She opened her mouth to argue and point out the dangers when he jerked, losing his balance and falling into the water. A sharp cry escaped him. There was a flash of scales, then kelp or something that looked oddly like hair swirling just feet from where he'd just been standing. He thrashed toward the bank, crouching there.
The skin above his ankle was red, blood dotting it like something had wrapped around it and tried to drag him under.
"What was that?" he hissed.
Eve came to a stop beside him, searching the water for another glimpse of whatever the creature was. “I suspect that’s the reason the pathfinder told us to stay out."
The Lowlander fixed her with a wild stare as she sauntered back to the wagon. She had a feeling he'd listen now.
Eva found the Kyren with his head drooping and his wings tucked close into his body. His feathers glistened with rain drops as if he'd caught stars on them and brought them down to the world for mortals to admire.
Eva climbed into the wagon with him, skirting his larger form to greet him in the method he'd taught her before petting his nose in the way she knew he liked.
"There's a river blocking our path. Well, Laurell thinks it’s more of a lake than a river. Whatever it is, has Reece worried," Eva said, sharing the news from outside the wagon, as had become her habit over the last few days.
The two had formed a tentative truce. Eva still wasn't sure why he'd chosen her or why he'd suddenly become difficult, but they had figured out a way to work together. It wasn't the relationship she had with Caia, and that was okay. Caia was a special entity for Eva.
"We should not have come here," Ajari said from above.
Eva didn't even start at the unexpected company. By now, she’d grown used to the way the mythological came and went. It no longer surprised her when she found him watching her from somewhere high.
"You're not the only one who thinks so," Eva said, not pausing in her soothing strokes to Sebastian's neck. She found an itchy spot beneath his jaw and spent a few seconds scratching it as his eyes rolled in pleasure. She dropped a kiss on his nose before stepping back and giving Ajari her full attention.
Sebastian might make her pay for that piece of affection later, but she hadn’t been able to resist.
"This place stinks of rot and decay." Ajari's eyes were distant as if he was remembering something unpleasant. "I can smell it in the air. Can't you?"
Finally, he looked down at Eva. She couldn't help but feel a pulse of fear at the otherworldliness of his expression. This wasn't Ajari mocking human behavior, this was the mythological, an apex predator, looking back at her.
Next to her, Sebastian stomped his hoof, his lips peeling back to expose his lethally sharp teeth as he let out a sound that would have been called a growl if not for his equine body.
"Even the Kyren senses it," Ajari said.
Eva did too, if she was being honest. There was something about the lake that she couldn't quite put her finger on. Her skin itched with its wrongness.
Ajari hopped down, landing in the wagon with a grace belied by his large form. The wagon barely shuddered under his weight. Eva didn't move, cognizant of the sharp claws tipping his hands and how those claws could rend the flesh from her bones with little effort on his part.
"You should inform Darius and Caden of your concerns," she told him. "They can't act unless they know."
His was a predator's smile as he leaned down, one claw reaching out to tug on a strand of hair that had come loose from her braid. He moved past her, slipping to the back of the wagon before she could react. "That's what I have you for, little speaker."
She spun with him. "I can't do that."
"You're our intermediary," he said, lifting an eyebrow. "Refusing would endanger the treaty."
She jerked her thumb at Sebastian. "I'm his intermediary, not yours."
If anyone was to be the Tenrin's go-between, it would be Shea. Ajari's people had given her a name and everything. The Flock's Burning One.
"Ah, didn't I tell you. The Kyren pick the intermediary. You act as a spokesperson for us all when called on. And Caller—I'm calling on you now." His expression held a dangerous edge.
"You tricked me," Eva said in a low voice. This was not how he'd presented the role to Fallon and Shea. Nowhere in there was there anything about her being the intermediary for all mythologicals.
"I'm a mythological. What did you expect?" he asked.
Not this.
It was on the tip of Eva's tongue to refuse. If she allowed them to push her around, they would take it as their right. She'd go from being the punching bag of her old village to being one for them. She refused to be that person again.
