Keegan looked like he was going to be sick. Granted, after sharing everything, Thalia felt her own nausea rise in her stomach.
“I burned the head,” Keegan said. “Right after you extracted all the teeth.”
“Well, it somehow is able to re-form,” Thalia countered, trying and failing to push aside the image of its skin twisting like vines.
“It would make sense, then, why it’s so hard to kill. It’s regenerating.” Cassius spoke.
“Which means that you have to burn everything for it to remain dead,” Thalia finished.
“Well, let’s hope it died in the fire, along with Julian,” Keegan muttered.
Thalia nodded her agreement. She didn’t want to think about how it had somehow found her, even in the midst of the chaos. The fact that it’d touched its nose to her chest in Irenbis, almost like it was taking in her scent—marking her.
“You said that Camilla can somehow use the teeth?” Thalia asked, and Keegan nodded. “Then we go to her. Maybe see if those Mages can do something about it.”
“Having the shifters on our side if it does come to the courts turning fully wouldn’t be bad,” Keegan mused.
Thalia swallowed. A war between the Vampyr courts would be exactly the type of intel her mother would kill to have. Her stomach twisted, her mission flickering like a candle about to burn out. “Isn’t the prince there anyways?”
Cassius stiffened behind her, the movement so subtle she wouldn’t have noticed if she hadn’t been leaning against him. “Yes.”
“Then we kill two birds with one stone. Take the teeth to Camilla, see if she can use them for something, maybe an antidote?” She’d heard stories from farmers who’d been bitten by snakes, how the venom used to poison them had also been used to cure them.
“So we head to Perden.” Keegan nodded.
Perden.
Thalia didn’t know what to expect from House Olvectus, but she had a feeling she’d discover a lot more than just shifters.
“Where are we?” Thalia squinted at the run-down inn before them. A light drizzle had started, the air hanging with a thick mist as they dismounted at the muddy outpost.
“Arein,” Cassius said, pulling his hood over his head. “Twenty miles from Irenbis.”
Thalia didn’t like that they were still so close to the capital, but given that both Cassius and Keegan seemed ready to fall off their horses, it would have to do.
“I’ll see to the horses,” Keegan said, grabbing the reins to lead them into the stable around the back.
Thalia stared up at the inn. Its roof sagged and the sounds of drunken laughter spilled out onto the street.
Cassius’s hand materialized on her lower back. “Stay close to me.”
Thalia nodded as they moved inside. Immediately the smell of sour beer and sweat slapped her across the face. At least her hood covered the face she made as Cassius stalked to the counter.
The innkeeper was a half-blood Vampyr, with dull golden eyes and a permanent scowl. “What do you want?”
“A room,” Cassius growled out.
The innkeeper raised a brow. “Just the two of you?”
“Three. And two horses that need tending to.”
The innkeeper’s scowl seemed to deepen. Until Cassius set a bag of coins on the counter and the contents jingled. “For your troubles, and your silence.”
The innkeeper glanced between the bag of coins and them. Finally, he pulled out an old key.
“Fifth door on the second floor. There isn’t any breakfast, and only one common bathroom. Don’t hog it.”
Thalia’s lip curled. As if she’d spend a second longer than necessary in what was no doubt a shitty bathing room.
