The angle will tighten. Thyma will force me into the wall and the two other riders will swing in to finish me off. None of them wants to kill me, but this ends with me spinning from my saddle and landing in the dirt. They want my race to end here and now. The thought has me smiling. It’s the same mistake Oxanos made.

He walked in the room and saw one possible outcome.

Time to teach them a new dance.

Thyma drifts closer. I can hear the heaving breath of each horse. The fire in their voices. The flexing of their hands on the grips of their switches. Time shrinks down to a grain of sand. At the very last moment, I swing my phoenix straight into the wall.

Gravity spins in a different direction.

There’s no collision. Instead, my phoenix shifts. Its hooves find the sidewall and we sprint onward in complete defiance of gravity. It took forever to find and perfect the Changing Skies rebirth, so my heart pounds with relief when it actually works. The ground becomes the sky. Thyma’s eyes shock wide as I drive us farther up the wall, higher into the air. She lashes out with her switch, but far too late. We keep on sprinting, sideways to all the Empire’s viewers, and I take some pride in imagining the face my brother’s making right now. I can almost hear thousands of Dividian cheering me on.

I finish the trick by pressing my phoenix up to the top of the canyon. Gravity shifts again and now we’re sprinting atop the raised shelf—a section of the course that I’m certain the Racing Board never intended for riding. I grin a little for the cameras and push the pace.

I’m just the Dividian.

I can only hope they keep thinking of me that way.

My plan depends on it.

Chapter 24: Ravenous

One former champion described the Races as the brief existence of another world. He claimed that the first leg acted like a purifying flame. It burned the rules. Set a torch to expectations. Each new race created a world in which the riders—like risen gods—could determine their own fates. And the other riders make the mistake of letting me rise first.

I don’t hesitate to teach them the rules of my new realm.

Only Revel and Etzli match my pace out of the gate. As the miles stretch and the sun glides overhead, the three of us leave the rest of the field behind. I keep eyeing my bracelet for signs of Pippa, but she never appears. Her absence is strange, but I don’t have time for curiosity.

Etzli’s the first to test my lead.