Several tense minutes passed with not even the fox to keep her company. He'd scurried off with Caden, leaving Eva alone in the dark.
Eva kept her breathing even and deep, not letting the fear crouching deep inside out.
She waited like that, her skin tingling, her senses rioting as she picked up on every stray rustle of grass, every small sound in the deep of night, each more terrifying than the last.
She shut her eyes, going deep into her mind as she waited, imagining herself on the plain from her dreams once again. For a moment, it felt like she was there. If she reached out her hand, she would feel the long grass underneath her palms instead of the dirt and rock of their campsite.
A body hit the ground with a thump next to her. Eva controlled her jump, her heart beating wildly as she took in the prone figure of a man.
She looked up to find a figure on the hill above. It disappeared only to materialize into Caden as he slid down the steep incline.
The man on the ground groaned, pushing himself up onto his elbows. Caden stomped on his front, sending him sprawling again.
"Your hunt was successful," Eva observed in a composed voice that belied the inner quivering from the scare he'd given her.
"It seems I’ve found a rat," Caden agreed.
Eva frowned. "Now you sound like Ajari."
"We’re going to kill you both," the man mumbled, pushing himself upright as Caden looked on with a bored expression. "You're going to regret this."
Caden and Eva said nothing as they watched him.
"Was he the only one?" she asked.
"No."
"And the others?"
She didn't have to see his face to realize he was smirking at her. She sighed. That probably meant the rest were already dead, or so close to it that they no longer mattered.
One thing you could say about the Anateri’s commander; he was efficient and thorough.
Eva supposed she should have regretted the loss of life, but it was difficult when she knew these men would have gladly killed them, likely after torturing them for a while.
The flutter of wings from above announced Sebastian's presence as he landed several feet away. He blended in with the night, appearing to materialize out of it as silently as Caden had.
"So good of you to show up," Eva said sarcastically. If she had never seen the mythological again, she wasn't sure she would have been missing out. So far, he'd generated little more than further problems she didn't need. The wonder of his existence didn't quite make up for everything else.
I am here when it matters,he said in her mind.
Eva choked on her surprise, Caden's voice droning into a blur as she found herself staring in amazement at the Kyren.
"You can talk," she gasped in a whisper so only the Kyren could hear her.
The Kyren's expression was condescending as his tail swished behind him.
She climbed to her feet. "For how long?"
Why hadn't he spoken to her sooner? It would have made this entire journey so much easier.
For forever.
"And this is the first time I'm hearing about it?" she asked in outrage.
His ears flicked.You weren't ready to listen before now.
"Bullshit," she hissed.
