Besides, she wasn't alone.
"I guess we no longer have to wonder whether they know," Drake muttered, interrupting Eva's thoughts.
He and Eva shared a look. The reprieve was over, and the reckoning had come.
Unlike the newcomers, Drake was composed. None of the awe that was present in many of the others on his face. Then again, he was much more familiar with this particular Kyren. He'd seen Sebastian and Eva's squabbles. Been there for some of Sebastian's less proud moments. It had chipped away at any misconceptions he might have once had about the ‘noble’ Kyren.
"No, we don't," Eva agreed.
Not that Eva had ever been in doubt.
"They certainly have an interesting notion of timing," Drake drawled, echoing Eva's words from before.
Eva hummed an agreement.
Weeks of waiting and of course Sebastian chose this exact moment for his entrance. Probably orchestrated for maximum impact.
Sebastian always did like to make a splash.
"I suppose that's my cue. They never did like to be kept waiting," Eva said in a resigned voice.
No matter that they'd been the ones to disappear. Not heard from or seen for weeks. Until now.
It brought all the frustration and anger she'd been ignoring and pretending didn't exist back to the forefront.
Good. Very good.
Just wait for her to give him a piece of her mind. Friends didn't disappear on friends without a word of warning.
Responding to the shift in her rider's posture, Caia started forward.
"Roscoe, you got this?" Eva shouted.
He waved a hand at her. "Go. We're already through the tricky part. I can take care of the rest."
Eva took him at his word, leaning forward on Caia's back. "You ready, my darling?"
The mare's slow walk turned into a canter as they left the slower moving horse train behind. Caia kept to the gentle pace as they descended the small hill that led into the valley.
Eva was careful not to let Caia have her head. If she had, Eva had no doubt Caia would have lunged into a breakneck speed and probably broken her leg by the time she made it halfway down. A fall here could have brutal consequences. The footing was unstable. Easy for Caia or any horse to step wrong.
Caia wasn't pleased with the slower pace after being promised a run, but the mare trusted her partner.
It was why she didn't do more than toss her head as she picked her way down the slope to the valley floor.
There, Caia lunged forward, Eva not stopping her.
There were times you simply had to run, and this was one of them.
Caia broke into a gallop as Eva whooped into the wind. As always when she was on her friends back, Eva felt this sense of freedom. The world speeding past. The mare an anchor beneath her. Something tangible to hold on to.
The pounding of her hooves keeping time with Eva's heartbeat. Almost as if in this moment they were one. Woman melding with horse as they followed Sebastian's path.
The camp quickly grew in the distance. The tents looming large in a short time.
Jason stood up as Eva brought Caia to a canter and then a trot.
"He let you saddle him?" Eva asked, nodding at the Kyren standing a few feet away.
At a glance, it was easy to see why the Trateri were so enthralled with the Kyren.
Take the most regal and proud horse you'd ever seen and magnify that by a hundred. That would give you a creature close to the Kyren.
Lethal looking horns jutted from his brow. They were a reminder that although the Kyren's appearance held many points in common with a prey animal, they were predators every bit as dangerous as a beast. Some might say more so since they held the intelligence of a human.
This Kyren in particular was all that and more. Sebastian's coat was a black so deep it nearly shined. Almost otherworldly looking.
"He didn't give me much choice," Jason said, giving Sebastian an irritated look. "He was quite insistent. He retrieved the saddle himself. Pulled it right out of your tent."
Eva grimaced.
Seeing her expression, Jason grinned. "Yeah, you have a mess to clean up later."
"Story of my life."
Eva had a feeling this wouldn't be the only mess left to her to deal with today.
Sebastian turned his head, fixing a gaze on Eva that saw far more than most humans gave him credit for. They'd see his body that looked similar to a horse's and make certain inferences. Like he was only as intelligent as a horse. That if they broke him, they'd be his master. Never knowing that their assumptions would lead to their death.
Sebastian's eyes pulled at Eva, drawing her in as a voice sounded in her mind.
It's time.
Eva clamped down on the mix of emotions those words spawned and gave Sebastian a resigned nod. "I know."
If you asked her, it was long past time.
But no one had, so here they were.
Eva swung her leg over Caia's back and dropped to the ground, landing with a thud. She reached up to pat Caia's neck, not missing the way the mare's ears were tilted forward or the challenge in her eyes as she glared at Sebastian.
Eva thumped her on the shoulder and pointed at the mare's face. "None of that nonsense."
Caia blew a breath in Eva's face, the sound conveying her emotions as clearly as words would.
There was a strange jealousy between Caia and Sebastian that Eva found absolutely ridiculous. Both seemed to see the other as a rival, using every encounter to get one over on the other.
It would have been hilarious if Eva wasn't responsible for both.
One side of Jason's lips quirked, well used to the two's interaction. He wasn't the only one. Many of the Trateri who'd gathered at Sebastian's arrival nudged each other with a smirk.
Eva nodded to the few she was familiar with before returning her attention to Sebastian.
"Did I put it on right?" Jason asked as she reached up and checked the saddle's fit. "I wasn't sure since it was my first time."
A design of Eva's making, the saddle owed its origins to the light weight, bare bone saddles the Trateri sometimes used to travel long distances quickly.
Padding was minimal. Just enough so Eva's ass didn't ache after an hour but not so much that the Kyren would feel weighed down or restricted.
There was no bridle, nothing to force the Kyren to obey its rider. The Kyren loathed even the smallest hint of control. Something Eva wondered if the Trateri fully understood.
A Kyren would never act as a horse. They would go where they willed; the rider was simply along for the journey.
The biggest difference lay in the two hard flaps that sat toward the front of the saddle. When seated on the Kyren's back, they'd curve over the tops of the rider's thighs, allowing them to wedge their legs against them during aerial maneuvers.
It wasn't a perfect compromise but short of tying a rider to a Kyren's back—which held its own drawbacks—it was the best Eva could come up with.
Eva tucked her fingers between Sebastian's side and the straps, making sure they weren't too tight or too loose. One option was dangerous and could end in her death and the other could result in saddle sores, making an already cranky Sebastian even crankier.
A cranky Kyren was no one's friend.
Jason shot Sebastian a cautious look and leaned closer to Eva. "So that thing Fiona was discussing. Is it true?"