Ash Princess (The Deviant Future #6) - Eve Langlais Page 0,28

as we know, Gellie is the last of his kind.” She stroked her pet’s head. He rubbed the cheek of his snout on her leg.

“What happens when he gets bigger?” Cam asked, eyeing the size of the room.

“He won’t. Unless the ice returns, he’ll remain in this stunted size forever.”

“You mean he’s not supposed to be this small?” Cam’s gaze moved to Gellie, who uttered a low trill.

She shook her head. “He needs the cold to thrive.”

“The fire dragons though need heat and hate the cold,” Lila remarked. “Pity all the snow melted. It might have kept them in their cracks.”

Kayda took over the explanation. “According to the hunters that went out to cull them, they lay their eggs by lava pools in the crevices and guard them ferociously.”

“Not in the mountain aeries?”

“Those are just for ripping apart their dinner,” Gorri remarked in a sulky tone. He didn’t seem to be appreciating the dialogue.

However, Cam did appear more relaxed. At least the gun was back in the holster, which hung around his hips. Hips that were barely holding on to his sheet. Her gaze might have strayed a moment too long on the vee arrowing down from his defined chest. Lila noticed and nudged her. She hoped no one noticed her hot cheeks.

“As Gorri eloquently explained,” Kayda said, shooting her friend a dark look, “the mountain ledges seem to be just for eating. And they’re not usually there for long. They prefer the warmth on the ground and the poison in the air.”

“Good to know.”

“How is that good?” Gorri exclaimed.

“Because the more details you know about the enemy, the better prepared you can be to confront it.”

Sage words that actually had Lila looking contemplative. Gorri just crinkled his brown even more obstinately.

“I wouldn’t suggest going after dragons. Not if you want to live for long,” Kayda felt a need to say. Cockiness would get him killed. It was what had happened to all the other adults.

“Duly noted,” was his reply. “Other than dragons, what predators do you have to watch for?”

“Not much. The dragons eat them. We do have tunnel spiders, rodents, and roaches, but they’re not usually big enough to cause harm to the older kids.”

“What about ghouls?”

She almost shuddered. “Ghouls are murderous creatures killed on sight.”

She’d only encountered one once. The memory of its all-too-human gaze in a monstrous face haunted her still. It was one of the reasons her father finally decided they needed to move from the tunnels under the Cloudring to the Necropolis.

“It’s great and all you kill them, but they tend to multiply quickly somehow. How have you protected against them? You are, after all, living in their ideal home.”

“The ghouls aren’t in this section of mountain. They seem to be attracted to the warmer tunnels closer to the lava rift.”

“Until they get hungry,” he mused aloud, more for himself than them it seemed. The blanket at his hips began to slip. He grabbed it. Pity. “Where are my clothes?”

“Drying. I’ll have them returned to you shortly.”

Gorri had enough. “If you’re done with idle chitchat, we should question him.”

“Good thing I didn’t wager,” Lila drawled. “I was sure your first demand was he hand over his weapons.”

“I was getting to that. Hand them over.” Gorri held out his hand and glared at their guest.

“Does my being armed make you uncomfortable?” Cam smirked. He pulled both weapons and laid them on the bed. “Is that better?”

“Not really,” Gorri muttered.

“You do realize our guest here could probably school you with his hands,” Lila remarked, drawing Cam’s gaze.

“Finally, someone who understands things.” He eyed Lila. “Who are you?”

“Your worst fucking nightmare if you screw up.”

Rather than take offense, he laughed. A genuine smile lit up his face, for Lila. It bothered Kayda for some odd reason.

“So, given the whole gang is here, I assume you’re going to grill me for information.”

“There won’t be any grilling,” Kayda stated before Gorri could open his mouth. “But you’ll have to forgive us if we’re curious and have questions. You’re the first person we’ve seen from outside our borders.”

“Since when?” he asked.

Kayda kept her gaze steady on him when she said, “Since we went underground.”

“The whole twenty years?” he exclaimed.

“A few of the other groups used to run into the occasional Ruby lackeys, but they were closer to the border.” Lila was the one to divulge.

“Whereas you’re close to the capital, aren’t you?” he remarked.

“In the mountain range to the southeast of it.” Kayda saw no harm in replying; however, Gorri