“Mogens, I will walk with you,” Gweneth said.
He offered a quizzical look but no comment, and she fell into step with him as he turned toward the exit.Once they were out of earshot, he glanced at her again.“Do you have a problem?”
“Two eves ago, I shifted to feline.”
Mogens stopped walking.“Your facial tattoo is gone.I thought you’d applied makeup to hide it as you sometimes do.”
“No, it’s vanished.”
“You have mated with Ellard?”
“No.We didn’t mate.”
Mogens frowned.“Another anomaly.The process varies with each feline.The Virosian felines are consistent in their behavior but none of theIndycrew reacts in the same way.Have you a tattoo on your back like Camryn and Jannike?”
“No.”She’d checked in the looking glass and seen nothing but bare skin.
He nodded.“Nothing else is amiss?”
“I feel fine and managed to change from feline to human on my own.”
They halted outside Mogens’s suite.“Com me if you feel unwell or anything else seems amiss.”
“I will.Mogens, do you…will Camryn recover?”
“I pray it so.A cloud reading will help, I think.”
Gweneth nodded and pressed an impulsive kiss to his cheek.A white swirl diluted the darkness from his features.“Rest well, Mogens.I will try and persuade Ry to take a rest.”
“Good luck.”His eyes crinkled at the corners.“Good luck with your intentions, child.”
Planet Narenda, Chieftain’s office
“What do you think?”Niran asked.
Ransom pushed away from his desk and stood to join Niran by the window.The vibrant flowers in the gardens glowed like jewels in the foreground, the wild forest flora beyond another sea of color.Predominantly green, but tinges of pink and red dotted several of the trees.And beyond that, the terrain shifted to rolling hills, the very start of the mountain range where they found the raw materials to make their jewelry.
As a youngster, he and his brothers and friends had practiced flying in the fields on the other side of the trees and to prove their bravery, they’d flown close to the start of the chain of mountains—just to show they could withstand the resonance.He snorted under his breath.Young fools.A small hit of resonance in the form of stones didn’t hold much danger.In some dragon shifters, the resonance caused drunken symptoms.An entire mountain range, however, could kill, sending them mad with the ringing in their ears.
Only a few of the much older dragon shifters ventured near the mountain range, and they never managed to stay long.
The dangers Leeam and Sheera had faced meant Niran was reluctant to allow his people to venture into the area again.Not that Ransom blamed him.Luckily, their stocks of stones were sufficient.For now.
“It is a good idea.”Ransom tore his gaze from the view outside his window and turned to the Incorporeal leader.“I will com the king and request a meeting, ask if they will allow you to shimmer into their territory.”
“Please request Ellard’s and Gweneth’s presence.”
Ransom nodded.“I will do as you ask.It is time.”
“Yes,” Niran said.“As much as I will miss them, it is time for a change.”
Ellard’s suite, House of the Cat castle, Viros
The determined thump on Ellard’s suite door echoed in time with his head.Bang.Bang.Bang!
“What do you want?”The black mood that hovered over Ellard burst free in a feline snarl.“Go away.”
“I order you to open the door.”His younger brother.Determined, judging by his crisp words.
