“If you two are quite done talking about your conquests, I’d like to get on searching for the Infi,” came Draven’s low drawl.
Lex reached down and calmed her horse. “What’s wrong, Venari?” she asked. “Jealous you weren’t a part of it?”
“Had I been a part of it, neither of you would be able to sit on your horses this morning,” he said in a voice that such resembled a purr that a chill ran down Aydra’s spine. He looked between them again, the annoyance in his gaze.
“Your voices carry,” he continued as the pair dismounted their horses. “We’ll be lucky if you haven’t driven the Infi further up the beach.”
The orange light of the sun rising around them reflected back in his features, and Aydra exchanged a look with Lex.
“Very well, Venari,” Aydra said as she pulled her cloak back over her head. “Lead the way.”
Draven’s stern gaze darted between them, obviously unsure of how to take the women standing before him. “Are there any caves or hides around here that you are aware of?”
“Behind Arbina’s pool,” Aydra replied. “We threw the creature’s body off the tower into her waters.”
“We’ll start there,” Draven said.
Silence welcomed them as the three set off down the beach, Draven leading the way towards the waterfall. The air chilled around them, soft waves crashing in the ocean to their left. Aydra heard the squawk of the seagulls fighting over food all around, and she tried to shut the noise of their voices out. The raven must have heard her, for she heard it cut through the sky a few moments later, cackling at the annoying ocean birds and shooing them away.
“What exactly are we looking for?” Lex asked.
Draven slowed. “The Infi are shiftlings,” he said in a low tone.
“Duarb was cursed with giving children of both fates, the Infi and the Venari, after he did what he did to my giver mother,” Aydra cut in.
Draven’s jaw tightened as he glared back at her. “Lies of your Chronicles,” he growled.
“How else would you say your giver came to bear they and your own kind—”
“Do not speak of my kind as if you know anything of it,” he hissed, rounding on her.
She balked. “You—”
“Neither of you have answered my question,” Lex interjected lazily.
Draven paused. The glare in which he stared down at her with should have struck fear into her core, for she was sure that’s what he was accustomed to. But her lips pursed, and she raised a determined brow at him, daring him to blink or back down from her. The stern beating of her heart slowed, almost as though the adrenaline were calming her.
The wind whipped around them once, pushing her cloak off her head, and then Draven turned away from her. He started walking again, conviction in his deliberate strides, one hand on the handle of his sword. She could see the flex in the back of his bicep when his hand tightened around it, and he scanned the shadows with his night-piercing gaze.
“When the Infi are born beneath Duarb’s roots, they are in their true form. Skin near translucent, red boils on their flesh. If this one is still shifting back from death, he will look like this. If he has already mutated, he will look as a normal man, possibly either old and frail or tall and handsome, appealing to what they think would manipulate you most.”
“Do they ever change to women?” Lex asked.
“I’ve never seen a woman Infi,” Draven answered. “But I suppose it wouldn’t be out of the question.”
It wasn’t long before the sound of the waterfall began to block out all others. Aydra could smell the poison of Arbina’s pool at the bottom of it, the clear liquid looking so inviting that any who did not know better would have succumbed to its depths.
“Careful,” Aydra said as Draven neared the water. “It is poison to anyone not of her own.”
“Of course it is,” he muttered. “I’m sure she has a special poison for Venari as well.”
“What is that?” Lex asked as they approached the pool.
The noise of the waterfall was so loud, Aydra barely heard her. “What is what?” she asked.
Lex leaned over and pointed in front of Aydra’s face towards a light coming from behind the water. “That.”
Draven’s body tensed at Aydra’s side, and he stepped in front of them. “That… is an Infi,” he said quietly.
