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“You are out of dogs.”
“Not quite.”
I clicked my tongue. The bushes to my left rustled, and Shadow emerged into the open. My dog did not like strangers. She was very good at not being seen when she didn’t want to be.
The prince blinked.
I scooped her up and pointed to Konstantin. “Bad.”
Shadow let out a quiet woof.
“Yes, we don’t like him. Bad, bad.”
“Is that a dachshund mixed with something? Scottish terrier, perhaps?”
“That’s not important,” I told him.
Shadow growled, picking up on the hostility in my voice. I set her down. She woofed one more time to let him know she meant business and wagged her tail. As I straightened, I saw two big shapes coming down the shaded path between the trees, a slender, short human between them. A fourth shadow trotted alongside, almost comically small in comparison. They moved silently, the shadows of the tree canopy sliding over their fur.
Amusement sparked in Konstantin’s eyes. “Now I have met everyone. Am I free to wander?”
“Not yet.”
“Is there more? Perhaps a miniature attack poodle or a valiant chihuahua?”
“Something like that.” I nodded in the direction of the path.
Konstantin turned to see and clicked his mouth shut.
Several years ago, the military attempted to apply magic and genetic engineering to make hyperintelligent bears. They planned to use them in combat, how or why I could never understand. The program had been discontinued but some of its animal combatants remained. Sgt. Teddy was one of them. An enormous Kodiak, he stood at five feet three inches tall on all fours and ten and a half feet tall when he reared. He weighed over fifteen hundred pounds. His paws were bigger than my head and could crack a human skull like a walnut with one swipe. His claws were almost six inches long and his teeth would give you nightmares.
Despite all of that, Sgt. Teddy was a pacifist. He preferred human company to living in the wild, and he liked kids. Next to him ten-year-old Matilda looked tiny, like a waifish toddler. The sixty-pound golden retriever trailing them was like a six-week-old puppy.
The creature strolling on the other side of Matilda was anything but a pacifist. The first thing you noticed was his color. His fur was a striking indigo blue, so vivid, it seemed unreal, a color that should have belonged to some exotic bird, not a massive feline predator. Two and a half feet tall at the shoulder, six and a half feet long, he strode forward on huge paws hiding sickle claws. His muscular body was reminiscent of a tiger, but the fringe of tentacles around his neck left no doubt that Zeus was not a creature born on Earth.
The two beasts approached. Zeus halted two feet from Konstantin, leaned forward, and sniffed, his eyes flashing turquoise.
The Russian prince held very still.
His face realigned itself very subtly. He was almost impossibly beautiful now.
“We haven’t been properly introduced,” he said to Matilda. “I am Prince Konstantin Berezin. Who do I have the honor of addressing?”
“I’m Matilda Harrison, of House Harrison.”
“It is a pleasure, Matilda.” He bowed his head. “I’m very sorry my actions led to your father being injured. It was not my intention to include him in this affair. I ask your forgiveness and hope you will allow me to make amends.”
Wow. He read Matilda in a split second. Most people wouldn’t talk to a ten-year-old that way, but somehow, he figured out that Matilda was an adult in a child’s body.
“Are you a real prince?”
“Yes. My uncle is the emperor, and he often tells me that I’m his favorite nephew.”
Matilda considered this. “Are you?”
“I suspect my uncle tells that to all of his nephews when he wants us to do something for him.”
She raised her chin. “I accept your apology. Sgt. Teddy thinks you smell like a bear.”
He nodded. “My House has a long affinity with bears. You might say we’re practically family.”
And what the hell did that mean?
Matilda squinted at him, then turned to me. “The scent has been acquired.”
“Thank you, Matilda.”
“Clearly, I’m in The Jungle Book,” Konstantin said. “I have met the wolves, the bear, and the panther.”
“Don’t worry, there’s no python.”
He gave me an odd look. “I already met her.”
“What?” I asked.
“Never mind. I was being frivolous.”
“Being frivolous is not a good idea,” Matilda said. “My father tells me that killing is an inevitable part of being a Prime. If you break the rules, I will kill you.”
“Consider me properly warned.” Konstantin nodded.
The golden retriever trotted forward and sat, staring at Konstantin with a happy canine grin.
“This is Rooster,” Matilda said. “She will be your watcher.”
“Of all the dogs available to you, you chose to assign me a golden retriever?” Konstantin’s eyebrows rose a fraction of an inch.
“Please change shape, Your Highness,” Matilda said.
Konstantin’s face blurred, and Alessandro sat in his place. It was a perfect impersonation, down to the narrow cut on Alessandro’s chin, which he got fighting Buller.
