Kaz raised an eyebrow over her shoulder at him. “And your emperor always does the right thing?”
“Point taken,” Emmeric conceded.
“So, why did you leave?” Iyana asked.
“Do I get to hear everyone else’s life stories, or am I only telling mine?” Kaz asked.
“I was in the royal guard for Prince Zane,” Talon said, then gestured towards Iyana, “but I helped bust this one out of the castle, so I guess I’m out of a job now. Emmeric here lost his parents when he was fifteen, joined the royal guard. We’ve been best friends since birth. Iyana is a healer from Istora. Her grandmother died recently.” Iyana screwed up her face at Tal’s blunt retelling of Imo dying. “And Altair is a star who fell from the sky.”
“Thanks for the riveting summary,” Kaz deadpanned, but she quickly smiled again, flashing her brilliant white teeth. “I left because I’m the oldest of thirteen kids, and my parents wanted me to take over the family business, but I have no interest in doing that.”
“Thirteen?” Iyana asked, astounded at the idea of that many children. Most people in Imothia only had one or two, very rarely three. “Are they all shifters as well?”
“Nope,” said Kaz. “Just me. Not even my parents. And let me tell you, my dad waspissedwhen I first shifted at the age of three. He was angry I had the gift and not him.“ She chuckled. “I tore through the house as a cub, yowling and clawing up the drapes. I had no idea what was happening the first time.” Kaz sighed and became the most serious Iyana had so far seen her. “As is the way in Nyr, because I’m the oldest and the most powerful, I inherit everything from my parents. But it’s not what I want… I want adventure, excitement, love.” She batted her eyelashes at Emmeric. “So I ran away, and I’m not going back. My brother is only a year younger than me at twenty-three. He wants the business more than I do, and as far as I’m concerned, he can have it.”
“Thirteen babies…” said Iyana, still hung up on that aspect of Kaz’s story. “Your poor mother.”
Kaz shrugged again. “We have excellent healers in Nyr. Though it was a little tricky with the triplets.”
Iyana nearly choked. “Triplets?” She’d known it was a possibility, but had never heard of anyone who actually had triplets in their family.
“Yep! There’s me, then my brother. Next is my other brother, he’s twenty, followed by my sibling who is eighteen. Then twin sisters, both seventeen. Two brothers who are fifteen and thirteen. Then two sisters who are nine and seven. And lastly, the triplets, two boys and a girl, are all currently three years old.”
Talon whistled. “That’s quite the spread.”
“I thought I had a large family,” Altair said. It was the most he’d spoken of his family, besides telling her the star family units were called constellations. Iyana desperately wanted to press more out of him but knew he wouldn’t open up. Not with everyone else around. He was exceedingly tight lipped about his history, his family, and Iyana didn’t want to push him if he wasn’t ready. He obviously had some trauma associated with being banished to the sky, especially with the tight spaces. Remembering back to how he’d trembled in her arms while they stayed the night in that cave, she decided to leave it be for the moment. He’d tell her more when, and if, he wanted to.
She still hadn’t told him all that had taken place in Azazel’s chambers, and she wasn’t sure she could voice them. The torture master continued to haunt her nightmares—she would find herself strapped to the cold, sterile table, awaiting pain. Iyana would wake in a panic expecting to be back in the dungeon, fingernails missing, back flayed open, and the past few days were an elaborate hallucination. In those moments she would focus on things which tethered her to the present—Altair’s earthy and sweet scent of petrichor, his warm hands on her body, the faint pulse of the connection with Emmeric in her chest.
“So, sweetcheeks,” Kaz interrupted her thoughts. “You’ve asked me a lot about myself and nothing about shifting.”
“Are there many of you left?” Iyana asked.
“Only a handful that I know of,” replied Kaz.
“Can you only shift into a leopard?”
“Yeah, only the one form for me. Nyr’s legends say, in the past, our ancestors were able to shift into any animal form they desired.” Kaz sighed wistfully. “That would be so convenient. But I am really fond of my leopard. It’s not all bad.”
“Wait, you said healers helped with the triplets. Is their magic just as diminished as ours is?”
Kaz shook her head, which flung her beaded braids into Emmeric’s face, making him flinch backwards. The shifter pretended not to notice. “Nope. We’ve been fortunate in Nyr to have retained a significant portion of our magic. Most humans still possess small amounts, and those with more power typically will become healers. Or another profession which is made easier by magic. It’s why, as a shifter, I’m more rare, and the most powerful within my family.”
“How is it that Nyr still has magic while the rest of Arinem doesn’t?” Talon asked.
“Simple. We worship Yrza, Goddess of the Moon; we named our capital after her. She was the one who blessed us with our magic.”
“But Athusa and Istora have seen their magic drastically decline since the gods went to sleep,” Emmeric said. “The only ones to possess any sort of magic here are the healer, and only very little. How is Yrza supplying you with magic when the gods slumber?”
Kaz patted Emmeric’s knee. “You poor, stupid boy. Yrza isn’t sleeping.”
Kaz refused to answer their group’swhysandhow do you knowquestions after she dropped the bombshell revelation one of the gods wasn’t sleeping with the rest of them. Altair especially was interested in the information. Which made sense, as he had lived on Arinem while the gods were still awake and wandering the world. They’d eventually stopped pestering Kaz for more information when she snapped at them, saying she had nothing more to tell them. They spent the rest of the afternoon comfortably, jumping from one conversation to another.
They let Kaz in on the Aztia and Kanaliza business, which she took in stride, and their mission to depose Uther, who turned out to be a megalomaniac bent on worlddomination, which didn’t shock her in the slightest. Iyana guessed coming from a powerful family in the Kingdom of Nyr where magic still existed, not much would surprise Kaz. Other than Altair, it seemed.
A chill breeze blew through as the sun set, and they found a small clearing with a large rock formation on one side blocking them from the wind. Setting up camp, Altair wanted Iyana to attempt to start the fire with her magic.
“Should I…get Emmeric to help?” she asked.
