Page 69 of Tailwind

‘Hey, it’s me.’ Plausible deniability ran in the family.

‘Took you long enough.’ It was nice to know Cam was calm enough to chide me, despite the circumstances. ‘Your favourite rider is back. He must have finally passed his potency test.’

Hearing her refer to Thorne as my favourite rider felt so wrong, even if it was to avoid names for any eavesdroppers. ‘When?’

‘Late last night. But no word on where he went after.’

My hands grew sweaty. That was bad. There were several train routes from Gedeinia to the Kuramines. Any of them could bring Thorne here within two days and a few were high-speed – enough to do it in less than one.

‘Okay, thanks for letting me know.’ The inside of my head felt fuzzy.

The connection was quiet for a moment before Cam spoke again. ‘Do you want me to visit?’

‘No,’ I answered quietly. She wouldn’t get here faster than Thorne, and even if she did, what could she do? I’d already dragged her into enough trouble as it was. ‘Thank you for offering. I think I’ll just …’

Just what? I had no idea.

‘Kiddo.’ The nickname made me feel eight years old again. ‘Show them what you’re made of.’

A lump formed in my throat. She’d said that to me before every Junior Drake and Wyvern Cup race. Never do your best or good luck.

I coughed the emotion away. ‘Thanks, I will.’

A click followed by silence marked the end of the connection. Cam wasn’t one for goodbyes.

I rubbed at my face, hoping to get some intelligent life back into myself. I blew out yet another sigh and turned, facing the thoroughfare again.

Thorne wasn’t here, not yet. I still had time. Once I got into the air no one could stop me from finishing the race. I pushed aside the fear and doubt. Cam was right – it was time to show everyone what I was made of.

‘This is my last race.’ I stood behind Theo in the atrium, suited up and acting like Thorne, disinterested and impatient.

Theo shifted, but resisted turning towards me. We carried on observing the other riders draw lots for the start positions. We’d both been lucky, having pulled fourth and fifth, and now stood apart from the others.

He responded under his breath. ‘What makes you think that?’

‘Thorne is back.’ I wavered as I whispered in the stolen voice.

Theo inhaled sharply, going into a coughing fit of surprise. I waited for it to die down before risking more.

‘Deny everything,’ I continued. ‘No one but me knew anything about this, okay?’

‘Pald—’

‘Just say yes, Vaspre. Say you understand. It was just me.’ I cut him off before I could hear his protests, complaints or threats. It had been hard enough to decide whether to tell him. The past few weeks had blurred my feelings towards him, caught somewhere between resentment, nostalgia and lust.

There was a pause, a silence that was far louder than the busy room around us. There wasn’t any more time to argue. Nothing Theo could do would change the fact that Thorne was on his way.

‘Understood.’

I’d expected some of the panic to ebb away, but the suit was still having to cool me down. I wondered what it would be like to not be on the edge of a panic attack before every race. At the very least I’d gained Theo’s assurance that he wouldn’t make things worse when it all came to a head.

Swallowing as much of the worry as I could, I returned to Gottyk and swung up into the saddle. I strapped myself in. The familiar routine of belting the loops together started to get me into the right headspace. He stalked along the tunnel towards our launch, the Kiestral team surrounding us in a flurry of activity.

I kept my breathing deep and even. Preparing myself not for the race – I was more than ready for that – but for confirming the news to Josie.

‘Hey, comms are open. Can you hear me?’ Josie’s voice rang clear inside my helmet.

My heart jumped up to my throat.