The Girl with the Fire Heart
Chapter 34

She takes a deep breath, feeling the weight of that word slam into her again. She steps away from Grey to allow the staff to prepare him for the race, but instead of Grey staying put, he follows her. She turns around, stroking his muzzle again, and reassures him once more. When she feels Grey settle, she turns to the burly man and Damon again.

“Sir, I would advise your staff to be gentle with him when getting him ready. He may be calm now, but he doesn’t trust your people. He will react if he feels they are mistreating him,” Valentina says, the full authority of her voice carrying out into the barn.

She strokes Grey one more time before stepping over the threshold of the stable door, shutting it closed behind her. The young official comes up and locks the gate while Damon moves to stand beside her, his hand taking its place on the small of her back. Instinctively, Valentina straightens up, standing just a little taller as the burly man with the bronze pin looks at her and Damon.

“What makes you so sure he doesn’t trust my people?” the burly man asks, a slight defensive edge creeping into his voice.

“Just a feeling I suppose,” Valentina responds, shrugging her shoulders. “By all means, say nothing to your staff about his nature. Though I imagine you might lose a few employees and be paying for their recovery if you don’t.”

“I see,” the burly man says, ignoring the way her statement comes out as a threat. “Alright. I’ll inform my staff to be gentle and careful with him. Anything other requests or tips I should know about?”

“No, sir,” she answers.

“Very well,” the man says. Without saying anything more, the man strides out of the barn without a backwards glance or a farewell to anyone. Damon releases a chuckle besides her.

“Well, wasn’t that quite a show,” he says.

Valentina laughs with him, the two of them turning to the young official and placing their bets on Grey. As Damon finishes the bet proceedings and listens to the young official telling him where to retrieve their winnings should Grey win, Valentina looks around the barn and sees everyone furtively placing their bets with the other officials. She had assumed people would flock to Grey after seeing him respond so kindly to her, but it seems her encounter with him had just made everyone more intent on seeing Grey lose.

She feels the disappointment of the moment creeping up inside of her and she feels her flames respond to it. She looks down to see her flames withering just a little. Valentina feels two small pats against her back and looks up to see Damon looking down at her with a soft look in his eyes.

“Are you alright?” he asks her for the second time today.

“I’m not sure. I guess I thought people would place bets on Grey. He’s a fast horse, arguably faster than every other horse here. But it seems like they don’t want Grey to win,” she admits.

“There is something you must understand about this class of people. They stick to what is familiar. Take these horse’s for example. They have seen these horses race time and time again, proving their skill, their ability, their speed, everything betters need to determine whether a horse is worth betting on or not. But a horse like Grey who is as unpredictable as the weather? That is not guaranteed. The betters will stick to what has been proven rather than what has potential. I wish I could tell you not to be saddened by the prospect that the betters are rooting for Grey to lose. But you know Grey. His three races are not a guarantee for them, but if they are for you, then that should be enough,” Damon tells her.

Valentina nods, feeling more assured than the moment before and together the two of them make their way back to the lounge to rejoin the group. The whole way back, Damon peppers Valentina with questions about Grey, about her experiences with other horses and she answers every question in humble transparency. Damon's admiration for her grows as he listens. He wonders why he took so long getting close to her, why he wasted so much time when he could have been admiring her and falling deeper in love with her from so close.

The two are so lost in conversation that they don’t see Elliot waiting for them at the landing of the stairs until it’s much too late. Damon sees him first, Valentina focused on tying her sneaker that had somehow come undone on their trek back. When Damon sees him, he immediately schools his expression, closing himself off from the man.

Valentina finishes tying her shoe and looks up just in time to see the stony expression from last night settle on Damon's face. She follows his gaze to the top of the staircase and sees the reason why looking down at them. They walk the rest of the way up in silence. When they reach the landing, Elliot stiffly smiles at the two of them.

“I was wondering where the two of you ran off to. I apologize for not welcoming you upon your arrival. I was just informed that you had made it and when I came to greet you, you weren’t in the lounge,” Elliot says. He turns his attention to Damon.

“Imagine my surprise when I hear you’ve been in the barn, being up close and personal with the horses in the stable like in our childhood!”

Damon bristles at the subtle insult but keeps silent. When he was younger, when he was desperate for friends, he would often hang around the more posh children, harking on the young stable kids the way the other kids did. He was never proud of his jokes, having been close to the stable hand back at his home ever since he could ride a horse. But he was tired of being lonely and figured the only way to have friends was to try and fit in.

He brushes off the memory, not wanting to remember the foolishness of his youth. He remembers when his stable hand found out what he'd been doing with the other kids and can feel the sting of the lecture in his chest just as sharp as it had been then. Damon lets the silence of the moment linger for a few seconds longer, enough to make it uncomfortable, before responding.

“I didn’t want to deny Valentina an opportunity to see the racehorses before they hit the track,” he says simply.

“Ahh, yes, Valentina,” Elliot says. “And how did you enjoy your time in the barn?” He directs the question to her, his voice rising in pitch, sounding as hopeful as he looks.

Damon grinds his teeth at the tone his old friend uses. He knows it’s a ruse, to get a rise out of Damon, to force a reaction out of him. But he refuses to give Elliot the satisfaction. He stands silent once more as Valentina gives her response which comes out just as short as his.

“It was enlightening, an experience I’m grateful for,” she states. Damon resists the urge to smile down at her, but feels the pride in his chest grow at her own open coldness towards the man standing in front of them.

“Right,” Elliot says, sensing she won’t say more than she has. “Well, the races are about to begin and I hear they just entered in a new horse. We wouldn’t want to miss it. Shall we?” he asks, gesturing to the door leading to the lounge.

Damon nods his head, stepping to the door before Elliot can, and holds it open for Valentina to walk through. She, however, looks to Elliot expectantly and waits for him to enter the lounge first. The man clears his throat before nodding at the pair respectively and enters the room. Valentina follows, smiling softly at Damon before crossing the threshold leaving Damon to enter last.