The Girl with the Fire Heart
Chapter 36

Damon runs his hand down the length of her arm to her hand, interlocking their fingers and leaving the lounge and the stares of everyone else present behind them. Numbly, they walk to the main entrance of the building, into the open foyer and turn right to the area that will take them to the stands. When they walk into the mass of people who are stunned silent and the shocking win, Damon and Valentina stop short.

It dawns on Damon that no one expected Grey to win, let alone that the Company would even allow Grey to race. He knows this because he looks around the stadium and sees that almost everyone is staring at the two of them, the announcement of the winning better ringing out through the stands.

Damon tugs Valentina out into the open, walking past all the patrons and over to the steps that will lead them down to the track. He guides her to the stage that has just been set up by the staff and sees the rider who wears a silver pin against the gray vest, Grey, several notable members of the board of the Company and the burly man from before, who Damon now realizes is the head of the Company.

As they approach, Damon can see the burly man talking to the other members of the board, laughing and joking at the absurdity of an obscurely known horse winning a race against some of the most well known ones. Damon and Valentina climb the steps to the stage and the burly man turns his attention directly to Valentina.

“Congratulations! You are the proud winners of today’s race and Grey here was your winning bet!” the burly man shouts, loud enough for everyone to hear him. Damon scans the audience and sees the guests from the private lounge have made their way to the stands to watch what he now suspects is the spectacle that is their winning.

Neither Damon nor Valentina say a word to this. The burly man takes their silence as permission to continue.

“Today’s win is the best of the season! Your winnings total out to $200 million dollars!” he shouts again, the amount of money ringing out like an echo.

Everything and everyone is silent, but only for a moment. Then the entire stadium erupts into equal parts cheers and shouts of incredulity. Damon balks at the amount they just won, but fights to keep his expression minimal. Valentina however, releases a strangled cry. She tightens her grip on Damon's hand, while her free hand grips the middle of his arm and squeezes impossibly tighter.

The cheers and shouts continue for what feels like an eternity, when all of a sudden, Grey neighs loud enough to silence those closest to him. Valentina is pulled out of her shock to see the loud noises have startled the horse. Grey is bucking wildly, his head turning wildly looking for an escape but unable to replace one with his blinders still on.

Valentina moves fast, jumping down from the stage and landing in a crouched position. She underestimates how high the platform is and it takes her a moment or two to gather herself before she launches into a sprint to get in front of Grey and have the horse focus on her. Grey launches himself onto his hind legs when Valentina rounds around him, shouting his name and shushing him loudly. Damon, seeing the people around Grey aren’t moving fast enough for the horse to be less frightened, jumps into action too.

He jumps down from the stage, slightly more graceful than Valentina, and begins rushing around, grabbing people left and right and pulling them towards the steps of the stage that are far enough away from where Grey and Valentina are. When he is sure that no one is in danger of getting hit by Grey, he runs to Valentina's side, ready to help her should she need it.

Valentina can see just how much Grey hates the blinders. She hates them too. But she also knows that if Grey doesn’t calm down, she won’t be able to take the blinders off of him in time to stop him from hurting someone. She looks around for something that will get his attention. She locks eyes with Damon and an idea forms in her mind. She gestures to her necklace to indicate he should use his element to get the horse to calm down.

He nods at her before turning back to the horse and releasing a steady stream of water at Grey’s chest. The coolness of the water hitting his body is enough to have Grey settle looking for the source of the water. When Grey’s beady eyes lock on to Damon, he stops thrashing around and snorts once as if to say thank you.

Valentina lets go of the breath she didn’t realize she was holding and runs over to Grey, tugging at the blinders until they fall off and into the dirt track. Valentina strokes Grey’s muzzle, shushing him quietly until she feels the horse’s heartbeat steady. Once calm, Valentina takes a step back and leads Grey just a little farther away from people. It’s then that she realizes just how quiet everything is.

She looks over at Damon and sees the tension in his shoulders, the set line of his jaw. Valentina feels instant regret. She knows just how much people fear the two of them and she just forced him to use his element in front of all these people. She wishes she had thought of another way.

The burly man, still standing on the stage, shouts out the place where they can collect their earnings and rushes off the stage with the members of the board close behind him. The rider walks timidly up to Damon. Valentina sees the rider say something to Damon, watches him respond, and the rider nods his head and walks away. Damon closes his eyes for a few seconds, opens them and then walks to where the shepherd’s daughter and Grey are standing.