Chapter 96

While Mark took Saylor out of his stall and put him in cross-ties, Rio pulled Zeus out. They saddled the horses and walked out into the warm Idaho evening. The moon, while not quite full, gave enough light to bathe everything in silver.

Mark looked toward Zeus, whose grey coat vividly reflected the silvery moonlight. “He’s like something out of a fantasy. Look how he shines.”

Rio stepped back and looked at his horse, who indeed looked like something from a children’s fairy tale. Rio nodded and then looked at Mark. Rio had never been one for romance. But his strange and new feelings for Mark did make the scene seem like something out of a romantic fantasy.

They mounted their horses and rode out into the night.

Not only did the moonlight turn grass, trees, and cattle into a silvery panorama, but the dozens of fireflies that dotted the landscape made it seem like the stars above had fallen to earth.