Free The Fire Seer by Amy Raby

down.”
    Mandir looked again at the black horse. “Is that Pepper?” He felt sheepish. Even he ought to know better than to make sudden movements in a stable. If Taya had been in the stall with Pepper, she might have been hurt.
    “She gets crazy during storms.” One of Pepper’s hooves connected with the stall door. Taya winced.
    “Well, you shouldn’t have run off without telling me.”
    “I didn’t go running off. I went to the stable, which was practically next door.”
    Mandir opened his mouth to retort, and then closed it. He was making a mess of things. However justified his anger might be, he was going to have to rein it in, or he’d lose Taya again like he had at Mohenjo. Taya was too sensitive and too stubborn to be won with harsh treatment. He would win her with gentleness or not at all.
    He unclenched his fists and tried to breathe normally. The stall Taya stood in held, to his surprise, a dwarf elephant, which Taya was scratching behind the ears as she eyed her fractious mare. “Who’s the elephant?” he asked. “Is he yours?”
    “His name is Piru,” she said. “A placid creature, thank the Mothers. He’s not mine; he belongs to the Coalition. He’s to carry back Hrappa’s tax payment.”
    “He traveled here with you?” Mandir tentatively stroked the elephant’s trunk, and it came questing up toward his face. Alarmed, he stepped away. “What does he want?”
    Taya laughed. “Food—he thinks you might have a treat. Yes, he traveled here with me, and he’ll travel back as well.”
    “I’m sorry I spooked your horse,” said Mandir. “I was worried when I couldn’t find you. I thought something might have happened to you.”
    Taya smiled wryly. “You needn’t worry about me so much. I know what the jackal looks like, and she’s just an untrained girl. She doesn’t frighten me.”
    “Worrying about you is my job,” said Mandir. “And the jackal is not the only danger in Hrappa.”
    “My magic is strong. The Coalition wouldn’t have given me this if it wasn’t.” She touched the fire agate on her belt.
    “And they wouldn’t have assigned you a quradum if they didn’t think you needed protection,” said Mandir. “Help me do my job by letting me know when you’re going to leave the guesthouse. Please?”
    “I suppose that’s fair.” Taya frowned at him. “But you have to promise not to yell at me.”
    “Deal,” said Mandir. “Touch fingers?”
    Taya hesitantly extended her hand, and they touched fingers.
    “There’s something else,” said Mandir. “I want to apologize.”
    She looked up at him in surprise. “For what?”
    “For the way I treated you at Mohenjo Temple,” said Mandir.
    Taya turned away with a bitter laugh.
    Anger simmered in Mandir’s chest. “You think that’s funny?”
    “You think you can make up for four years of torment with an apology?”
    She had a point. Mandir felt the inadequacy of his words. “It was wrong of me. All of it, especially the fire maze. I look back on those days with regret.”
    Taya shrugged. “Thanks, I suppose.”
    “You suppose ?”
    “Did you think it would make those four years go away?”
    Mandir left the stall door and paced down the aisle. He hadn’t expected this to go well, but still, he’d hoped. “What do you want from me, Taya? You want me to get down on my knees and beg your forgiveness?”
    “No.” She made a face. “That would be embarrassing for both of us.”
    Mandir stared at her. He’d thought for certain she would go for the begging-on-his-knees option, not that he planned to seriously do it.
    “Maybe you underestimate how much harm you did at Mohenjo. I was a farmer, the only person of that caste in the entire class. You were not only ruling caste, you were royal—”
    “A royal bastard ,” said Mandir. “With no title, no inheritance, and no acknowledgement from the royal family, except from my father, who’s the family embarrassment.”
    “Important details you kept secret