“See? Dodgy as hell,” muttered Matt. He really wasn’t in his usual jovial mood. In fact, he seemed almost grumpy. I’d seen him snarly, but not like this.
I supposed even Matt was entitled to a bad day, now and then.
“Here,” he said. “You might as well put that thing on properly if you’re going to carry it at all.”
I’d just used the harness attached to the scabbard to sling it over my shoulder. Now I held it up and examined it. I’d expected it to just pass over one shoulder, but it looked equipped for a double scabbard arrangement mounted over the wearer’s back.
“I think your arm goes—” he broke off when I slipped both arms through so that the straps crossed between my breasts over my tee shirt. The hilt dropped too low, so I refastened the straps until it rose over my left shoulder.
“You’ve done that before,” Matt said with certainty.
I frowned. “When would I have done that?” Not knowing my past was getting increasingly frustrating.
Cara tapped her fingers against her chin. “Your body remembers, even if you don’t.”
That was a disturbing concept, but it did describe so many of my recent experiences. Matt had fallen silent, and now I glanced up at him. His gaze was focused on my breasts, now clearly outlined by the harness. I waved a hand in front of them, and his eyes snapped up to meet mine, gleaming emerald.
I stopped breathing.
Cara paused on the path. Glanced between the two of us, cleared her throat, and asked, “Did you know Jacques is a Satyr?”
“Someone mentioned it.” I ripped my gaze away from Matt to see her arch a brow at me. “Think it was you. Do you mean he’s really part goat?”
Her lips twitched. “He has certain goat-like characteristics, yes. Which you may or may not be able to detect, as he is capable of casting a glamor that makes some see what they expect, rather than the truth.”
Well, that wasn’t confusing at all. “So what will I see him as?”
“A slightly disreputable-appearing humanoid, most likely,” she said.
“Satyrs are perverts,” Matt growled.
I shot him a surprised look. “As compared to you, I suppose?”
He glowered at me. He really wasn’t in a good mood.
“Satyrs,” Cara stated, “crave sex pretty much continually, and it can be quite irritating. So if he comes on to you, just tell him to take a hike.”
Matt lifted a lip off a sharp canine. “If he comes on to her, hiking will not be an option.”
“He can’t help it,” Cara pointed out. “And if he’s sliced to ribbons, he can’t help us. So keep your beast on a leash.” She stared at Matt until he nodded and then led the way up the path.
It opened to a small clearing. Within it was an ancient stump that was the size of a house. When I saw the small windows carved into it, I realized itwasa house.
“Jacques lives here?” I glanced back the way we’d come. “He has his own gateway?”
Cara shot me a smile. “Yes, and yes. His services are valuable enough that the Dragon Emperor—encouraged by Tyrez at the time—requested that one be put in for him.”
Wow. That seemed extravagant. “But isn’t Tyrez exiled from the Empire?”
Cara’s smile vanished. “Yes, he is now. A foolish, wasteful thing, done by an Emperor who was too rigid to override a ridiculous ancient rule, even for his own son.”
Tyrez was the Emperor’sson? I exchanged a startled look with Matt.
“What the bleedin’ hell did he do?” Matt asked.
Cara sighed. “That is a story for another day.”
A door opened in the tree-stump home, and a non-human stood framed within it. Sparkle sat on his shoulder, trailing bits of ash over the trench coat he wore.
