Page 271 of Hunters and Prey

Lily stared at Black now, her pale, nearly colorless irises focused on his.

“What if we went riding?” she suggested.

“On what?” he grunted.

She smacked his shoulder, laughing. “You know on what! On the isthelay.”

“Those things smell funny.”

“Yousmell funny.”

“I do not.”

“Yes, you do.”

Putting down the urele, with its detailed carvings in a surface that looked like glass but wasn’t, he gave her an exasperated look.

“How do I know it won’t climb a tree with me on it again?”

She shrugged. “Just hold on better next time.”

Revik grunted another laugh.

That time, Allie giggled, too, looking up from her drawing.

Black turned his head, giving his cousin and his cousin’s wife a brief glare, then looked back at their daughter.

“It sounds boring,” he pronounced.

“More boring than sitting in here? Staring at that dumb thing you can’t figure out?”

“You think you’re so smart?” Black said, holding out the wand to her. “Why don’t you do it, little miss I-Know-Absolutely-Everything?”

She laughed, plucking the urele out of his hand.

He watched as she stared down at the glass wand, her clear eyes with the pale green rings sliding out of focus as she concentrated.

After a few seconds, light erupted in the center of those elaborate crystal carvings.

Black watched as they began coursing through the detailed shapes inside the clear wand, sliding like liquid from the sharper tip, then down to the bulb at the wand’s base. The light inside the crystal grew brighter, turning violet and dark blue, then red and orange.

The urele began to glow in her hand.

He grunted, a distinctly unimpressed sound.

“Show off,” he said, pulling it from her hand. “I’ve seen better.”

She laughed, smacking his shoulder again.

“Come outside with me!” she demanded, half little girl, half teenager. “Come on, Uncle Kirev. You’re just sitting there, staring at that thing. She’s not coming today.”

Black felt a small pain in the middle of his chest.

Damned perceptive kid.

Revik looked over that time. “You know, technically, he’s not your uncle,” he said, folding his arms above the screen he’d been reading from. “He’s your cousin, Lily.”

She frowned, looking between Black and her father.

---