“Lady Alexis,” Lord Daniel looks at me from his side, “I must ask that you draw your hood,and, to the best of your ability, hide Stormfall.”
The little beast at my neck gives a small chirp. I pull my hair in front of my face and cover him with my hood, reaching down my leg as I unsheathe the smaller blade from inside my boot. I tuck it into my waistband for easy access and eye the Leviathans moving towards us.
“I will greet them,” Lord Daniel moves forward as Cal and I follow slightly behind. He still has one hand holding his reins while the other rests calmly on the side of his thigh, waiting.
I take a heavy breath and watch as five riders in total come to a slow in front of us, each of them forming a line to our left and right. All of the men sport a rich blue and white blanket draped under their saddles, the official colors of the Kingdom of Livyatan.
“Disce,” the man in the center smirks, “what a pleasant surprise.”
I’ve only seen Leviathans twice in my life before now, though their appearance was not something I’d likely forget. Both instances were at court in Bardot years ago, when the foreign Kingdom sent a small delegation to visit our capitol. On both nights the Leviathans kept their conversations to the royal family, especially Troy, though their smiles were giving to the rest of the court. And while they certainly looked different from our people of Disce, I never got the impression that they were evil.
That impression is quickly changing as I watch the leader of the five riders look over us with a dark smile.
Leviathans in general are graced with dark skin. Not the type of dark skin that Desmond has, but with a hue that looks like a deep tan. Their hair is dark brown and black, always long and pulled away from their faces, most of them hosting waves or rows of braids that fall behind their backs. Indeed, this leader has his hair braided in intricate rows across his head before it falls behind him in more braids. The ends are fastened with white, tan and blue beads of ceramic, the colors matching the white and tan embroider of his rich blue tunic. His brows are black and angled, providing for a hard face that’s graced by even harder cheekbones, but his lips are a soft red and completely full as they curve up…almost, but not quite, inviting in their smirking challenge.
If the situation had allowed, I might’ve thought that this man was exotically handsome, but his brown eyes are shrouded in a malicious amusement that is wholeheartedly unattractive.
“What are you all doing outside your forests?”
Stormfall stirs against me as Lord Daniel replies for the three of us.
“Traveling home, as this is the road for it.”
His tone has a slight bite to it, so unlike the polite man that I’ve gotten to know during our travel. A few of the Leviathan riders shift in their seats, all of them having the same deep tanned skin, black hair, and look of malevolent amusement in their eyes.
“And you?” Lord Daniel asks steadily, “what brings you so close to our borders?”
“Are we close?” the leader asks sarcastically, eyes darting to Cal. He lifts a brow at the size of him before nodding in appreciation.
Cal ignores him completely.
The man chuckles and moves his gaze to me, smiling when he looks over my figure and notices how much smaller I am from the men I travel with. I hold his stare for a brief moment before looking away in disinterest, truly and completely unimpressed.
The rider perks, smirking at my gesture, and then turns back to Daniel.
“You travel with a woman?”
“Whom we travel with does not concern you,” Lord Daniel states, fingers twitching at his side.
“Hmm, perhaps it doesn’t,” the man nods, eyes slowly moving back to my face. He takes in the bruises on my cheek and chin and smiles again, almost like he enjoys the sight of them.
“Or perhaps it does concern us… more than you will ever know.”
The men around him straighten in their seats, as if he’s said something of importance. Their hands slowly make their way to the various weapons angled across their backs, their once smug attitudes now attentive.
“Is your woman companion a human by chance?” the man asks.
“What does it matter?” Lord Daniel quips.
“Again,” the leader flicks his gaze to Daniel, “more than you will ever know.”
Lord Daniel eyes the man before jutting his chin to the road behind him.
“On your way,Leviathan. I have no time games.”
I shift atop Millie and subtly reach for my dagger, noticing the man on the far end of the line moving his horse towards mine.
“This is no game, my Lord.”
