“Ugh.” Aria wrinkled her nose as she pulled the cape over her head. It hung well clear of the ground.
He stared at her. She slouched her shoulders. When he continued to stare, she hunched even more.
“This is so not my forte,” the Dragon shifter said with a sigh. “My back will ache for days.” She fussed with her tail spike, but no matter how she draped the cloak, it was in the way.
When she went to rip the cloth, he stopped her. “You don’t want it flipping open at the wrong time.”
“But I won’t be able to reach it fast.”
“If you need to reach for it at all, we’re already in big trouble,” he pointed out.
Her lips twisted, but then she nodded and let the cloak fall over it. Lucas’s cloak also hung above the ground, but not so badly that anyone would notice, so long as he slouched. He wound the extra bit across his face. The material was spongy, designed not only to hold water but also, he thought, to add humidity as they breathed.
He debated before he tucked the loose end in. “We’ll have to make sure we have the drape of this covering right, or it might be noticed. It will help that it’s dark.”
“Do they wear it all the time?” Aria’s voice was muffled by her covering.
“I don’t know. We’ll have to be observant and follow the pattern.”
Aria twisted her red and gold mane into a knot and tucked it into her hood. “I prefer looming to blending. When push comes to shove, bodyguards are supposed to look as though they shouldn’t be messed with.”
“You always look as though you shouldn’t be messed with.”
She turned his way. “Thank you.”
Lucas’s lips twitched as he pulled up his own hood. “How close do you have to be to sense the gate?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never tried to pinpoint one before. But I should be able to sense it if I’m close.”
Lucas sighed. “This could take a while. We’ll have to keep focused on where we’re going, and do it systematically.”
Aria shook her head as she followed Lucas up the road. “Figures we’d land in a sharding virgin realm. Otherwise, we could just bloody ask.”
She was striding along like—well, like a warrior. “Mince your steps a bit. You’re a frog, not a monitor lizard.”
“What’s a monitor lizard?”
“A rather fierce reptile.”
“Like a Komodo dragon?”
“Not quite as big. Or as toxic.”
Her stride hitched. “Komodo dragons are toxic?”
“Yeah. They have wicked bacteria in their saliva.”
The figure within the hood stiffened.
“Hey, slouch, remember?” He paused. They’d reached the first intersection. The town was divided into squares framed by cobblestone roads further divided by packed gravel side streets. The intersections were defined by a courtyard, the center of which featured a pond and fountain. Although the streets stood in darkness, these focal points were lit by a series of gas lanterns on tall posts.
There was someone at the fountain of the second courtyard they stumbled upon. The figure stood beside a large, hairy four-legged animal with a wide head and curved horns. It wore a saddle and bridle and was clearly used as a means of transport.
As it slurped greedily from the pond, its rider bent toward the water and made an odd, graceful motion with one six-fingered hand. It looked like a ritual kind of thing, done while the other hand unwound the face scarf. Then the form dipped its hand into the water and poured a palmful over the scarf.
“Think you can copy that?” Lucas whispered to Aria. They were lurking in the darkness, plastered against the side of a building that wasn’t a house—the first sign they were leaving the residential area.
“Not sure,” she admitted. “Do we have to? I’d rather not walk around with a wet face.”
