Page 43 of Tailwind

I scoffed. ‘As if. Once Theo goes to the media there won’t even be a chance for me to race again, let alone get attacked over it. It’s not like we can send him off to disappear for a while like Thorne, either.’

‘You should do it.’ Josie had set her notes aside, but still hadn’t continued eating. I didn’t know her well enough to know if this was normal for her.

‘No, really. The moment he and his ego vanished there would be mass panic. Who would do the new shampoo ads?’ I chuckled, enjoying the insult even without him there to hear it.

‘I meant you should accept his offer.’

A chunk of meat threatened to go down my windpipe. I hacked it back up in a panic, my eyes watering. Josie watched me with the same amusement that Gottyk did whenever I did something very human like stubbing my toe.

‘Excuse me? You think I should give in to his blackmail?’ Speaking hurt. So did everything else. It had only been a few hours since the race and the residue from the shockstick hadn’t worked its way out of my body yet, making the usual post-race aches far worse.

‘You were at your absolute best when you two were flying together.’

Theo had said the same thing just a few hours earlier. He’d said it to piss me off surely, but Josie had earned enough good will that I assumed it wasn’t malicious.

‘That’s a coincidence. I got better over time and he just happened to be there. I couldn’t have avoided Theo in my junior career even if I’d wanted to.’ I paused, nearly choking on my words as my chest pinged. ‘Anyway, weren’t you concerned about this conspiracy a minute ago? We should talk about that some more.’

She delicately picked out a skewer and pulled the food off on to her plate before digging in. ‘No. I need to think it over. There’s nothing we can do without proof. Plus, I’ve been going through your race records again. There was a single race that Theo didn’t compete in and your performance dropped.’

She carried on with her meal like she hadn’t delivered the most offensive news I’d ever heard. I didn’t mention that I remembered the race or that it had been a bone fracture from an arm-wrestling match with Cam that had caused his absence.

‘That’s a load of crap.’ It would take more than one race in her data to convince me to let Theo back into my life.

Josie shook her head. ‘Sorry, Lena, but it’s true. You drew that final year, I know I don’t need to remind you of that. Both of you performed better as teammates and if you trained together during that time, then that’s even more reason to replicate it. I can offer you strategy, but I’m not a performance coach or trainer. My limit is moulding your mind. You need someone to work on your body. You’re going to need it too, as we’ll be lucky if all the arcanite residue has left your body before the next race.’

My appetite vanished. ‘You want me to let Theo Vaspre work my body? The obnoxious, know-it-all fame sponge who, for your information, wouldn’t hesitate to go back on his promise on a whim when he inevitably gets bored. Who, by the way, is the reason I’m not flying in Volitant to begin with.’

She raised her brows. ‘He is?’

If Josie was a glacier when pissed off, I was volcanic. My cheeks flushed as the heat of my anger welled up inside.

‘Yes, you can write that in your Theo Vaspre notes: betrayed his best friend of ten years to win the Wyvern Cup.’ I kicked out at one of the food boxes, now empty. It skittered away harmlessly, so deeply unsatisfying. I should have crushed it instead.

Josie stayed quiet. I folded my arms and kept my eyes down, glaring at the remaining food, but I knew she was looking right at me. She wasn’t going to stop either. It made me itch.

‘He was my best friend.’ I sighed and dragged a hand down my face. ‘We grew up together, not just in racing, but outside of it too. His family looked out for me and Cam, so much that I used to spend summers at his house. We told each other everything.’

I hesitated. Josie didn’t need to know the details. Of all the things I’d confided in Theo, there were some I knew even he wouldn’t share. He wouldn’t dare.

‘We worked out strategy together and came up with new moves to try out in races. The race records you have are right; we were all but equal the whole time. What the numbers don’t say though is that during the final Wyvern Cup race he raced dirty. Not enough to break the rules, but he cut in front of me to force me to back off.’

Josie shifted in place.

‘I know,’ I continued. ‘That’s racing. Skirting as close to the rules as you can to get ahead. Some riders do it, others don’t. Me and Theo never did. I used to spend hours talking about Bach Lotiere, how I admired him so much because he never endangered his dragons. How I would always prioritize the safety of my wyvern too. That if I had a choice between winning or keeping my mount safe, I’d choose my mount every time.

‘That’s exactly the kind of shit you don’t say in front of other riders, but I did because I was an idiot and thought he was my friend. So in that last race we got to find out if I really would choose my wyvern over the win, because he dive-bombed me to force me into backing off.

‘Seventy-three was the first year Ballenir ran their junior rider programme. The winner of the Wyvern Cup was guaranteed a job with them. Theo got it. I got nothing. None of the Volitant teams wanted a girl, especially not a second-place loser. That was my only guarantee.’

Recounting it left me hollow. I didn’t tell Josie the worst part. That for so long afterwards I’d actually missed him. Even with what he’d done, part of me had longed to put it aside and go back to the way it had been. Pathetic.

I continued to stare at the floor, the food now cold.

‘All the more reason to use him, Lena.’

My neck creaked as I lifted my head to look at her.

‘The other riders have resources that you don’t right now.’ Her gaze was steady and she spoke with the same clear tone as when she recited race statistics. ‘Use Theo to train you. Take what should be yours already. I know it’s tempting to want to beat them when you have nothing, but please be selfish and take from others what they wouldn’t hesitate to take from you … what they’ve already taken. Make it a level playing field.’