Anne Bishop - The Pillars of the World

The stallion pawed the sand.

Ari held out her hand and took a few steps toward the horse. “You are a handsome lad, aren’t you?” she said softly.

The stallion regarded her for a moment before coming forward to sniff her hand.

Ari remained still while he sniffed and lipped her palm, but when he began to lip her long, dark hair, she leaned back. “That isn’t hay.”

He snorted softly, almost sounding amused.

She’d never seen a gray-eyed horse before, Ari thought while the stallion pushed his muzzle under her cloak and snuffled her hip. In the moonlight, those eyes reminded her of her grandmother’s pewter vase that sat on the mantel.

The stallion nudged her left pocket. He stiffened, made an angry sound, then leaped away from her. He laid his ears back and pawed the sand while he stared at her.

Confused, Ari slowly reached into her left pocket. She withdrew the fancy wrapped in the brown waxed paper. Swallowing her distaste, she unwrapped it and dumped the two pieces into her hand.

“It’s just a fancy, a brown-sugar candy with some love magic added to it,” she said quietly while she studied the horse. “I’ve checked it with every bit of magic I know, and there’s nothing in it that would do harm. Except the love magic if it’s denied, but the magic’s binding on the female, not the male. It won’t hurt you .”

The stallion pricked his ears. He didn’t approach her, but at least he didn’t bolt.

It won’t hurt you.

The thought took root, making her a little dizzy. “I didn’t know what it was when Granny Gwynn dropped it into my hand. By then it was too late because, as soon as I touched it, I was bound to the magic. But Granny Gwynn did say the first male I met on the night of the full moon, not the first man . Oh, she meant the first man, but that wasn’t what she said .” That was the problem with all of Granny Gwynn’s spells. They were always phrased in a way that something could go wrong. But that might work to her advantage tonight. If she used the fancy based on what Granny Gwynn said rather than what was meant . . . . “I don’t suppose sugar is all that good for a horse, but old Ahern gives his horses a lump of sugar as a treat now and then, and this isn’t much bigger.”

Not giving herself time to think about what might happen if she was wrong about the importance of the spell’s wording, Ari stuffed the paper back into her pocket, kept the brown-sugar phallus in her left hand and held out the full-bodied woman in her right. She licked her lips, then took a deep breath. “With this fancy, I promise my affection from the full moon to the dark. This I swear by the Lord of the Sun and the Lady of the Moon. May they never again shine upon me if I do not fulfill my promise.”

The stallion froze.

Ari waited. The air seemed to get thicker, making it hard to breathe, making it hard to think clearly. There was something about the horse. Something that wasn’t quite right, but . . . He had beautiful gray eyes. And he was so big, so strong. Would he let her pet him, let her feel the ripple of muscles under that warm skin?

She felt strange. Why did she feel so strange? Was the magic in the fancy doing this to her?

Coming forward warily, the horse sniffed the fancy for several long seconds before he took it.

Ari popped the other piece into her mouth and tried not to gag.

It was just a piece of candy, no matter how it was shaped. But it reminded her of Royce’s anger when she’d refused to take him into her mouth as a prelude to the coupling. It reminded her of the way he’d laughed at her when he was done and the cruel things he’d called her before he walked away.

The candy melting on her tongue made her queasy so she chewed a couple of times and swallowed.

Pressing her hand to her stomach, she gulped air and waited for the queasiness to pass.

“Well, that’s done,” Ari sighed a minute later, “and it’s a better bargain than I would have made with any of the men in Ridgeley. So, my handsome lad, if your wanderings bring you to my cottage, you’ll be welcomed. And you won’t even have to wander far since it’s the cottage closest to Ahern’s farm.” She giggled with relief. “The rooms might be bit crowded with you filling them up, and I’ve not the slightest idea how those great legs of yours would fit into my bed, which is where I’m supposed to give you my affection, but a promise is a promise. Not that that would be of much interest to you.”

The stallion snorted delicately.

Ari stroked his cheek. “But that’s only one kind of affection, isn’t it?” she said softly as her hand traveled down the strong neck. She fingercombed the long mane. “There are other kinds, aren’t there? Like friendship. That’s something I could give with a willing heart.”

Oh, she liked petting him. Liked feeling his warmth under her hand. Liked the way that black mane brushed against her skin.

“I feel strange,” she whispered.

He made a sound that might have been agreement or understanding.

She pressed her hands against his cheeks.

He lipped her chin.

For a moment, she couldn’t look away from those strange gray eyes. Then she pressed her lips against his muzzle. “There. A kiss to seal the bargain.” Suddenly feeling shy, she went to the cave and pulled out her pack. “Since we’re friends now, I’ll share my meal with you. I don’t think cheese is of any interest to you, but horses like apples, don’t they?”

The stallion nodded vigorously.

Ari eyed him a moment. “You are a horse, aren’t you?”

He turned his head as if he needed to check the body behind him. He swished his tail, then gave her such a quizzical look she couldn’t help but laugh.

“All right. So it was a foolish question. But I wouldn’t want to insult one of the Fae by offering such humble fare.”

He shook his head.

It was nothing, Ari assured herself while she cut up the apples with her folding knife. Just moondreams and too many of her grandmother’s tales about the Fae and how they could change into another shape. The horse was used to people. And Ahern’s “special” horses tended to act as if they understood what was being said, so maybe there was some inflection in her voice that the horse was responding to, some cue she wasn’t aware of that made it seem like he was really answering her. He was just a horse that, for some reason, was curious enough about her to stay.

As expected, he wasn’t interested in the cheese, but happily munched his share of the apples. Since he seemed determined to have his share of the fairy cakes as well, she gave him one, hoping it wouldn’t make him ill. There was no fresh water nearby, so she kept pouring water from a canteen into her palm until he’d had his fill.

After slaking her own thirst, she tucked her pack back into the cave, then she joined him on the beach.

He arched his neck and pranced in a circle around her.

“Don’t you think it’s time you headed home?” Ari asked.

He stopped, shook his head. One foreleg stamped the sand.

“You’re going to have to make your wishes clearer than that, lad,” Ari said primly.

He did. As soon as she turned her back on him, he came up behind her and gave her a firm nudge.

“Do you bully all your ladies like this?” Ari demanded.

He didn’t bother to answer. He just kept herding her back toward the rock wall. She tried slipping past him a couple of times, but he was bigger and faster and more experienced in herding than she was at dodging.

“All right. All right,” Ari grumbled a minute later. “I’m standing on the wall. Are you pleased now?”