“Viper and I had a fight,” I admitted. “He ran off—went to chase after some snake-shifters we've been hunting—and now he's not responding to my calls.”
“Your phone calls or internal calls?” Arach asked.
Arach was the only one of my men who I couldn't exchange a Blood to Heart vow with. I could give it to him, but since he wasn't a god, he couldn't make the vow to me. Because he couldn't reciprocate, he had refused to take my vow.
“The internal calls. He took off in snake form so he didn't take his cellphone with him.” I grimaced.
“Why are you hunting snake-shifters?” Arach asked suspiciously.
“We're not at war. Don't give me that look.” I'd promised to notify Arach any time we went into a big battle so he could join us. “Austin asked me to help investigate a series of snake attacks in Lexington. We discovered that there have been attacks in several cities leading up from Mexico. The snakes dug a network of tunnels below Lexington and possibly other towns. Viper went into the tunnels after them.”
“He went in after arguing with you?” Arach asked with a condemning tone.
“Yes.”
“That was rather foolhardy and brash.”
“Yes.”
“And rude.”
“Yes.”
“How long has he been gone?”
“A day.”
Dexter whined sympathetically, and I absently pet him.
Arach sighed. “That's a long time to keep your mate in the dark. I don't like the sound of that, Vervain.”
“Me either.”
“Have you gone after him yet?”
“I might send Odin after I get back. I can't shift into anything small enough—or narrow enough, rather—to crawl through those tunnels.”
“Can't you track his smell from above ground?”
“To a certain depth, but I think these tunnels go deeper than I can smell.”
“Well, if you need me to go to the Human Realm and help you find him, let me know.”
“Thank you, honey. That means a lot.”
“Of course, A Thaisce. Viper is family now. He may be acting in a manner I don't approve of, but he's still family. We'll find him.” He grimaced. “Then we'll break his nose.”
“We're not going to break his nose,” I chided.
“If you say so.” He looked away as if he had every intention of doing it anyway.”
“Thanks for not asking about the fight.”
“I honestly don't want to know unless you need to tell me.”
I smiled softly at him. My dragon could be so chivalrous.
“My King and Queen,” Duchess Isleen, the castle chatelaine, came striding into the hall with a Goblin by her side. The Goblin wore a tabard with the crest of the House of Spirit: a crown over a nine-pointed star.
