The fire fox's angry chattering sounded like back talk to Eva. Once again, she wished she could understand what he was saying.
Nonetheless her warning seemed to have gotten through to him as the flame went out and his tails drooped.
Eva turned her gaze to the culprit who'd started all this. "Let him go. We both know you're not going to do anything to him anyway."
Sebastian got an insulted expression on his face.I might. There's a lot of meat on him and you know arrogant warriors are my favorite. They're the tastiest.
Eva shook the uncomfortable image of Kyren feasting on human body parts from her brain. "You promised. You don't eat humans and I don't avoid your kind for the rest of my life."
Warin blanched. "What did she just say?"
Roscoe grinned. "Oh, yeah. Kyren consider humans a delicacy. You should have seen how quickly they stripped the flesh from bone off those who tried to enslave them."
Warin gulped, his unease reflected in the rest of those from Lion and Rain.
Roscoe and the others from camp had been with Eva on that first trip. As beautiful and majestic as the Kyren seemed, the mythologicals also had a darker side. One that considered everyone else a potential food source in times of famine. Even other Kyren.
There was still some resistance in Sebastian's expression as he gave her a sulky look.Fine. If you insist.
Oh, Eva did. Eva most certainly did.
The step back Sebastian took was small, but relief ran through the rest of those present—including Eva.
The Kyren were nothing if not unpredictable. There was every chance Sebastian would push the confrontation to the edge and take them to a point of no return.
Sebastian's lip curled, showing their relief was premature. Van tensed, as did Gawain.
Sebastian sneezed, a great glob of snot hitting the back of Warin's head and splattering onto his shoulders.
"Oh my," Fiona said, not quite holding in her laugh at the look of shocked disbelief on Warin's face.
Eva choked, caught between her desire to laugh and the knowledge that doing so wouldn't help the situation.
No one reacted, including Warin as he stood frozen in position, cringing as he stared blindly ahead.
Sebastian whickered and trotted away, his tail and wings held high.
A snicker broke the silence. Others followed quickly.
Buck reached out to poke at the globs of snot, withdrawing before actually touching the sticky liquid. "That's embarrassing."
Ghost nodded, looking repulsed.
To Eva's surprise, Warin didn't seem furious as his face worked. There was none of the rage or anger she would have expected. Instead, she saw excitement.
"Am I the only one he's sneezed on?" Warin asked.
"Yes?" The raised inflection in Eva's voice made that more of a question than a statement.
Warin lifted his hands, rubbing the snot further into his hair as a mad laugh broke free. "The first Trateri to have that honor." To Buck. "You're jealous, aren't you?"
Buck looked like he was debating whether Warin was insane. "Not the word I would use."
Ghost frowned and stared at Roscoe. "He does have a point, though. Why haven't we been sneezed on? We've been around him way longer."
Fiona raised her eyes to the sky. "How did I get saddled with morons?"
Ghost slung an arm around her shoulder. "Guess you were just lucky."
