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"I'm only guessing," he said.
"Yeah. I suppose the how doesn't matter now. Unless you have records on the kind of shifters witches fell for in those days?"
"Maybe in the back of the library," he said. "Otherwise, I don't know. There might be a way to find out. If there is, we'll track it down. Bain and me."
"Thank you, Keeper… Dex," I said. "I appreciate that. You and Bain have been…nice." More than nice, but I wasn't good at this kind of thing. I was better at telling people to fuck off.
Did I hear a snort from Kerina? I frowned at the back of the woman's head, but nothing in her posture or scent suggested she was paying much attention.
"Dragon!" A shout came from one of the guards behind us.
I twisted around in my saddle and cupped a hand over my eyes.
The dragon skimmed the horizon, just above the surf. It tucked its wings back to either side of its body and dove into the water. If it caught a fish, or any other sea creature, I couldn't tell from this distance.
"It's closer than we thought," one of the guards said.
Dex frowned and nodded. "Yes, but if it's eating fish, it might not come after us."
"It might when it sees us," Kerina pointed out. She too had twisted in her saddle to look.
"We can't help that." Dex offered me a smile, but his eyes looked troubled.
"Could that be the one we saw yesterday?" I turned further, but Bain was behind a handful of guards. Too far to have a proper conversation.
"It's possible. Does it look the same?" Dex asked.
I squinted, but shook my head. "I can't tell. It's too far away."
"I hope it is," Kerina said. When Dex gave her a funny look, she added, "If it's not, then there's two in the area. They might even plan to nest here."
Dex grimaced. "If that's the case, we'll have to encourage them not to."
"Will you ask them to leave?" Kerina gave him a sly smile.
The Keeper chuckled. "I could try diplomacy, but I think weaponry might be better." He glanced at me for a moment before he looked away.
My blood boiled. All of the niceties of the last few moments melted away. Was that all he saw me as? I was more than just a tool to be used whenever people felt like it.
When this was over, I might leave the city and travel south. I could meet the Slade guy they keep talking about, even though it sounded like he wasn't any better.
Still, if the Vault was big enough, I could hide somewhere, start over where no one knew me.
Kerina might know a place. I would ask her if I got the chance.WhenI got the chance, I corrected myself. I would make sure that happened.
Under my thighs, my horse moved restlessly, the first sign of uneasiness since we left the residence.
I leaned down to pat his neck. Did he feel my discomfort or was he aware of the dragon?
Maybe both. Animals were more aware of dangers than people. Although, like some people, they didn't have the sense to run away, and ran toward it instead.
I choked down a laugh at myself. I had walked out onto that street. I wasn't as powerless as a horse was under the talons of a dragon, but I was stupid for even thinking I could take on the creature. I asked myself why. Bain could more than look after himself.
Against a dragon though—
If it wasn't for the horse, the gods only knew if either of us would have survived. I grimaced at the idea of being torn apart by those enormous teeth.
"Keeper, it's seen us!" That was Bain, who had kicked Wind to catch up.
