He said, "With enough gold in their pockets, your faction will take care of your competition."
"Just as those charioteers took care of me in yesterday's race?" I asked. "You'd have me win by cheating?"
"I'd have you win any way you can!"
I stood and threw down the rest of my lunch. "If it's not an honest win, then it's a loss. I won't cheat, even for this."
"If you lose --"
"Then we both lose, I know." I sighed, but continued staring directly into his eyes. "Did you only care about my father for the way you could use him too?"
Radulf recoiled as if my words had hit him. "Your father was everything to me!"
I shrugged, feeling almost numb. "And my family was everything to him." Then I turned on my heel to leave.
"Where are you going?"
I didn't know. The pressure on my chest felt like thousands of weights had dropped on me, and everything Radulf said made it worse. Once I found a place to be alone, I made myself disappear back to Radulf's home.
Livia was there, as she usually was, this time with Callistus as he ran in circles around her in the small courtyard.
"What are you doing back here so early?" she asked. Though she was still looking at Callistus, I saw her brows press together. "Is everything all right?"
I faked a smile. "Of course." Livia glanced at me. She looked as tired as I felt, so I knew she wasn't sleeping well. I didn't want to make her worries any worse than they already were.
She turned her attention back to Callistus, who had come to rest at her side. "Just before you came, I was thinking how much I'm like this unicorn," she said.
I smiled back at her. "Pure?" I said.
"Trapped." She turned my way but didn't really seem to see me. I got the feeling she was avoiding my eyes. "If you lose the race tomorrow, what happens to me? I don't want to stay here."
I picked up the saddle from the fence post and placed it on Callistus's back. "We're going to be fine," I said. "I have a plan, remember?"
Once Callistus was saddled, I whispered to him, and then with a nod of his head, I helped Livia get on his back and climbed up behind her on the saddle.
Radulf had begun repairs to the hole I had torn in his courtyard wall, but I blew it open again. If he truly wanted me to use my magic for destruction, then I wouldn't feel any guilt about testing that idea on his new wall.
We rode to Crispus's home with all the speed and fury only a unicorn could provide. Like before, I arrived at the rear of his property where I could more easily hide Callistus.
The crying woman -- the Mistress -- instantly flooded my head again. In only a few days, I had forgotten the torment of hearing her, or perhaps I had convinced myself that no sound on earth could be so desperately sad and afraid and alone. It took only seconds to remember what it was like to have those cries press against my every thought.
"We shouldn't be here," Livia whispered. "If the Praetors weren't watching this land before, surely they are now."
"They're not here." I had already asked Callistus to tell me if he sensed anyone else on this property. If we were still here, then I trusted his instincts. "Besides, the Praetors have a big race tomorrow. They're preparing for that."
"You have a big race too. Why did we come?"
I helped her off Callistus's back, then led her toward the temple ruins. As before, I knelt in front of them, motioning for her to do the same. "I need you to see this," I said.
"See what?"
"This." I closed my eyes and placed a hand flat on the ground. It rumbled beneath my touch, but I didn't move. I trusted the magic as it flowed into the earth.
"Nic?" Her voice was shaking, but she didn't need to be afraid.
"It's all right," I whispered. "It's me doing that."
"No, look. There's a wolf behind us."