me,” I said, indicating toward Alex. Dunstan nodded judiciously and the chair beside me was removed to Alex could stand in its place. I felt rather like the princess with the frog when he demanded he eat with her. Too many fairy tales in one place and not enough of them telling girls what to do with werewolves around.
“Aren’t you a vision,” Dunstan said, locking his fingers together.
“Thank you,” I said stiffly.
His eyes roved over my figure in a way that made me want to smash my fist into his face. Who the hell put this asshole in charge, anyway? I glanced over to the far end of the table where Martock stood like a butler. He stared at the floor.
“So,” Dunstan began, reaching forward and dumping food onto his plate, “tell me about these werewolves you encountered. Where did you find them?”
Alex was eyeing the soup hungrily, so I ladled some out into a bowl for him and then myself. Dunstan ate without any reservations; if he wanted information from me, poison wouldn’t be the right way to go.
“There’s a fortress out by the sea,” I said, “the place where the wolves are impounded. There’s a female werewolf who knows the art of magic working out of there now. She liberated the wolves there and uses it as her base.”
I took a sip of the frothy amber beverage and almost groaned in delight. Sweetness like caramel and butterscotch danced over my tongue with the sharp burn of alcohol rolled down my throat to curl in my belly. I licked foam from my lip and caught Dunstan eyeing me.
“Taken over the Impound, you say?” he said, though he didn’t sound the least bit worried.
“Yes. She marked all the wolves there with ankle collars. They allow her to communicate with them over great distances.”
“Wolves can’t perform magic, my dear.”
Goddamn senile old goat. “I beg to differ, sir, but they can. I’ve seen it. As the girl’s Guardian, she intended to lock both of us away using magic. And she’s protected herself with it as well. I’m not sure how well versed in it she is, but it’s effective enough.”
He grunted. He didn’t believe me. I swallowed a warm spoonful of soup, momentarily relishing the creamy texture and bold flavor. Beside me, Alex greedily ate up the contents of his bowl. He was doing remarkably well when it came to not spilling.
“And why is it that everyone believes wolves are incapable of doing magic?” I asked, doing everything in my power not to wolf down my food out of sheer greed.
“It’s a simple truth,” Dunstan said. “They tend to…react poorly. Some say it’s because they’re already cursed.”
He didn’t sound like he cared either way. But his words made sense. The wolves were cursed here, whether or not anyone knew it. Still, the Mistress had found a way around that. Werewolves were already severely twisted wolves. Maybe that made it easier.
“You told my Sentries that you were a sorceress as well,” he continued. “They said you produced fire from your fingers.”
“Something like that. I know what I need to be a sufficient Guardian.” I gestured to Alex with a piece of bread. “Obviously some spells are beyond me.”
“Indeed. So where are these werewolves now?”
“I don’t know. Still out there looking for us I suppose, though I can’t be sure. I’m inclined to think that if they really wanted to find us, they could have.”
I left out the fact that we’d been looked after by a few wolf packs. I still wasn’t comfortable not knowing what the werewolves’ plans were, but I figured the Sentries could deal with them should they show up.
“I find it amusing that they believe they could overtake me and my Sentries with their inferior numbers,” Dunstan said, tossing a bone onto a separate plate.
“They invaded your impound and set all those wolves free. You don’t think they’d willingly join her ranks after that?”
He grunted. “They’d have to become werewolf.”
“So? They’ve been hunted by people, condemned to death by people. You don’t think they’d gladly do what is necessary to become werewolves?”
Alex huffed in agreement and then stole my bread from my plate. I frowned at him and broke off another piece from the loaf.
“Very insightful thinking for a young lady who claims not to be a part of my kingdom.”
“It’s common sense,” I countered. I decided it was time for a few questions of my own. “Why don’t you have any magic users of your own here?”