“Not at all! The Simi loves her goddess-akra. She’s the bestest!”
Ash nodded, then paused as he met Xander’s gaze. “What?”
“Just thinking … this would be better if we had a kerling going in.” He looked at Shadow. “I know you don’t, but do you have any friends?”
“I do have friends, for your information.” Shadow turned toward Urian. “Think we can pry Brogan off Blaise for a little soiree?”
He pulled his phone out of his pocket. “It’s worth a try.”
Xyn was still baffled by that little device. It was quite impressive.
Meanwhile, Simi came over and took her arm. “What’s your favorite people to eat, akra-Dragon?”
“You know, Simi, I haven’t eaten any in a while.”
“Oh. Akri has you on a diet, too. That’s just so wrong. He won’t let me eat hardlies anythings. It’s just so hard. But is how I maintains this girlie figure at my age.”
Before she could comment, Urian slid his phone back into his pocket.
“I have good news and bad news.”
Xander made a face that said he felt a bit sick at the prospect. “What?”
An instant later, Blaise and Brogan both appeared.
“I got your kerling, but she comes with a two-hundred-pound tumor.”
Blaise appeared baffled by his comment. “What?”
Acheron snickered as he clapped him on the back. “Inside joke at your expense. Sorry, Blaise.”
“What else is new, Ash? Everyone takes a potshot at the dragon. We’re low-hanging fruit. So large, we’re easy to hit. So everyone takes a shot.”
Brogan lowered her hood to expose her braided dark hair. The petite fey witch was absolutely exquisite. Like Simi, she appeared so frail and harmless and yet was capable of extreme and utter violence.
She held her hand out toward Xander. “You must be the reason Urian called. I’m Brogan.”
“Xander.”
“And this is Blaise.”
Xander smiled. “A kerling Deathseer who commands a mandrakeanda Crom. That’s something I’ve never seen before.” He clicked his tongue. “I take back what I said, Shadow. You have impressive friends.”
“Yeah, remember that next time you insult me.”
As they made ready, Xyn caught the look in Urian’s eyes. She stepped over to him. “Are you all right?”
He nodded, but she knew better.
And as they headed into Kalosis she had a bad feeling that things were about to go all kinds of wrong. Something about this wasn’t right. Trouble was, she’d been dormant for so long that a lot of her powers weren’t reliable yet.
She still felt weak from whatever spell had been used on her.
Urian hung back from the others. He let them go through the portal. But when Xyn started to go, he kept her with him.
She looked up with a questioning brow. He sensed that she wasn’t at her full strength. Yet she said nothing about it.
For him, she was going into this not knowing what they’d face. He didn’t take that act of loyalty lightly. Nor was he willing to risk her lightly.
