11:14Unwillingly.
11:18Violet shut her mouth unwillingly.
11:21I crouched down.
11:22Comet gently rubbed his head against my hand.
11:25His voice in my head.
11:27If I die, my owner will be so sad.
11:31Father said he's the master our family chose.
11:33I want to stay with him all my life.
11:36Comet means more to me than just a horse.
11:39If you save him, you'll be my savior.
11:42I nodded.
11:43Trust me, I'll cure him.
11:44If I can't, you can do whatever you want with me.
11:47Wyatt, I know you want to save Comet, but you can't let a refugee girl do whatever she likes.
11:53Say one more word, and you won't set foot on Wyatt Ranch again.
11:59Violet glared at me.
12:00Her embroidered handkerchief twisted in her fingers.
12:03I took the toolkit from the foreman.
12:05I'm watching you.
12:06If you fail, you won't leave here alive.
12:09I didn't take her seriously.
12:11Comet already told me the problem.
12:12How could I fail?
12:16But when I crouched down to examine those shoes,
12:19I paused.
12:20Miss?
12:21Comet leaned in to sniff my hair and hutted softly.
12:24I ignored him.
12:26I stared at the almost invisible seam on the inside of the shoe,
12:29and my pupils contracted.
12:31No.
12:32This wasn't just an ill fit.
12:34I'd learned about it in toxicology class at the Philadelphia Institute.
12:37When solution seeped into that seam, it dried into a faint yellow stain.
12:41Tannic acid corrosive paste.
12:43If a horse wore it too long, the hoof bottom would rot, and the symptoms looked exactly like early pneumonia.
12:47This was murder.
12:49My heart pounded, but my face showed nothing.
12:53Shut up.
12:55Your hand is shaking.
12:59Your hooves are close to ruined.
13:01Don't make it harder.
13:02He behaved.
13:05He behaved.
13:07I took a breath, bypassed Violet, put on arm guards, picked up the clinch cutter and hoof knife,
13:12and started removing Comet's shoes.
13:14As soon as I set down his last leg, Comet shot up and trotted half a lap around the stable.
13:20See how lively he is?
13:22The shoes were the problem.
13:23I took off the arm guards.
13:25Comet trot a few steps, then buried his head in the feed trough and chowed down.
13:29He ate fast and happy, tail swinging.
13:31Nothing like a horse on death drawer.
13:34Ah, so comfortable.
13:35My hooves feel great.
13:37No pain and food tastes good.
13:39I'm starving.
13:41The stable was dead quiet.
13:44Everyone watched a horse with bone-deep pneumonia eat without lifting his head.
13:50Thomas' face went gray.
13:52His lips quivered, but no words came out.
13:56What happened?
13:58Comet really stood up.
14:00Wyatt sat in his wheelchair, rubbing the armrest, his eyes slowly cooling.
14:04He turned to the ranch foreman.
14:07Check Comet's hooves.
14:08The foreman crowd lifted Comet's front hoof and looked carefully.
14:13Silence.
14:14Mr. Wyatt, all four of Comet's hooves are red and swollen on the inside.
14:18The sole is already worn.
14:19Classic pressure damage from bad shoes.
14:21Violet's expression froze.
14:23A flicker of panic crossed Mrs. Douglas' face.
14:26Thomas stumbled back a step.
14:28So Comet didn't have pneumonia.
14:29You misdiagnosed him.
14:31Mr. Wyatt, I made a mistake.
14:33Comet hadn't eaten for days.
14:34His breathing was weak.
14:35The symptoms really looked like pneumonia.
14:37Thomas broke into a sweat and stammered.
14:39Enough!
14:43From today, you don't treat my horses.
14:46Pack your things and leave Wyatt Ranch.
14:48Thomas went gray.
14:50He grabbed his bag and slunk away.
14:52What's your name?
14:53Wyatt looked at me, the cold in his eyes easing a little, but still with pressure.
14:58I hesitated for a second.
15:00Couldn't use my full name.
15:01The wanted poster said Ella Baker.
15:03Philadelphia Veterinary Institute.
15:05Unlicensed practice.
15:06Just call me Ella.
15:07You did well.
15:09You saved Comet.
15:10I won't short cost you.
15:12Comet's follow-up care is yours.
15:14First, thick straw bedding and rest until the swelling goes down, then switch back to his old shoes.
15:19Get Comet's old shoes.
15:21Wyatt nodded and looked at the foreman at the door.
15:23The ranch foreman's face changed.
15:25He stood there, not moving.
15:28Speak.
15:32Sir, the old shoes, they're not in storage anymore.
15:36What?
15:37Miss Clinton brought new shoes and said the ranch didn't need old stuff.
15:41She had them thrown away.
15:43Were you in on this too?
15:45Unshort sentence.
15:47Violet's legs went weak.
15:48She almost collapsed in front of the wheelchair.
15:50Wyatt, I just wanted good things for combat.
15:52Those old shoes were years old.
15:54I spent a fortune on custom ones from San Antonio.
15:56Who gave you permission to touch his things?
15:58I just...
15:59I asked you, who gave you permission?
16:02Violet's face went pale.
16:03Her crying even broke for a second.
16:05She hadn't expected Wyatt to call her out in front of everyone over a few horseshoes.
16:10I only meant well.
16:11Wyatt looked at her, expressionless.
16:13Those weren't ordinary old things.
16:18Comet's first shoes were measured by me watching the Farner.
16:22The last thing Storm looked at before he died was Comet.
16:26Every pair of shoes was gradually adjusted from the previous one.
16:30That was his hoof shape from birth.
16:33I didn't know.
16:34I really didn't know.
16:36You didn't know, so you decided for him.
16:38Wyatt didn't raise his voice.
16:40But the calmer he was, the more terrifying.
16:44Violet had nothing left to say.
16:46I stood nearby and couldn't help stealing a glance at him.
16:49Even sitting in a wheelchair, pale from injury, he commanded more presence than any standing man.
16:54He suddenly looked at me.
16:55Those dark brown eyes were assessing, but there was something else in them I couldn't name.
17:00I looked down immediately.
17:03Comet, fall now.
17:04Don't scare her, Master.
17:06She's shy.
17:07She'll run away.
17:08I almost twitched.
17:09Of course you're not scared.
17:11He wouldn't put you down.
17:12Measure Comet fresh.
17:14Make new soft-bottom light-iron shoes based on his current hoof shape, and adjust gradually after he heals.
17:19The Farishers quickly took off their hats and agreed.
17:22Violet tried one more time.
17:26Wyatt, I...
17:28Escort Miss Clayton out.
17:32You're kicking me out?
17:37Wyatt didn't look at her.
17:41Miss Clayton, please.
17:43Wyatt didn't look at her.
17:44The ranch foreman stepped vile up at her lip and glared at me as she left.
17:47When she reached the stable entrance, she stopped, looked back, her resentment sinking in.
17:52She clutched her skirt and said quietly to her attendant,
17:54Look into this woman's background.
17:56A refugee hand wouldn't have that kind of eye.
17:59She planned to send a letter to her relative in the Philadelphia marshal's office to get the fugitives full file.
18:06After everyone left, it was just me and Comet in the stable.
18:09I crouched down, turned the removed horseshoe over, and held it up to the window light.
18:14On the inside seam was a faint yellow stain.
18:16I rubbed it with my finger.
18:18It felt slightly rough.
18:19What are you looking at, Ella?
18:20I turned the shoe over and slipped it into my jacket pocket.
18:23Wyatt had wheeled himself back to the stable entrance without me noticing.
18:26He watched me hide the shoe but said nothing.
18:28He only asked.
18:31Did you study veterinary medicine?
18:33I froze.
18:35No.
18:36I stood up and brushed the straw off my knees.
18:39Worked at a horse farm out in the country for a few years.
18:42Picked up a little from an old hand.
18:45He stared at me for a long time.
18:48So long I thought he'd call my lie.
18:52But he just nodded, turned his wheelchair, and left.
18:56Don't sleep in the worker's bunk tonight.
18:59After a few feet, he stopped.
19:01There's an empty room next to the stable.
19:02Fix it up yourself.
19:04He didn't look back.
19:06I stood there stunned.
19:08That night, I moved my bundle into the little room by the stable.
19:11When the stove was lit and the room warm,
19:13I sat on the edge of the bed for a long time before I could believe it was real.
19:17From that day on, everyone at Wyatt Ranch knew.
19:20Violet's new shoes almost killed Commer.
19:22She came back a few times and was turned away every time.
19:25And just like that, I went from being a new hand to the one in charge of Commer.
19:29Wyatt didn't pay me wages.
19:30He gave me a room with a stove, three full meals a day,
19:32and said there'd be extra payment after Commer healed.
19:34Told you, didn't I?
19:34House, food, all set.
19:36Don't worry.
19:36My master will come too.
19:38When I held that bowl of hot soup, I felt like I was walking on clouds.
19:43Who needs a man?
19:45I just needed a place to hide.
19:48That shoe.
19:50I boiled some water that night and soaked it.
19:52A thin layer of oil floated on the surface.
19:55The smell was faint, but I recognized it.
19:57Tannic acid corrosive paste.
19:59A slow corrosive that rots the hoof from the inside out.
20:01Symptoms, loss of appetite, gradual weakness, then sudden death.
20:04Looks almost exactly like pneumonia.
20:06This paste was common in illegal culling operations.
20:08But Commer wasn't sick or weak.
20:10Someone wanted this horse dead.
20:12Someone wanted this horse dead.
20:14He had been poisoned slowly and then written off as pneumonia.
20:18That night I tossed and turned.
20:21All I could see were Violet's tear-filled eyes.
20:25She cried so real.
20:27But she also cried too conveniently.
20:30She sent the shoes.
20:31She hired the vet.
20:33She was first to say let him go.
20:39The more I thought, the more scared I got.
20:45But I couldn't say anything.
20:46I was a wanted woman.
20:48No one would believe me.
20:49If my identity came out, I'd end up in prison before I could investigate anything.
20:56A few days later, I went into town for Sora supplies and spotted a paper on the bulletin board at
21:01the general store.
21:02The corner was curled by the wind, but I recognized the words.
21:06And beside it, Ella Baker, Philadelphia Veterinary Institute, unlicensed practice, at large.
21:12I stood there with my back cold.
21:15That wanted poster was pinned in the most visible spot.
21:18The store owner noticed me staring and said offhand,
21:21Marshall's put that up a few days ago.
21:24They're cracking down at the Texas border.
21:28I gripped my cloth bag and walked fast.
21:31Back in my little room that night, I lay in bed for a long time, staring at the cracks in
21:37the ceiling.
21:39One thought only.
21:41Wyatt Ranch.
21:43I can't stay long.
21:48The next afternoon, Wyatt came to check on Comet like usual.
21:53Every time he came, his gaze would land on me without meaning to, full of assessment.
21:59I was used to it.
22:01I just kept brushing Comet and acted like I didn't notice.
22:06Just as I bent down to grab the spray bottle,
22:11Comet suddenly lunged into me like crazy.
22:13Watch out!
22:17The world spun.
22:19Wyatt had me locked in his arms.
22:23Thank you.
22:25His leg injury hadn't healed, and the wheelchair scraped against the floor, but he held me steady.
22:32Wyatt rubbed the hand that had just held my waist, then put it down casually.
22:38No problem.
22:40Be more careful next time.
22:43He wheeled away.
22:45Maybe it was my imagination, but his ears looked red.
22:52Told you, Ella.
22:53I keep my word.
22:57I dismissed it as his usual nonsense.
23:00But that night, back in my room with the door shut and everything quiet,
23:04my heart still hadn't stopped racing from earlier.
23:06I sat on the bed, my fingers unconsciously touching the spot on my waist where he'd held me,
23:11then yanked them back.
23:12What am I thinking?
23:13I'm a fugitive.
23:15I can't even say my real name.
23:16The kinder he is, the more I'll drag him down.
23:19That wanted poster flashed in my head again.
23:21The sketch was fuzzy, but what if someone recognized me as we'd break into Wyatt Ranch?
23:25What about Comet?
23:25What about him?
23:26I pulled the wrapped shoe from under my pillow, squeezed it, and let go.
23:30Once Comet was fully healed, I'd leave.
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