Which was why he hauled himself into his saddle, pressing his heels to the gelding’s flank. It was why he trotted back to the road, catching up to Mariah and Matheo quickly, falling into step a short distance behind them.
She didn’t want his protection? Too bad.
Even if it meant his death, he would give it to her anyway.
Chapter 84
“Imust say. This is most definitely not what I was expecting. But I do love surprises.”
Krilene tossed her long hair over her shoulder. Quentin didn’t lower his dagger, body tense. “What are you doing here?”
A low growl rumbled from Delaynie, as if she were asking the same thing.
Krilene scoffed. She picked at the folds of her clothing with a long, pointed nail. “Isn’t it obvious? I’m here to help you.”
“Why the fuck would you do that?”
Krilene’s gaze moved past him, focusing on the cream and red wolf. The goddess cocked her head, seafoam eyes thoughtful.
“You don’t know how to shift back, do you, girl?”
Delaynie’s tail swished. Her ears fell back against her head, hackles lowering slightly.
Krilene nodded. “I can help you, if you will let me.”
“Delaynie, wait?—”
The wolf was already padding across the streambank, steps confident as she approached the goddess. Quentin gritted histeeth but forced himself to lower his dagger, sheathing it back into his baldric.
It wouldn’t do much against a goddess, anyway. Her people had just betrayed them, but she’d said herself that she had little control. He didn’t trust her, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t help them in this.
Delaynie stopped about a foot from Krilene. The goddess folded her arms over her golden breastplate, drumming her nails against her skin.
“I know what it’s like to shift,” Krilene said. “Though my godhood is different from your gift. I set my beast free; you step into her skin. A similar magic, but not quite the same.
“Rulene, though…” Krilene smiled. “Rulene is my friend. Has been my friend for thousands of years. I know her gifts well. And I know how to help you.”
“Wait,” Quentin said. “How is it even possible for Delaynie to have a gift from Rulene?”
Both women—goddess and wolf—swung their gazes to him.
“Delaynie was born in Onita,” Quentin continued. “Both her parents are Onitan. How is it, then, that she can have a Kreah gift?”
Krilene smiled. “There is so little you mortals understand about your gifts,” she said. “Yes, they tend to occur in greater frequencies in areas where the god’s powers are concentrated. But the world was not always as sequestered as it has become. People traveled, bloodlines mixed.” She leaned forward, narrowing her eyes. “Do you mean to tell me, Armature, that you have never seen a fair-skinned shifter before?”
“I—” The words caught in his throat.
Because hehad. He’d fought one, back on that night he was captured in Kreah and thrown into the pits. The feline shifter, Oralla, with her moon-white hair and pale, translucent skin.
Quentin snapped his mouth closed. Maybe Krilene was right. Maybe there was so much about this world and its magic they did not know.
Besides, did it even really matter where Delaynie got this power from?
No. It didn’t.
Quentin nodded sharply. The goddess smirked and turned back to Delaynie, the wolf’s icy-blue eyes tracking her.
“All right, girl. Do you want to shift back?”
