Page 48 of Regal Rising

“Leticia.”

“Right. Stay here. She’s not going into a pack of seven alphas without backup.”

As he moved back, Regis sat up. “It’s going to be a fair fight, and she is furious, so it will be fast.”

He got his phone from his trousers and looked at her. “You have a lot of faith in her abilities.”

“Ira does. When Ira was five, she was on a school trip, and they went to the zoo. There was a young keeper on work experience there, and when a known angry camel got loose, she herded the beast away from the children before it killed for a second time. She was smiling and gentle, walking the beast back using cold air to move it back into its enclosure. I was stunned. It was the first time I had seen someone activate skills so early. When the camel was back behind its gates and the zookeeper who had forgotten to lock it up was off to be reprimanded, North bought us all some cotton candy and praised Ira and the others for being calm.” Regis rubbed her forehead. “The next time I saw her, she was bleeding on Honey and being helped through the portal. Her arms, ribs, and shoulders shredded; they had pinned her to the wall in six places.”

“Upper body, not her—” He looked at her with horror. “Oh.”

“Yeah. She had only been there a few days, thankfully. Of course, even a moment like that is too much.” She sat and ran a hand over her hair.

He looked at the phone and smiled. “Good, the winds did not catch their match at the party.”

She looked at him. “Are you sure you want wind on wind?”

Avor smiled. “Four of them together are calm. Take one away, and they go wild. They were also in the restrained area of the Stronghold. They were the power supply.”

“Oh. Well, that might not be such a bad idea.”

Avor looked at her with a narrowed gaze. “Where did she go?”

“How would I know?”

“You have them all.”

“Oh. That. Toss me my phone.”

He did, and she opened the maps and located her position. He checked the GPS coordinates and sent them to someone, slumping in relief when he got an answer.

“You know, you really can’t mother hen the ladies, Avor. If she had wanted help, she had dozens of us to choose from. She chose to go alone.”

“She sought revenge. That clouds thinking.” He set his phone at the bedside and plucked hers from her hand. Avor took a position against the headboard and pulled her up, allowing her to rest against him.

“Now, what colour horse do you think Ira would like?”

She laughed. “She’s going to try and bring it home so it can sleep in her room.”

“I believe she is more sensible than that.”

“You are right. That is just what she tried when she was six. We had a petting zoo for her birthday, and suddenly, she and the pony were missing. Guess where they were?”

“In her bedroom?”

“Nope. In mine. It was bigger. She had hay and water and was hauling a bag of rolled oats from the pantry.”

Avor chuckled. “I am both impressed and appalled.”

“It was wearing my bathrobe so it didn’t get cold. I have no idea how she got it on.”

He couldn’t hold it back; he burst out laughing.

She looked at him, and something suddenly struck her. “Something similar was done by you, tall, dark, and flappy.”

He grinned. “It was. A batch of viper kittens. I dressed them in a tunic and told the house guards that it was a little friend that I was taking for medical care. I managed for three days until the housekeeper came in and got stung. She wasn’t injured badly, but my parents were not impressed, and I had to take the babies back where I found them. They were stronger now, so it was a little more difficult, but I managed it. Their mother was not happy with me, but she was so busy greeting her lost ones that I could make my escape.”

“She hasn’t brought home anything deadly, yet. She’s more interested in robotics, so I guess she might be building a horse. Your plan could save me money.”

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