Probably far beyond the race distance limit. She should try to slow him down. She didn’t want Masenak to be aware of too much about Chaos’s capabilities.

Slow. Enough.

But Chaos wouldn’t go slower. He was fighting her. When they were together, he wasn’t accustomed to having her try to rein him in. It was all joy and speed and what they were together.

Her grip on his mane tightened, pulled hard.

He didn’t slow.

And she was beginning to become anxious. Chaos was very excited and if she tried to pull him over when he reached Masenak and Davidow, he might attack them. Stomping was very much on his mind right now.

Please. It’s time to stop. Things aren’t what they seem. Next time. I promise. She repeated over and over. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop.

At first he ignored her, but then his stride broke. He was gradually slowing. But not happy about it, she thought ruefully. Very mean-tempered. Too bad. At least she might make it through this without getting either one of them shot.

Masenak and Davidow were right ahead of her on the track, but she knew she wasn’t going to be able to stop Chaos. Just slow him down a little more and that should be enough…

She swung her legs so that she was riding sidesaddle for the last yards. Concentrate. It was only a simple circus trick she had performed thousands of times before. As she was passing Masenak she kept her grip on Chaos’s mane, timed the flying dismount, and then made her jump to the ground, careful to keep her knees bent to absorb the shock.

Yes.

Chaos streaked past the two men without trying to savage either one. She had made the jump and not ended with her face in the dirt. Not a bad outcome. If she could get Chaos to stop running, it would be perfect.

Worry about it later.

She staggered a little but quickly regained her balance. She whirled to face Masenak. “Satisfied? Is that what you wanted?” She was barely aware of him or anything else around her. She was breathing hard. She could feel the heat in her cheeks. She was almost as excited as Chaos. All she wanted was to jump back on him and ride and ride and ride…

Masenak’s face was strangely pale as he took a step toward her. “Shut up.” He glanced at Davidow. “You got the time?”

“Of course I got the time,” Davidow said hoarsely as he held up the stopwatch. “Two minutes nineteen seconds on the first time around the track. I stopped checking after that. I told you that he was a wonder. You didn’t seem to believe me.”