“Gryphons,” Demyan answered with a gentle grin, maintaining the Imperial tongue.
“Gryphons? They don’t like any gryphons I know,” Aeron answered. Nadya pulled away from the Baron, moving to the fallen prince’s side so she could look at these gryphons that astounded him so much. She was familiar with them after a fashion. Mikhael and Demyan both had one, an audeas they called them. They had the head and front talons of a snowy owl and the back end of a snow leopard. Beautiful creatures in and of themselves and quite common in the Kormandi forests and mountains. One of the beasts growled at her, however as she stepped closer. Aeron moved in front of her while Demyan moved in front of everyone else. He had no confidence, but he was no coward either. The Baron, she noticed, frowned and pushed everyone else in their group back several steps.
“It’s all right,” Aeron said gently as if the creatures understood him. It, at least, understood enough to stop growling when Aeron spoke.
“We won’t hurt you,” Aeron continued. “We’re just passing through.”
Silence followed, but something told Nadya that the conversation carried on, for Aeron looked at Demyan a few times or nodded at the gryphon.
“You’re known to them,” Aeron said to Demyan. Nadya arched a brow. “They want to know where Aisling is.”
Demyan blinked, looked at the others, then back at Aeron. “She left the city before we did.”
He looked at the Baron again. It had been Gabriel that told Demyan that his audeas would meet the group outside the city limits. Nadya narrowed her eyes and looked at Aeron.
“They say it isn’t safe on the surface,” Aeron continued, explaining things carefully to Demyan. “You should call her to you. The demons are…”
“What?” Nadya and Deemyan asked at the same time, in two different languages.
“Hunting. Their hatcheries have been raided and anyone that looks even remotely like Demyan is being taken. They’re looking for you.”
Demyan paled. Despite Nadya’s opinions of him, Aeron was right; he’d not asked for any of this madness and certainly did not ask to be hunted - or to have others taken because they happened to share his features. Everyone shared his features. He was fair of skin with sapphire blue eyes and hair that curled into tiny ringlets no matter what he tried to do with them. Nadya, herself, was fair of skin with long curly hair and sapphire blue eyes. It was not just the royal family; it simply was. The Baron was rather unique with dark hair but even that curled into tight ringlets and he was still fair of skin like other Kormandi.
“Why?” Kendall asked, stepping forward. “Why would they want Demyan?”
No one had an answer, everyone looking at Demyan until he shrank in on himself.
“We do not have time for this,” the Baron interrupted. “Will they let us pass or not?”
Aeron looked at the elder man but nodded. It was enough for the Baron to shove past the tirsai prince and slide by the group of gryphons. Nadya counted at least eight of them, if not more. The others followed the Baron but she loitered near Demyan as did Aeron and Kendall.
“Call Aisling,” Aeron said softly. Demyan looked at him, lost in a world he did not understand, but nodded. Nadya flinched when the gryphon appeared in a blast of icy air and flurry of snowflakes that made everyone cringe momentarily. The gryphon went to Demyan immediately, her head bumping his chest. He hugged her, clearly glad of her company and safety. Nadya looked at Aeron and felt that guilt hit her hard like a gut punch to her stomach.
“I think that I will help Aeron teach you the Trade Cant,” she said to Demyan, hooking her arm with Kendall’s. “The slavers language is not for kings. Right?”
Aeron smiled at her and nodded. “Well, let’s not push it. I like the Imperial tongue. It has a nice flow to it. And written - beautiful. Demyan can write it, can’t you?”
Demyan knew what they were trying to do, Nadya could see it in the way he looked at them. She also saw the silent appreciation for the distraction - and the support. So, he simply nodded, taking his first steps with them as their king.
Chapter Ten
If Reven believed Kalaegh was hot, Mahala was quick to jump up and prove him wrong. The nation was run by three warring cartel lords, and boasted some of the Great Artifacts left behind from the Destruction that reset time. None of it mattered. Reven felt awful, positive that his skin would melt off his bones if he had to set toe outdoors during the daylight hours. He sat draped across a soft papasan chair, head lolling back with a damp rag over his face. Despite not being in direct sunlight, the heat was still overwhelming. It was not as humid as it was in Kalaegh thanks to the desert that brought the atrocious weather, but he’d watched children cooking eggs on the fountain edge inside the city limits just the day prior and vowed never to go out again.
“Oi!”
Reven ignored Liam’s catcall, frowning sullenly beneath the damp rag.
“Oi,” Liam repeated, ripping the rag off Reven’s face. He glared down at the tirsai bard. “Whatcha think yer doin’?”
Reven glared back but remained silent, even sliding further down in the chair to ‘hide’ from his partner. Liam, unfortunately, was having none of it.
“We got work t’do,” Liam continued, pulling on the back of the chair so that it spun around in a circle, forcing Reven to look at Liam.
“We?” Reven threw back. They didn’t have to do anything; he had a performance for one of the cartel lords in less than an hour. He chose to ignore that bit in favor of a few more blessed minutes indoors away from the blasted heat. Liam did not see things the same way Reven did, however, always calling any job done - whether the job was to steal something
