Page 245 of Hunters and Prey

“The Tortoise is sometimes called ‘Balance,’ the gray-eyed seer added, glancing at me, then at Black. “I have also heard her referred to as ‘Logic’ or ‘Order,’ as in the primordial order to life. She is the blueprint from which life is made. If Dragon is the creative material, she is the map, the thing that brings it to form, then locks it in place, so that it has an internal structure and stability. It is said that she brings the light and dark into balance.”

Glancing at me, smiling faintly, he added,

“For the same reason, she is seen as the thing that balances all of the worlds. There is a book of Dragon somewhere that talks about this.”

“She?” I glanced at Black, who was now frowning at the gray-eyed seer.

The male seer nodded.

“Traditionally yes. Most in the Pantheon are given a predominant gender, even though most are depicted as male or as female at different times. In one book, Dragon is depicted as ‘she’ for example. But traditionally, Dragon is male, Tortoise is female. It is said Balance is like a fulcrum with Dragon. Two different sides of the creation. One that both destroys and births… that creates shadow and light.”

He smiled, tilting his head in an apologetic way.

“…But I am very much oversimplifying, I’m afraid,” he said. “Like your mate, I learned most of this when I was very much younger than I am today.”

The gray-eyed seer lifted his hand in a toast to both of us.

For the first time, I noticed he held a drink.

“I am Balidor,” he said, inclining his head politely. “I hope you don’t mind my eavesdropping… or my interruption. I am a friend of the Bridge and Sword. I am also on the Council here. I thought I should introduce myself.”

I’d felt a reaction jolt Black’s light.

I definitely got the sense he recognized the name.

Black confirmed that when he stared at the man’s face, as if memorizing his features.

“Balidor,” he muttered. “Not the Balidor? From the Adhipan?”

Those gray eyes shifted to Black.

“I’m afraid so,” he said.

Black glanced at me, his eyebrows going up. When I didn’t react, he looked back at the gray-eyed seer. I had no idea what he was reacting to, so I only gave him a puzzled look, then smiled, maybe partly in discomfort for feeling left out.

Just then, an Asian-looking female seer walked up on us.

I immediately saw Black staring at her.

His light snaked out in twisting sparks, his eyes taking her in unabashedly, from her face down to her breasts and waist, then to her feet.

My eyes followed him to the woman’s face, then her figure.

I definitely got why he was staring.

She was positively stunning. She was maybe the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen, and that even included Yarli, back in San Francisco.

It also included the Bridge, who Black had also been staring at earlier.

Feeling a pain hit my chest, I stepped away from the mural on the stone wall, moving away from Black in the process, and in the direction of the door to the long house. I saw the Asian seer give Black a narrow look as I did, one that wasn’t entirely friendly.

As if to emphasize the point, she caught hold of Balidor’s hand, pressing into his side in a not particularly subtle way.

“This is my wife,” Balidor said simply, giving Black a slightly harder look, before glancing at me. “Cassandra.”

I nodded, now fighting a full-blown reaction in my light.

When Black continued to stare at her, I couldn’t hold that reaction back.

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