Eva bit back the words she wanted to say. As much as she wanted to refuse, she couldn't. She'd given her word to do her best. She could do no other than to honor it.
"You might have won this time," she told Ajari evenly. "But I want you to think on this. I'm not the fastest learner, but I learn well. When you treat me the way a human might, I can only respond in kind. What form do you want the relationship between us to take? One of deceit and manipulation? Because if so, you're well on your way to realizing that future."
Eva pushed past him, not looking at Sebastian as anger made her hands shake. She shouldn't be surprised. Not really. All they had done was prove that a piece of them was all too similar to a human. It was a piece she would have been happy never to have seen.
She hopped out of the wagon and strode toward where Darius and his most trusted advisors conferred, spotting Hanna in their midst. The other woman had been friendly the few times their paths had crossed, but she didn't yet consider the warrior a friend.
She reached them and hesitated, unsure what to do next.
She might be the Kyren's voice—and evidently Ajari's too—but that didn't mean her status among the Tratori had changed. She was still a throwaway, a tagalong. Not someone who could casually approach a general and issue demands.
"We can send our people out in teams of five. Use our strongest swimmers to test the current and establish lines for the rest," a bald man named Jedrek was saying.
"Be better to go around it," Fiona said. "Ten daneas that wagon's wheels are going to sink as soon as it gets halfway across."
Hanna scoffed. "No one is going to take you up on that bet, Fiona. We all know that's exactly what's going to happen."
"Could build a boat," Jedrek volunteered.
"Who among us knows how to build a boat?" Fiona asked.
Jedrek shrugged. "Maybe one of the throwaways, or even the pathfinder. I don't know. I thought this was a brainstorming session. I'm brainstorming."
"More like talking out of your ass," Fiona muttered.
Hanna smirked.
"Perhaps the little herd mistress has a suggestion for us," Darius said, raising his head. Being under his regard was like having a wolf focus on you. "Maybe she'll suggest we leave that ridiculous contraption behind."
Eva suddenly found herself the focus of several pairs of eyes. Fiona shrugged slightly at her as if to apologize for the general's ill mood.
"The mythologicals sent me to tell you they think there is something wrong with the water," Eva said, spitting out the message before she could let herself think better of it.
Focus on what needs doing, leave everything else behind, she told herself.
Darius stared at her for several moments, silent. It gave her time to glance around uneasily. Caden, at his side, watched her evenly, his expression unchanging.
"And?" Darius demanded.
"They recommend finding another way around." She'd decided to keep the message simple and to leave out her own feelings about the water and what might be dwelling beneath. This way he'd have less to question.
Darius's head bowed as a groan slipped out. "I never thought I'd take advice from a horse and a human bird."
"They’re called Kyren and Tenrin," Eva pointed out.
Darius lifted his head as those next to him stared at Eva as if she was out of her mind. Too late she realized she probably should have kept her mouth shut. Even if Darius's terms for them had been wrong and it was her job as their intermediary to help in human-mythological relations.
"Is that so?" he asked.
Eva's uncertain gaze darted to Caden's and back to Darius. What did he want her to say? He knew it was. Forcing her say it was just mean. "It is."
"The girl's right," Reece said, appearing out of nowhere. The pathfinder looked half-drowned, his hair dripping water and his clothes sopping wet. "Going through that water will end in the death of everyone here."
A stinging curse escaped Fiona while the rest of those assembled looked like they'd bitten into something sour.
"What did you find?" Darius asked, his expression alert and attentive in a way it hadn't been when Eva had voiced the mythological's concerns. It made her want to say some sharp words of her own.
A look of admonition from Caden had her biting those back. Probably for the best.
