Glacier sat silently in his office, waiting for the witness to arrive. He was used to being called in the middle of the night like this, but he wished it hadn’t been to hear such dreadful news. Apollo was deeply unsettled, and paced around incessantly in the back of the room, a permanent frown stuck on his face.

  “How long will we have to wait? No one seems to get anywhere on time these days,” the ghostly stallion complained, without interrupting his pacing.

  Glacier sighed and downed his second cup of coffee. “It’s late, and his counselor insisted on coming. I have no idea.”

  “Rude of them to keep you waiting. Especially in these circumstances,” Apollo went on.

  Hoofbeats tapped down the hall, and Glacier saw a shadow behind the frosted glass of the office door.

  “Speak of the devil.” He dragged his feet to welcome them in.

  Apollo was put off by the witness. “He’s the one who survived?”

  Glacier had to strain every muscle in his face to keep from snorting at that comment. He thanked Epona no one else could hear Apollo’s banter. The witness was a tiny Thoroughbred, barely reaching fifteen hands in height, and he was so paper thin a gust of wind might knock him over. There were deep scratches all over his face. He was wrapped up in an oversized blanket that made him look even smaller. His counselor was a sturdy Icelandic mare who didn’t need a blanket at all.

  “I appreciate you both coming out on such short notice,” Glacier said. “Can I get you anything? Coffee? Tea?”

  “No, no, I’m quite alright. Donovan, why don’t you take off your coat?” the mare said, with a strong Nordic accent.

  The Thoroughbred sat down without saying a word, and pulled his blanket further around his shoulders. His eyes were sharp and fearful, and he breathed unsteadily.

  “Sorry about all this, he’s shook up,” the mare said.

  Glacier sat back down behind his desk and faked a warm expression. “Don’t worry, I’m just grateful he’s here. I was hoping we could discuss what happened, since the cameras were damaged by the fire and we have very little evidence.”

  The room was silent for a moment, until Donovan finally had the courage to speak. “That horse is possessed by a demon.”

  Apollo’s ears immediately snapped to attention at his words.

  The Icelandic mare turned to Donovan and put a hoof to his shoulder. “Now, we talked about this,” she whispered.

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  “No, no. I want that kind of honesty. Tell me why you think that,” Glacier said.

  Donovan’s hooves shook as he reached for a pen on the table. He started scrawling madly on a legal pad. Glacier and Apollo leaned over the table to look at what he drew, and saw a spindly horse with a star on his forehead. There were scribbles all over his nose and lips that dripped down the page to his hooves.

  Apollo cursed under his breath. “That’s a hotblood if I’ve ever seen one. Looks like…no, it can’t be him.”

  “How tall was this horse you saw?” Glacier asked.

  “Really tall. At least 17 hands,” Donovan described. “His eyes were like two black pits, and he was a bright red chestnut, and his hooves were sharp as knives.”

  Glacier looked up to Apollo, who was now in a complete panic, his ears pinned back and tail switching. He stood up and opened the office door again.

  “Thank you again for your help,” Glacier said, hurrying them out the door.

  As soon as the door closed, Apollo slammed his hoof on the desk in a fit of rage. “We are done if that mare is able to summon him,” he growled.

  “Who is he?” Glacier asked, exasperated.

  “Sultan,” Apollo replied. “He’s a hotblooded horse to the bone. If Laci’s got a hold of him, she’s got herself a mighty weapon. He cannot be reasoned with or controlled. He is outright dangerous.”

  “Are you absolutely certain? How do you know?” Glacier asked.

  Apollo looked very solemn. “I would know. I raised that spawn. Eliminated his every connection to try to kill his will. It didn’t hold him. I knew I would have to take him out of commission eventually, I was just biding my time. Of course, you know the duties weren’t handed off so cleanly.”

  “Why didn’t your sister kill him? Did he change?”

  He sighed and sulked in the corner. “She was too easily swayed by personal interest to protect herself. Sultan was always a novelty to her, she sought him purely to anger me. She even had a foal by him before she grew bored of it. I would never forgive that harlot.”

  “Was he fine after that?”

  “No, of course not. He was such a ruthless killer that he took out the fleet’s head to take his place. Sultan knows no boundaries.”

  Glacier paced the room, flicking his tail. “What are we supposed to do?”

  “The only thing left to do. You have to kill his link,” Apollo said gravely.

  “I cannot kill her. You know that,” Glacier argued. “They banned capital punishment a long time ago. If I kill her, even if it’s justified, they will not like it.”

  “There is no other way to get rid of Sultan permanently! He poses a massive threat to everything we’re doing,” Apollo barked.

  “They’ll put me in jail, Apollo. I’d say goodbye to my daughters’ future. The best I can do is capture her and put her in stasis.”

  “You already know how well that works. How many lives does she need to take before society realizes we need to eliminate her? She’s no better in a tank than dead.”

  Glacier collapsed onto his chair. “They don’t understand the business, Apollo. They’re not like you and me. They’ve never met a horse like Laci before.”

  Apollo looked Glacier dead in the eye. “If you won’t shoot her, you’ll have to capture her yourself. No one is going to do that for you after what she’s done.”

  Glacier looked down at the drawing of Sultan. His sharp eyes stared right back, blankly, emotionlessly.

  “I’m fine with that.”