“Better,” Zev said, wiping his mouth with the back of his arm. He fleetingly glanced at the camp.
“Von is fine, and no one else was hurt,” she assured him. “Dyna and Cassiel stopped you in time.”
The mention of Cassiel seemed to stump him. Zev nodded curtly and turned to go.
“You won’t stay, mate?” Klyde called out from behind her.
“It’s best I don’t. I’ll keep to the trees.”
“Have a meal with us at least,” she said.
“Plenty to hunt in the forest. Will you let Dyna know I came by?”
“Of course.”
He ambled away.
“Zev…” Lucenna called, and he paused, glancing at her over his shoulder. “You’re not a demon.”
He smirked faintly, though it was resigned. “Our origins began with the bite of a warg. What else could I be but a demon?”
That little tidbit tied Lucenna’s tongue. Wargs … she remembered reading about them. They were demons that had roamed the Everfrost during the First Age.
Zev walked away, fading into the trees.
Sighing, she returned to the camp spot Klyde was putting together with his nephew. With a sweep of her purple Essence, she levitated some logs around the circle of stones already containing a pile of firewood. With a snap of her fingers, she lit them aflame and took a seat.
“Intriguing.” Keena shifted to her full height in a puff of gold dust and took a seat beside her. “I heard his kind carried traces of demon blood, but I wasn’t sure if it was merely a rumor.”
Klyde took out a sleeping mat from his pack, laying it out. “Werewolves came into existence during the First Age. The first was once human until he had been cursed with magic from the God of Shadows and the God of Death. It had turned him into a monstrous, bloodthirsty beast.”
Lucenna thought of the Other and shivered. “Zev isn’t like that…”
“Except for last night,” Keena stated. Lucenna shot her a glare, and the fairy smiled sheepishly. “Only a thought. I’ll go about seeing if I can find us something to eat.”
She shrunk again and flew off, zipping like a yellow butterfly through the camp.
“You’re a tad short-tempered today,” Klyde said, taking Keena’s seat. “Though you’re a ray of sunshine compared to his royal highness over there.”
He motioned to where Cassiel spoke with his Valkyrie, his arms crossed and brooding.
“Klyde, I have very little patience today, so perhaps you can attempt not to be exasperating.” Lucenna glowered. He sighed. “You’re already doing it.”
“Lass, not everyone knows Zev as we do.”
She arched an eyebrow. “We?”
“You forget I had the privilege of knowing him over the winter.”
“Right, and you are an observant bloke with an opinion on everyone,” she said, flipping her silvery hair over her shoulder. “So what do you make of him?”
“I believe Zev is a good man with an unfortunate curse.”
“Do you think he’s a monster, too?”
Klyde fell quiet as he observed the dancing flames. The low sun caught his features, gilding them in a soft orange hue. “We all have a monster in us in individual forms. Most sleep and never wake. Others appear once a month. Sometimes … they take over who we are.”
Lucenna studied him, wondering if he was thinking of his brother. She tried to imagine Klyde’s monster but failed in her imagination.
