He stiffened. “I was looking for clues at her old stronghold, and while I was there, she came here. IfeltTriss collapse…” His voice broke, then deepened. “When I find that Sorceress, I will skin her alive.”
I’d give everything I was to see Isobel flayed by Emmanuel. I didn’t doubt his words. But Isobel wasn’t going to be taken down that easily, and he knew it, too.
I glanced back at Marcus, but he had paced to the far side of the courtyard. One hand waved as though he spoke with someone. Iskar, I guessed.
Emmanuel followed my gaze.
“You’ll look after him?” I asked. Stupid question, of course. Emmanuel was Marcus’s father. But I didn’t know how else to express what I felt inside.
The Centaur answered that, rather than my question. “He needs time.”
I swallowed. “Could you tell Cara we’ll make our own way back?”
“Of course,” he said, but the empathy in his voice spoke volumes. My eyes filled with tears that threatened to spill, and I turned away.
Fang began to vibrate again beneath my hair. It helped keep the waterworks at bay. I managed to walk more or less steadily until we’d exited the school, but when I stumbled on the cobblestone path, Kiko took my arm.
“Are we going to the market?” She sounded hopeful.
“Well, we’re goingthroughthe market,” I corrected, rubbing my eyes. I couldn’t stop thinking of those children, now in Isobel’s hands.
I was barely aware of walking through the colony gates. My legs shook, and the world occasionally spun—I kept my gaze focused on my feet. Kiko gently directed me to turn right when I would have gone left.
“Market is this way,” she murmured.
“We’re headed for the gate,” I insisted. “Do you have your crystal?”
“Always,” she said, pointing to her left horn. I hadn’t noticed that she’d hung the crystal from it—it was partly hidden in her hair. That was excellent, because I really had to get away from Marcus, and I didn’t want to hang around waiting for Cara.
“Embellishes thefive.” She patted the thickest part of her horn, before lifting her head, and sniffing. “You smell—different.”
Terrific. I resisted the urge to raise my hand to my head—were the horns still there? They hadn’t grown, or she’d have noticed. But she was staring at me with narrowed eyes. I sighed. “You Jumped with me. I picked up some of your qualities that are less desirable.”
Now her eyes widened. And then, she grinned. “Don’t thinklessdesirable is the right description. You do smell good. Any other additions?”
“Nothing you’d be interested in,” I grumped. I so didn’t want to talk about horns.
But as we entered the market, Kiko’s brain connected dots I’d rather not discuss. “So… You’ve been a Dire. AguyDire—” I shot her a glare, and she moved on. “A Dragona on cycle, and now you’re me.”
Well, there were a few scaly things beyond that—“Yeah, that sums it up.” More or less.
She frowned as her brain cells went into overdrive. “But—how do you pick that stuff up? You didn’t Jump with a Dire.”
My shaky-as-hell stride hitched. “No. Not sure how that one happened. Maybe I was close to one when I Jumped?” I had been when they netted Marcus and me. But I hadn’t changed to a Dire until I came to the academy.
I had other worries that were more important than my weird beasty shifts. Like whether my legs would hold me up until we got back to the academy.
Or whether Marcus could ever be in my presence without turning into a monster.
A group of three young males paused their perusal of a metalsmith’s booth to watch us pass, and Kiko’s stride slowed as she assessed them.
“Kiko, no.”
Her eyes gleamed and her scent intensified. The young males’ focus sharpened. And my entire body went on full alert, noticing details—the pleasing width of their shoulders, their musky male scent, and yes, embarrassingly, my eyes dropped to peruse their goods.
What the fuck.
Kiko leaned close. “You’re weak. You have absorbed some of me. Why not use it to re-energize?”
