All the King's Horses

by Katherine Rhodes

  “We’re going with you,” Joseph amended.

  “Joseph,” Cady started.

  “Nope. Together. Hope you have room, Miller.”

  RJ took a deep breath and nodded. “I have room. We’re rolling out in just a few. Grab some breakfast and we’ll get everything set up.”

  The whole mass of men and women broke into motion, grabbing copies of the map, and the lists of names and phone numbers. Fatima had been so unable to sleep she had made all kinds of breakfast foods, and had laid them out for everyone to eat before they went.

  RJ knew she was nervous about her parents arriving too—they had hopped on the first flight they could find to Austin the night before, which was landing bright and early. It would take them about an hour and a half to get there, but the search parties would all be gone in just a few minutes.

  “You gonna be okay, kiddo?” He wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

  “Just bring her back, RJ. Bring both of them back.”

  “I will, I swear.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  WHILE THE SUN HAD BEEN BRIGHT at the beginning of the day, the clouds had rolled in and chilled the air. The usual comfortable temperatures weren’t holding, and that made RJ very nervous.

  The first stop had yielded nothing. No one had seen a horse trailer, or a muddy truck. There was no sign of two women. Climbing back into the truck, the four of them went on to the next marker, an hour down the road. Cady shook her head as they approached the next marker on the map.

  “Not here either,” she mumbled, but climbed out as RJ and Tennessee walked into the store to ask questions.

  Stepping over a very enthusiastic dog, they walked over to the counter. But as Cady said, nothing. The dog nearly tripped him on the way out. The truck that Joseph had stayed out to refill, had two squirrels and a chipmunk on the hood.

  “What the heck?” Tennessee asked, mostly of himself. “There are some really bold animals around here.”

  “We’re near the back end of Sundowner Ranch out here,” RJ said. “Maybe they are trying to get away from the Pollards.”

  Ten laughed, and then shook his head. “I shouldn’t agree with you. The farm is clean and well kept, and there’s no abuse there.”

  “Those horses are bored. They don’t like being in their care,” RJ said, as Ten shooed away the little animals and they all climbed in. “Lucy was very put off by them. She said the exact same thing. Clean, well kept, but oddly docile, sad. Whereas she loved the feel of Double Down and the happiness of the animals there.”

  Cady perked up and turned away from the window. “She did?”

  “Yeah, she loved them. They took to her, too. I mean, there aren’t many people who can train a semi-wild Mustang with English tack and not break the horse. Princess is happy to trot around, showing off her rider. I’ve been on her, Addie, Fatima...all thanks to her training.”

  Glancing over at Joseph, Cady thought a moment. “Was it me, or were your horses going bonkers this morning? Neighing, braying, bucking?”

  RJ nodded. “Yep, they were. First cold morning and we hadn’t really turned on the heaters yet for them. They were probably trying to get our attention to turn those on.”

  There was a non-committal noise from Cady, and she went back to staring out the window. They drove down the road, hoping to get to the next point on the map quickly. The longer they were out, RJ reasoned, the more likely the girls, and the horse, were going out of state. He trusted the Enforcers to search them out, but he also didn’t want to sit at home, hoping his girl was going to be all right.

  They were going to have a very serious talk about the future when he got her back—like how exactly he wanted her there in his life, whatever it took.

  “Well, damn, look at that,” Tennessee said, letting the truck slow. “Half a damned herd of cattle in the middle of the road.”

  A quick study of the map RJ had in his hand showed they could go right and head down an empty road to get back to the next time stamped stop. He pointed, and Ten nodded, turning and pushing the truck back to the speed limit.

  “Crazy horses in the field, look at them,” Joseph said from his side of the back of the cab.

  All four heads turned to see a few dozen horses running flat out to try and keep up with the truck as it raced down the road.

  “Look at all the deer on this side.” Cady stared out the window, shock in her voice. “There’s hundreds of them, all staring at the road.”

  Tennessee yelped and swerved on the road, avoiding a huge barn owl. “Why the hell is there a barn owl out at ten in the morning?” He pulled the truck up short, and they all watched as the horses from the pasture stopped running and started milling by the side of the road.

  “Holy mackerel,” Cady mumbled. She popped the door on the cab and climbed out.

  “Arcadia, where are you going?” Joseph called, yanking off his seat belt and sliding out after her.

  Ten put the truck in park, and RJ was out before the engine was off. He followed behind Cady with Joseph. She wandered up to the side of the road, where the deer backed off, but seven ravens flew in and sat on the log directly in front of her.

  “What is going on?” RJ’s whisper was fierce and quiet. “Why are all these animals bugging out?”

  Tossing a smile over her shoulder, Cady took a few steps toward the ravens, who didn’t move. She pulled her sleeve tight on her jacket and held her arm out for them. “Come on, I’m not going to hurt you.”

  The largest raven, in the middle, cawed at her, pecked at the log once then flew over to land on her arm. RJ and Ten were astonished, but said nothing. Walking closer to the other birds, Cady smiled.

  “Ravens are incredibly intelligent animals.” She carefully stroked a finger down the feathers at the crown of its head. “This one was sent by Lucy.”

  “What?”

  Nodding at the raven to hop back to its perch, Cady turned and looked at the three men with her. “Your Lucia has magic, RJ. She sent all these out here to get someone’s attention. I’ll bet she was the one who sent out that ‘not right’ feeling that brought us here. Lucy sent the animals. She’s around here somewhere.”

  “This is all Pollard’s land around here,” RJ said.

  Tennessee pulled out this smartphone and called up a map of the area around them. It was half pasture, half semi dense forest, and he quickly found the road they had turned onto. “Here’s us. We’re about five miles down this road. See the pasture land? And there’s the pond out there in the middle.” He turned and oriented himself to line up with the picture.

  “If Cady is right and these animals are all here to let us know we’re close, where are they stashing two females in this area?” Joseph leaned in close to see the map. “Zoom out a bit. They’re not going to be in sight of the road.”

  Ten complied and zoomed a little bit. He shook his head. “I don’t know how this is helping us. We’re looking at a two-year-old map on a smartphone. There’s little chance that they’ve updated those magically overnight.”

  The ravens cawed, almost all at the same time and then took off into the woods on the side of the road. Scrub forest, with no really tall trees like oaks or maples. They circled back and then flew away in the exact same direction. RJ watched them do it a third time.

  “Zoom out, and pan to the right on the phone,” he said, watching the birds.

  “There’s an old shack.” Joseph stabbed at the face of the phone. “About three hundred yards in the direction the birds keep going. Looks like the ground rolls a bit and creates a gulch we can’t see into.”

  RJ didn’t wait for anyone. He plowed through the underbrush and started following the birds. They were swooping and forging ahead through the trees, as he heard his cousin curse loudly and start following him. He sprinted the first one hundred yards, then hit an uphill climb for the next fifty. It wasn’t a steep hill, but enough to slow him down.

  As he crested the small hillock, the shack appeared ahead of him, and the s
even ravens perched one after another on the roof line and cawed at him. He ran down the hill, his feet barely controlled as he crashed through the trees and underbrush. He couldn’t see in, but as soon as he rounded one of the two remaining walls, he saw the best thing he’d ever seen in his life.

  Lucy and Addie.

  * * *

  The warm hand on her cheek woke her. Lucy opened her eyes, and this time, RJ was staring at her, his hand resting on her cold cheek. The man had tears in his eyes, but his face held nothing but joy.

  A heartbeat later, three more people tumbled into the ramshackle shed, and they all burst into grins.

  “Found you.” Tennessee laughed.

  “Knife,” RJ asked. “Someone, anyone?”

  Joseph held out a pocket knife, and in moments, the ropes were sliced. Addie and Lucy fell away from the post, freed from their positions against the beam. RJ pulled both of them into his arm and hugged them as if they had risen from the dead.

  “Damn, you two,” he finally managed.

  “Thank you, RJ.” Addie threw her arms around her big brother’s neck and squeezed him tight. Ten and another large man helped her to her feet.

  RJ took Lucy’s face in his hand. “I was terrified I’d lost you.”

  “You’re never losing me, RJ. Not ever.”

  Pulling her in, he landed his lips on her mouth and kissed her like a man possessed.

  A breathless minute later, Lucy whispered against him, “I love you. Please take me home.”

  His grin was blinding. “As you wish.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  FATIMA TORE ACROSS THE YARD, SCREAMING and crying, and threw herself at her sister. “I thought you were dead!”

  Lucy managed to catch her and spin the two of them so they didn’t crash to the ground. “I’m tougher than that.” For some reason, she couldn’t stop the tears again.

  “I was scared!”

  “Wasn’t a picnic for me either.”

  “Are you okay? Should you be in a hospital?”

  “A touch of hypothermia.” RJ walked over and hugged both of them at once. “Let’s get in the house so we can get warm and let her and Addie change.”

  Lucy turned and saw her parents on the porch. Once more, she burst into tears and ran toward them, blanket flying behind her.

  Lizette da Silva, in a rare moment, threw all decorum out the door, jumped down the four stairs, and ran for her daughter.

  Ellen wasn’t far behind.

  “Mama!” Lucy screamed and the mother and daughter crashed into one another. Lucy prattled at her mother in Portuguese. “I’m so sorry, Mama. I’m so sorry. I broke my promise. I used the magick. I swore I wouldn’t, but we were going to die. Please don’t be mad at me...”

  “Lucinho, o lindeza,” Duarte said, running a hand down her hair. “You’re safe. I don’t give a shit if you’ve gotten your Hogwarts letter. You’re here, you’re back.”

  Lucy sniffled. “You’re not mad? You warned me so many times not to use Nana Sofia’s magick...” She had spent the whole night equally terrified and amazed by what she was doing. It had been so long since Nana had taught her anything. To have it work again, so easily, so quickly.

  “As much as it kills me, Lucia, you are a woman. Your own woman,” Lizette said. “I cannot stop you from doing anything. I can’t punish you. And I don’t want to. If those animals helped you, then screw it! You’re home.”

  Fatima wrapped her arms around her mother and sister and hugged them tightly. Lucy looked up at the house where RJ, Addie, and Ellen were walking in, followed the McCoys. She glanced at her parents and made the decision of her life.

  “Mama, Dad, give the farm to Marcy. I’m not meant to run it.”

  Lizette’s eyes were wide with shock. “Lucia! Are you hearing yourself? You have worked your whole life to take the farm—”

  “It’s not where I belong, Mama. It’s not. I love the farm, I love our horses.” With a side glance to the door, she let out a breath. “I belong here. I’m in love with RJ, and I belong here. Marcia will have you and Fatima, Sofia, Jack. It’s just RJ, Ellen, and Addie here. They need me, and I want to be with RJ. He won’t leave Texas. We can fly to see each other—”

  “Páre, Lucia,” Duarte said. “You don’t have to convince us. We just want to make sure you’re making a good decision. If you want to stay here, that’s your decision. If you’re in love with this young man, that’s to be seen. But you don’t have to convince us.”

  “You’re...not mad?”

  “Oh, sweetie, no. We were happy to see you taking over, but if you feel it’s not right, then we’re not going to make you do anything,” Duarte said. “Marcia is happy to take over. Let her.”

  “I sat in that shed, hoping hypothermia wouldn’t kill us, and I just had to rethink everything. My whole life. Everything I wanted to be, everything I was. And I’m not hiding the magick anymore. I am just going to be Lucia Augusta Amalie Victoria Gothe Bragança da Silva. Whoever she is.”

  Lizette gazed up at her husband, but before they could say another word, a huge horn sounded and the cab of a big rig pulled in the driveway, hauling what might have looked like a large horse trailer if it hadn’t been for the truck.

  Geo, Tate, and his brother Caldwell were in the cab, and Tate was waving at them.

  “My horse?” Ellen had reappeared on the porch. “You found my horse!” She leapt down the stairs and ran for the trailer.

  Caldwell pulled the truck to a halt and parked it. Geo and Tate slid out the other door.

  Throwing the doors open, Ellen ducked in. “Where did you find him? Oh, it really is King!”

  “Field, about twenty-five miles south of where I think y’all found the ladies,” Geo said. “Oddly enough, we’d been by the pasture twice and hadn’t seen anything either time. But about an hour after the word came through that Lucy and Addie were safe, we drove by there again on the way home. Damned if that damn chestnut wasn’t prancing fancy free in the field.”

  “Do we have any idea who took him?” RJ sauntered to the back of the trailer.

  “Not a clue. And whoever stole him either had no idea what he was worth, or they were ditching him after Lucy and Addie were found.” Geo untied the horse from his tether and handed the reins to Ellen. “Mrs. Miller, your horse.”

  “Thank you so much, George.”

  “We know it was Pollard,” Tennessee said. “Addie can confirm that, but he didn’t do the actual kidnapping. He just sent directions. We have to figure out how to prove it.”

  Geo nodded. “We’ve got this. Between the Enforcers and the sheriff’s department, we’ll get this figured out and get the right people brought to justice.”

  * * *

  “We probably want to move the party inside,” Carl said, looking up at the sky. “I can keep an eye on the food, but we’re about to get rained on.”

  Ellen nodded and motioned to the house. “It’ll be cozy with fifty people in my living area.”

  The whole group of partygoers, the Miller family, the da Silva family, the McCoy family, neighbors and friends, started to crowd into the house. It had been three days since the incident, and Ellen had decided to have a good old fashioned BBQ while everyone was still around. While the day had started nice, it had clouded quickly and became threatening.

  RJ watched as everyone filtered toward the house, and when they were not paying attention, he grabbed Lucy’s hand and pulled her toward the blue barn.

  “RJ, I’m hungry.” Lucy laughed, letting herself be led away by him.

  “Come on, no one will miss us for a while.” He pulled down the ladder that led up to the rafters of the barn. “Go on.”

  “RJ...” Lucy grumped the words, but climbed up the ladder.

  He was behind her and pulled the access up behind him, and heard Lucy gasp.

  “Did you do this?”

  “No, the horses did.” He smirked.

  “When...”

  “I’ve been working on this for
a while. We don’t really have a private space in the house, and I thought it would be nice to have a place to go to where people weren’t likely to overhear us.”

  Lucy walked into the area. There was a single, large mattress on the floor, with little Japanese lanterns on a string hanging around the edge. There was a bean bag couch with soft lamps on either side and an adorable abstract rug underneath. There was a small table with two chairs and a little refrigerator. Near the bed was a small, portable heater that was supposed to look like a fireplace. Cheesy? Yes. Effective, absolutely.

  “You’re serious? Sleep out here?”

  “Or chat, or have a private bite to eat.” He pointed up and watched as Lucy realized there was a skylight, which RJ had installed at some point. Today, the rain started to tap-tap-tap on, and combined with the smell of the fresh hay and the soft noises of the horses below, RJ really hoped that Lucy liked the space. “It’s ours up here. No one will bother us once those stairs are up.”

  A grin spread across her face. “This place is perfect, RJ. Just us. Just ours.”

  “Just us.” He pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. “We haven’t had a chance to be just the two of us in nearly a month. The police, the investigation, retraining King, getting Princess and Texas ready for the shows. The McCoys, your parents, and now your sister deciding to stay here... It’s just been crazy. And I miss us time.” RJ’s hand had snaked up behind her head and played at the base of her hair in the back.

  “You want to make love to me? Right now?”

  “There’s no surprising you, is there?”

  “This whole loft is a surprise,” Lucy answered.

  “Then yes, I do want to take you down and worship your body.”

  Lucy reached up and pulled at the string that laced up her bodice. It opened and fell to the sides, revealing the very tiny, hardly functional bra that gave RJ a magnificent view of her breasts and the marvelous valley between. He used a hand to sweep the shoulder of the dress off to one side and down her arm. Lifting it free of the fabric, he did the same for the other arm and left Lucy standing with her breasts nearly bared and the dress at her waist.