The knight nodded quickly and turned on his heels without so much as a wave good bye. Zoelyn watched him disappear through the gate and sighed heavily. “I wish you hadn’t done that,” she said quietly.
“It was a lesson for him. I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m simply sick of him sniffing after you like a dog in heat. I understand you are beautiful, but he has to understand that you are deadly as well, for now. That was the only way to get through his thick skull, apparently. I have tried to be gentle with him,” Jala replied apologetically.
“I love how you say for now,” Zoelyn sighed as she crossed to a stone bench and dropped down heavily on it.
“I never give up on what I believe in,” Jala repeated with another smile.
“Jala!” Valor’s voice rose from behind them and the High Lady turned at once. “We may have an issue here. Can you take a look at this, please?”
“Of course,” Jala replied easily. She glanced at Zoelyn with another smile and waved toward the house. “I have to see to this. Rest for a while and try to find some faith in yourself please. You can do this. You are just frustrated right now.”
Zoelyn nodded and watched her walk over to join Valor. Several of the scouts were still present, as well as Jail. Most of them seemed to have their full attention focused on Valor and Jala, but one of them was watching her. He wasn’t anyone she recognized, but then she didn’t know many of the scouts. It was rare that they visited the city and even rarer that Valor brought them to the house. The scout smiled faintly at her and winked. Zoelyn blinked in response and nodded her head slowly in return. She wasn’t at all sure what to make of the gesture. With the way he was watching her, she was certain he had seen the rose wither, and most likely the banana as well, and yet he still winked.
I don’t like the thoughts in this one’s head. Be careful of him. His mind is a dark one. Dray’s voice was a whisper beside her ear, but it brought Zoelyn’s thoughts quickly back to focus. She had been admiring the scout’s dark green eyes and tousled brown hair until the Blight spoke.
“What do you mean?” she asked softly as she shifted herself on the stone bench to stare up at the sky rather than Jala’s group.
Perverse, but not in the harmless way Noble’s mind works. This one likes to hurt people. Noble thinks of sex and enjoyment between both involved. This one thinks of pain and his own enjoyment, Dray explained in a disgusted voice that was still pitched low enough to not carry to the others in the garden.
“So, essentially what you are saying is, I only attract raving perverts?” Zoelyn sighed and shook her head softly. “I don’t even know why I am complaining about what I attract. I don’t need to attract anything right now,” she added in a wistful voice. Her eyes followed a pair of birds as they flitted through the treetops and she felt herself relax further. She knew serious discussions were taking place just across the garden. With everything as peaceful as it was in Merro, it was still hard to believe the rest of the world was in chaos.
A flash of black feathers drew her eye and Zoelyn stiffened on the bench as she frantically scanned the area. A slow breath escaped her lips as her eyes locked fully on the crow hidden in the uppermost branches of a large oak. She watched it for a long moment with held breath until it looked back at her and bobbed its head twice. A smile broke over her lips as it confirmed what she had hoped. It was a messenger from Seth rather than just a bird. She had been waiting all week to see his sign, and now she had. Seth would be here tonight, and maybe, just maybe, he would have the answers she needed so badly. Jala was trying so hard to help, but Seth was the only one that knew what an Undrae really was. Maybe he could tell her why, after a week of tasting, she still couldn’t tell magic apart. Then again, maybe he would tell her she should have been able to learn it by now. Her smile faltered with the thought and she nodded faintly to the bird before returning her gaze to the smaller finches that were still flitting through the gardens in search of food.
*
“The little bitch is a siphon,” Ander announced as he sat forward on the roof. A strand of his long pale hair swung down across his face as he moved, partially obscuring the hungry look he wore on his face.
Hemlock nodded once and watched as a wisp of fog disappeared between the man’s lips as he reclaimed the fragment of his soul. It was always unnerving when Ander used his soulriding talents. He was so subtle that the Jala’s scout probably hadn’t even noticed he wasn’t alone in his body. “That explains why my magic isn’t finding her,” Hemlock murmured softly. A childish giggle broke through the silence and he glanced over the roof to watch the boy run by with the Bendazzi following him closely.
“So full of energy and life, and so powerful for one so young,” Niaha murmured, her dark eyes following the child as he ran. “Why are we letting him live? He will be a problem in the future,” she added as her eyes rose to meet his.
“Because we want Jala happy right now and killing her son would not make her happy,” Hemlock explained slowly. He was beginning to wonder if he should have brought his companions to Merro at all. Both had their uses of course, but both were much more adept at killing than spying. No doubt their fragile little minds were confused at the thought of returning home without blood on their hands.
“What else can you tell us?” Hemlock pressed, his eyes locked on Ander. Maybe, if he could manage to keep them busy enough, things would go smoother.
“She has an admirer. One of the knights. He seemed a lecherous fellow. Niaha might be able to get something from him,” Ander began, his gaze flicking to his counterpart with a bit of loathing. It was no secret that the two hated each other, but Hemlock had thought they could manage one mission together without a fight.
“Let’s push past Niaha’s talents and keep going. You were possessing a scout. Surely you have more information that will be useful,”