Okay. I’ll take your word for it. My family is far from ordinary.
You fit right in,Matt stated.Because nothing about you is ordinary.
Yeah. Energy vampire. Princess. And now, daughter of public enemy number one. Bonza.
He leaned in and buried his nose in my hair.And you’re all mine.
Lucky you.
Then we passed a booth filled with gadgets of every description, and he let me go to gawk.
I didn’t blame him. If it weren’t for Mari gently but firmly directing me, I would have been lost in an instant. I’d never seen so many beautiful and fascinating things in one place. My head was constantly swiveling, my hand reaching to touch silken cloth, or to leave prints on glass-topped display cabinets full of glittering objects.
Matt was almost as distracted as me. With the ogress’s help, we bumbled after Aria. I needn’t have worried about Trix. She stuck close to my leg, her nose lifted to sample the scents. Matt and I, on the other hand, needed leashes.
The clientèle were as fascinating as the booths themselves. Many were bipedal, but not all. I felt like I’d stepped onto a sci-fi movie set.
If I spot Jabba, I’m outta here,Matt joked just as I pointed out a hulking form on four tiny legs. He, she, or it was wide, barely fitting down the aisles.
“This is remarkable,” I said.
“During the day, yes,” Aria agreed. “Just don’t be here once the sun has gone down. This place is deadly at night.”
It was hard to believe. Right now, the market was bright, bustling, noisy—and absolutely riveting.
The Dragona led us through it all to a large booth whose semipermanent walls spoke to the vendor’s success. It was much quieter and darker within. I blinked to adjust my vision, just as an amazing creature straightened from behind a counter.
At first, I was gobsmacked by his physique—his head almost brushed the ceiling, and displayed a style of stiff, upright hairs down the center of his skull. His features were heavy and fierce, with a prominent brow and square jaw. His eyes were so dark they were almost black, his nose long and prominent. A face whose character was only accentuated by the geometric tattoo running along one side of it.
The tattoo continued along his thick neck and over a shoulder surely designed to lift mountains. Or, at least, I assumed it did, as in reality it vanished beneath a breastplate made of intricately woven chain mail. At first glance, it appeared black, but as he moved, it shimmered with blue and green hues.
Matt’s nostrils flared wide, and he froze beside me. I was captivated as the vendor’s arm muscles rippled. He hefted a sword that must be six feet from pommel to tip, and as he moved along the counter—with curiously smooth progress—he said, in a deep, gravelly voice, “Well, Aria. It has been a while.”
“Hello, Emmanuel. Keeping fit, I see.”
The vendor—or, I guessed, armorer—moved beyond the counter, and I went rigid.
His humanoid torso flowed into a very furry, black-haired, quadruped body. Each powerful leg ended in a large equine hoof, and a thick tail swished behind him.
Emmanuel was a Centaur.
That explains why he smells like a horse,Matt offered, but his eyes were bugging out too.
Did you know they were real?
Sort of. Heard they were, but didn’t believe it.
Emmanuel paced up to us with a movement so smooth and fluid it was as though he had wheels rather than hooves. His dark eyes searched the depths of my hood. There was no mistaking the curiosity in them as his nostrils flared.
Matt moved, very subtly but firmly, to shield me. The armorer paused, his gaze traveling from Matt to me, and then to Aria.
“So, what can I do for you, my warrior princess?”
Aria snorted, but replied, “We need armor for Anna here.” To me, she said, “Take off your cloak. He will need to measure you.”
I complied, feeling suddenly rather naked as the Centaur’s gaze roved over me. Matt growled, very low.
Matt, cut it out. He needs to do it to size me.
