The pile hisses smoke into the air, burning a pleasant aroma that you have zero time to appreciate. Instead, you turn your attention to the Gasping Mercies. They’re the more difficult of the two components. The side effects of an overdose will destroy your chances. Normally, you’d add the little powdered flowers last. Their burn rate is far higher than most components, but you can’t remember the exact number. Panicked, you glance over at Quinn.

“I can’t remember.”

“Talk your way through it.”

You nod. “Gasping Mercies are a wildflower. They only grow in cemeteries.”

“Keep going.”

“The component breeds a horse with healthier hearts and healthier lungs. Side effects of overdosing are asthma, heart murmurs, and collapsed lungs.” You strain mentally, but the words of old texts are blurring. “The Gasping Susan…it burns….If ashes…Dammit!”

“Gasping Mercies burn faster than most,” Etzli recites. “By a rate of 3.84.”

Your eyes flick her way. You can’t fight your natural Ashlord suspicion. Etzli is one of your competitors. You are the reason she always finished second. Is she telling you the truth?

“You saved me,” she whispers. “I vow on my life. The rate is 3.84.”

Trusting her is like breathing in a new kind of air. You nod your thanks, siphon out the powder, and start sorting through the other components. Vibrant streaks are coloring the horizon. It won’t be long now. You do the final calculation, siphon the powder into an open palm, and flour it along the edges of your pile. The second it’s finished, you almost collapse from the stress.

“Did we do it?” Quinn asks. “Did it work?”

You laugh, sitting back and lowering your head onto her shoulder.

“You just had to save her.”

Quinn sneaks an arm around you. The two of you sit and watch the sun rise together. You’re still nervous as the ashes stir beneath the first touch of sunlight. Nervous that you got the calculations wrong somehow, that all of this will be for nothing. But the horse that comes striding out of the storm looks healthy and whole. All three of you breathe a sigh of relief.

You and Etzli exchange a look. An understanding passes. You saved her, but now you’ll go on without her. She’ll survive—you’re sure of that much—but her look confirms what you were hoping for. She wants you to ride on and finish. You nod once before looking back to the waiting course. The hard part comes next. Finishing the Races. Catching the leaders.

It makes you smile.

You were born for what comes next.

Chapter 37: Thief

After passing Capri’s partner in the morning, we didn’t see a soul on the third day’s ride.