. “I can deal with that.” In her experience, males of all species avoided not only emotional expression but also necessary communication. Sudden resolve filled her chest like a gray cloud. “I would like to see his barn and get him settled in, but you and I also need to talk.”

One dark brow quirked. “Talk?”

She set her jaw. “It’s been two years now. You have some explaining to do.”

“Oh. That talk.” He turned toward the barns. “Let’s get White settled first.”

“Fine.”

The refurbished stable stood behind the main barn, across a courtyard newly paved with bricks. Eddi guessed in a glance that magic had gone into its restoration. “This is fabulous,” was her honest reaction as Kai slid open its huge main doors.

“Geoff Bryant gets most of the credit. He included every amenity I requested. There are six stalls, all large enough to accommodate wings, and each with a walkout covered paddock attached and a private storage closet. Benches, hooks, etcetera. You’re welcome to use the wash racks in the courtyard at any time. The watering system is topnotch, the lighting is magically automated, and our resident stable brownies are eager to meet and care for White.”

“You sound like a salesman,” Eddi observed.

Without missing a beat he gave her an ingratiating smile. “How’m I doing, miss? Ready to slap down a deposit on this exceptional example of equine equipage?”

Eddi laughed outright. “Better still, I’ll move my fteroti in today.”

“Fterotó,” Kai corrected automatically, then bowed, indicating the open door. “If the lovely young lady would be so good as to step inside, I shall gladly demonstrate this hot and happenin’ horse habitation.”

Eddi could only chuckle again, her heart so light as she entered, she might have walked on air. “You do that if it makes you happy, Mr. Shady Salesman. But I’m not signing on any dotted line.”

While White and Flurry lingered in the courtyard, sloshing their noses in a sparkling water trough, Eddi enjoyed the rest of Kai’s packed-with-alliteration stable tour.

Then, tired from laughing at his antics, she plopped onto the bench just outside White’s stall door. “Enough already! It’s perfect.”

“That bench? Looks like it was made for you. Let me make you a—”

Eddi interrupted with a laughing groan. “I’m done with your deals, you dastardly doofus! But I’ll admit this horse habitation really is hot and happenin’.” Rising, she brushed off her backside even though the bench had been spotless. “Guess I’d better bring in your first tenant.”

She hadn’t seen Kai smile this much in years!

When she beckoned from the doorway, White came directly to her, leaving a skittish Flurry outside. After a brief inspection of his new quarters, he tucked into the hay waiting in his manger. At the very moment Eddi realized her horse would likely appreciate a grooming after his long day of travel, two brownies appeared in one corner of his stall, already armed with White’s caddy of tools.

“Eddi, may I introduce Howurl and Miria,” Kai said in a formal manner quite unlike his sales spiel. “Howurl, Miria, this is Princess Edurne Zuri of Bilbao and Snow White, her companion and friend. They will be staying with us for the rest of the summer.”

The previous summer at Faraway Castle, Eddi had grown accustomed to glimpsing brownies around the place—cleaning guest rooms, serving meals in the dining hall, and skittering here and there on errands. But until this moment she hadn’t realized that brownies also occupied the stables. Nodding, she said, “I am pleased to meet you both,” hoping this greeting would satisfy brownie rules of etiquette.

The taller brownie, whose head didn’t quite reach White’s knee, bowed with surprising grace. His expression was lugubrious beyond that of most brownies, yet he seemed content when he picked up White’s hoof, which looked enormous in his small hands, and began to clean it with a hoof pick. Miria gave Eddi a brief curtsy, then tapped White’s other foreleg. The horse obligingly lowered one wing until she scrambled up and set to cleaning his feathers with a preening comb.

Eddi watched the little magical people for a moment or two, then turned to meet Kai’s warm gaze. Brows rising, he beckoned toward the stall door. Eddi patted White’s neck. “Guess I’ll see you in the morning, big guy.” The horse blinked at her, evidently content, so she followed Kai into the central aisle.

“Are you hungry?” Kai asked.

“No sales pitch, please. You could probably sell me boiled alfalfa pellets and convince me I enjoyed them,” she accused, rubbing her aching lower back with both hands.

“Why, I would never—!” He paused. “Hmm. I’ve already cleaned out your bank account, right?”

“Totally.”

He nodded. “Then it’s either an I.O.U. or you’ll have to wash the dishes after I inflict my leftovers on you.”

“And before you dump me out into the snow.” Eddi pulled a woeful face. “I’m starved enough to agree to the dishes, but not to the I.O.U. You’d probably charge exorbitant interest.”

He snapped his fingers. “I was gonna go for your firstborn child.”

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