I elevated a brow at him. Haki had always had a fascination for machines. “If we leave now, it will be night there. We could fly into Gartaka. Two hours, tops.”
Haki snorted. “And be stranded. It’s a few hours ahead of this realm. We’d be lucky to fly in before dawn. And then what?”
He had a point. The residents sure as shards had never seen a Dragon, and the realm had enough tech to make any flying, even night flying, risky. Utilizing the local transportation made sense, even if it was slower.
“I have a small transport in Barabon,” Jacques said brightly. “Three blocks east of the gate, I keep it parked in the back alley there. Key is in a magnetic box in the wheel well.”
I asked Haki, “Just how good are you at driving these things?”
Haki shrugged. “Won’t know until I try.”
Jacques looked as though he regretted his offer.
“We’ll make sure it gets brought back in one piece. Won’t we?” I gave Haki a pointed look.
“Certainly.” Haki beamed at us.
I winced and turned back to Jacques. “We’ll meet you tomorrow night, then, in Barabon.”
“There is a hotel near the gate, The Flying Tooth,” Jacques said. “Don’t ask why it’s called that, it’s far too long a story. Meet me in the bar there.” He cocked his head at me. “I hope you are right. About the vehicle, and Galeran.” His tone indicated his doubts.
He was entitled to both concerns. I knew he’d been looking for Galeran for months. And Haki tended to be an optimist—I had no idea if he’d wrap Jacques’s vehicle around a sharding tree.
But as Haki and I took our leave, I pushed any doubt from my thoughts.
It interfered with my hunt.
And as the Guild had taught me—preyalwayshad a pattern.
26
Sebastian
I peeled my lips back from my teeth, flattened my ears, and glared hate at anyone who dared to meet my eyes.
But the tragic fact be, no one cared. All in all, a pretty sardding infuriating arrangement.
My situation became nearly unbearable when Anna’s dream slammed into me. I might not be able to sense the life essences, but my link to her remained healthy and strong.
Unfortunately. Because as Finn rode me into Galeran’s battle, my body lit up like the stars on a hot summer night. With a predictable engorgement...
A mercenary reined his Trantil close. “Hey, Boss. Your makeshift stud there is getting ideas. Maybe he wants to romance my mount out from under me.”
Finn laughed and leaned close over my neck. “What’s the matter, Sebastian? Your frustration taking new routes of expression?”
Galeran rode ahead of us on his magnificent Trantil stallion—the beast be huge, with an eight-foot spread to its antlers. Now he glanced back to me and curled his lips into an arrogant snarl. “He is now nothing more than a horny beast. Which means he can no longer control his impulses.”
The words be a shock. Not that he would consider me such. And I knew that he despised residents who abused their realms. But that he would put himself on a higher plane than the very beasts we be sworn to protect only proved just how far he’d strayed from what every Liberi be taught from birth.
“Shall I stop, so you can fuck a Trantil?” Finn taunted.
I tossed my head back, trying to bash his nose with my neck, but the Torshin evaded my move and cranked on the reins. They lit up with his power, filling my brain with white static while the reins pulled my nose into my chest.
Then he cracked his icefire whip, the tip curving beneath my belly to lick at what hung below me. Although Matt and Anna writhed through my brain, the pain effectively cooled my ardor, even as it added to my humiliation.
I struggled to block Anna out of my head as our group passed through the town gates. We moved up to a gallop, the dust rising from Bellati and Trantil hooves.
I’d counted about seventy Bellatis, most in beast form. Isobel and her coven rode theirs in the center of the group. As they moved closer, my instincts prickled. Something about the nearest woman—her abdomen appeared swollen.
