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Rodents, reptiles, and amphibians require specific diets and housing structures. Rodents will eat something similar to bird feed, while reptiles and amphibians prefer insects and small rodents or mammals. Their housing requires frequent tending to; no creature wants to sleep in their own filth.
After she’d been escorted through the gates of the Central Divinity, Hades was led to the stables, while she trailed the Supremes on foot.
Guards eyed her warily.
There would be revolts, that was expected. When, she didn’t know. How often, she couldn’t think about that.
She was brought to the Supreme’s private dining room, rather than being chased from it. Seated at the table set for three, beneath a chandelier of enchanted candles, they established the rules of the New Regime.
The term demon had been stripped, for starters, and any citizen of Andera that unjustly took the life of another, would relinquish their own life. The army would welcome all four types of magic, working together, and enrollment would not be mandatory.
Importantly to her, the Supremes would no longer be barred to the capital, and the checkpoint between territories was no longer required.
The last topic they discussed was the Troika—which would be dissolved. It was agreed to replace them with a few members of each bloodline, selected at random for each trial.
Regardless of positive progress and dire change, she felt sick without Soren.
By the time she was leaving, Noam and Rhetter had arrived at the gates with a basket of eggs in tow. They’d found the cave she described, collected hundreds of Echidna’s eggs, and were depositing them to healers from Wilcrest to Gravenport.
A mixture of a common neutralizing serum with the serpent-specific yolk would yield the antivenom everyone needed, according to Jussal.
Ignoring the horror and confusion on their faces, all she could mutter was a simple, “Thank you,” to them, before mounting Hades and taking off.
Thessa crackedthe door of the carriage open. It was still parked in their temporary encampment, just south of Gravenport.
A quick survey of Soren’s scales told her his burns were healing well. She knew he felt better, it’s why they’d contained him—alone—for the past two nights and three days.
“Soren … you won’t let the healers help you anymore, you won’t eat these rabbits, and you won’t drink. You’ll die in there. Do you understand that?”
Ducking beneath his coils, he hissed.
He’d done this for her—shifted into a beast. It was the only thing capable of distracting her enough at that moment.
Somehow, he’d known she held the power of the Blood Sacrifice. He’d figured it out and saved her by sacrificing himself instead. Maybe it was all the blood spewing from her face, but he’d believed in her magic, in her, more fiercely than she ever had.
It wasn’t right to give up on him, so she hadn’t. She’d camped outside the carriage both nights, ignoring Leora’s requests to sleep in her tent. Ares and Hades wouldn’t leave the carriage either. The three of them refused to leave their friend—her lover, hereverything. Thessa couldn’t picture a world without Soren, and just the idea of it made her stomach knot.
“Damn you Soren, shift.” She sighed, opening the door a little more. “At least eat.”
He ignored her.
Infuriated, Thessa squeezed inside.
Soren launched, his snout halting an inch from her face. Zipping in a breath, she remained still as his red, bifurcated tongue flicked her neck, jiggling the necklace she always wore.
“Can you smell that?”
His tongue flicked her necklace again.
He must. “It’s me. It’s me.” Moving her fingers frantically, she opened the pendant.
His black eyes blinked, as if in recognition.
She began begging, “You have to shift. Please. Do it for me.”
Soren retreated, curling up beneath the bench.
“Eat. Drink. Anything.” She tossed the dead hare closer to him.