“Not Hera?”
“No. We didn’t want to jinx it.”
House Harrison had access to two summoned beasts, and both of them had bonded to their tamers. Clearly, there was something special about that family.
“Zeus and Celeste were allowed to mate. Before you ask, it was voluntary on their part. We would never exercise our influence over our animals to force a breeding. It was a difficult pregnancy.”
“What about cloning or surrogacy?” he asked.
“That would have meant taking the choice away from them.”
So they would risk a massive investment for the sake of maintaining the animals’ autonomy. Interesting.
“We almost lost the mother, but in the end a single cub was born.”
Another swipe of her fingers, and a new image. A shockingly adorable blue cub, all fluff, big eyes, and oversized paws. He wasn’t given to sentimentality, but even he had to admit that the cuteness was off the charts.
An arcane creature born in this world. He could think of several highly educated magic experts who would argue that this little beast couldn’t exist and would happily die on that hill.
If anyone found out about this, the Harrisons would come under massive pressure. Some would want to study the cub, some would want to purchase it, and others would want to kill it to keep the Harrisons from rising in power. A House who could breed and command arcane beasts. Not summon them with an expiration date but keep them, permanently. The potential was staggering.
“What’s the cub’s name?” he asked.
“We call her Kitty.”
Augustine blinked.
“It’s a placeholder name. We were hoping that when Kitty grew a little, Matilda would form a pact with her. My niece is very talented, and she sounds mature, but she is still a nine-year-old child. She makes reckless decisions. Cornelius and I will do everything in our power to protect her, but we cannot be everywhere at once.”
And Kitty would grow up to be a formidable protector.
“These animals are different. They are smarter, more aware, and the bond with them is deeper,” Diana said. “Every species is different when it comes to forming a connection. Tigers are solitary and self-sufficient. They have to be coaxed. Lions are clingy and social. They reach out. The tigrionex are like us, Augustine, inquisitive and social. They are curious about humans. They seem to like us and seek the bond, and they are persistent about it.”
“Why do you think that is?”
“We don’t know. But rebuffing an animal that seeks to bond that intensely is difficult. It feels unnatural. Especially when you are Matilda’s age.”
From the way she made it sound, if the child and the cub came in contact, the bond process would happen almost involuntarily.
Diana shifted in her chair, sliding one leg over the other. It wasn’t a calculated movement, but he had to make a conscious effort not to linger on the lines of her body. The last time they’d met, it had been like that, too. He’d dismissed it as a passing attraction then, but it was worse now, with her in his client chair.
“Because of the difficult pregnancy, we decided to wait to introduce Matilda and the cub. We want to make sure Kitty survives. If Matilda bonds with her and the cub dies, the trauma to my niece would be catastrophic. That’s why the Baylors can’t be involved in this matter. Matilda spends most of her time at the Baylor compound. In the two months since they bought that estate, Matilda made friends with every mouse and bird on their property. She spies on the Baylors constantly. Nothing happens in that house that my niece doesn’t know about.”
“Can she hear through mouse ears?” he asked.
Diana looked at him for a second. “Vikilinta recording devices are one inch long, have the width of pencil graphite, and weigh nineteen grams. They’re voice-activated and can record up to four hundred hours of audio. A healthy adult mouse weighs between forty and forty-five grams, can carry twice her body weight, and can be convinced to wear a harness.”
And now he felt like a fool. What in the world was he thinking? The child was a budding Prime, not a mythical Beastmaster. Something about the connection between tech and animals always short-circuited his brain.
“Of course. However, I can’t imagine the Baylors would look favorably on that kind of security breach.”
“I’ve stressed the need for privacy to her multiple times,” Diana said. “I do not believe her obsessive recording is malicious.”
“Then why is she doing it?”
Diana sighed. Her face took on a slightly worn expression. “It is my understanding that a child subjected to early trauma, such as losing a mother in a horrific way, often seeks to establish control over her environment.”
“Matilda is afraid that she will miss something vital and the people she cares about will die.”
