“Fine.” I didn’t want to talk about it.
Kiara didn’t get the message. “All the Arcanean gossip magazines have already guessed that this was Gabby’s handiwork. They can’t prove it, but everyone knows the truth,” Kiara said.
She took a metal file from the wall, and Alexei raised his foot. She began filing his talons, shaping them so they weren’t uncomfortably long.
A small sense of justice settled in my gut, but it couldn’t compare to what I’d been forced to give up. “I’m sure no one cares.”
“Not really. Malovia’s in an uproar. Even the people who don’t like you disagree with what Gabby did. Her popularity fell in spades overnight. I bet Elijah’s furious with her,” Kiara noted.
Good. I hardly cared if Gabby’s approval ratings were in the toilet, or if Elijah and her were having problems. It was only a fraction of what she deserved.
Looking back on everything that happened was almost more painful than experiencing it all over again. I longed to put an end to the conversation.
“It was probably for the best,” I said softly. “I don’t have any distractions anymore. My whole life now is focused on finding the Crystals of Harmony, and being the Worldweaver. That’s what matters.”
Gabby’s plan to demoralize me had backfired, because now, she’d really pissed me off. She’d taken away the one thing that had grounded my entire life, and now, I was out for blood. She was going to regret doing this to me. Now all I wanted was to get my hands on those stones, so I could use them to destroy her. I was counting on devoting all my newly found free time to it.
There was an uncomfortable silence. Kiara busied herself with removing Alexei’s molting feathers. She poked him in the side accidentally, and he let out a little, “Tee hee.”
“What?” Kiara’s eyes widened. She poked him again, and he let out the same strange noise.
Alexei puffed out his feathers, until he looked like nothing more than a ball of fluff. “That tickles.”
Kiara smiled. She teased his side, until Alexei was giggling. He nipped at her playfully with his beak. The tip of his beak caught her shirt, and he pulled her into him. She took his massive head in her arms and began scratching at his griffin ears, until his eyes were lolling in pleasure.
Those two belonged together. I wished they’d get over their bullshit and just bang already. The rest of us had.
Theo still had his head in the bucket of oats. He was munching furiously while Odette braided his mane.
“Theo, that’s enough,” Odette said. She finished the braid and took the bucket away from him. “You’re going to get sick.”
He had oats falling out of his mouth. “But Odette!”
“No buts.” She put her hands on her hips, and Theo’s head fell. I snorted. Odette was less intimidating than a bunny rabbit, but she clearly had Theo trained.
Ethan was letting out low whimpers. He rolled to his feet, and I asked, “Are you all right?”
He balked, and scuffed his paw on the floor. “I… uh… want a treat,” Ethan confessed.
A grin spread across my face. “A treat, huh? Can’t you get it yourself?”
“They put a charm on the treat room, so only sorceresses can get into it. The treats are quite addictive for us. Can make us sick if we have too many,” Ethan confessed. “Please, Emma, can I have one?”
It was funny, watching a dignified, manly shifter like Ethan beg me for a treat. “All right.”
I wandered through the Shiftery, looking for the treat room. It was a small room at the back of the Shiftery. I felt the magic give way when I put my hand on the handle— they must’ve charmed it, like Ethan said. Only females could get inside.
I rummaged through the treat room, until I found a box that was marked for wolvens. I opened the box and took out two treats in the shape of dog bones. They smelled like pumpkin, carrots, and peanut butter, but they must’ve had some sort of magical properties added to them as well, because I felt the magic inside of them pulsing against my fingers. On the box, it said they were good for wolven coats and shiny teeth.
Ethan’s tail was practically wagging off his body when I returned. I held them out to him. Ethan lapped the treats out of my hands and crunched on them happily. “Em. Delicious.”
A loud noise at the other end of the Shiftery caught my attention. Stefan was dancing around, his big feet stomping into the floor as Delmare dangled a giant raw steak in front of his nose, covered in some sort of strange hot sauce. Those had to be the dragon treats.
“Have you been a good boy?” Delmare teased, like she was enjoying this.
“Yes! Yes!” Stefan yelped. Delmare threw him the steak, and he flicked out his tongue to catch it. He devoured it in a single chomp.
I shook my head. The more time I spent with them, I learned that shifters were more like animals than people.
