The Wind's Call (The Broken Lands #4) - T.A. White Page 0,24

to kick first and ask questions later—but they had excellent peripheral vision.

Seeming to understand her thinking, the mythological turned until his rear was pointed in Eva's direction.

Caia watched the entire exchange with a baffled expression.

Eva growled under her breath and stalked to one side, starting to move around the beast. He turned with her again, lining his rear up with her.

"You're being childish," she snapped.

He stomped his back hoof.

"Kick me and I will geld you." It was a mostly empty threat.

He seemed to know it too.

Eva bared her teeth. "Alright, then Jason can be your caretaker."

The mythological whirled, alarm in his horsey expression.

"I thought you might see it my way," she taunted.

There was a deep laugh behind her.

Eva whirled, defensive, as her heart pounded. Seeing no one there, she glanced up and blanched, fear curling around her insides.

Perched like giant birds on the boulder she'd camped next to last night were two mythologicals—one winged and the other wingless. They had to be Covath's people, a group now known to the Trateri as the Tenrin. Their forms were that of men, but broader and more powerful, their features slightly blunter. The wingless one was the color of the deepest night with a slight opalescent sheen to his skin that reminded Eva of starlight. He seemed to glow with an inner light even during the early light of morning.

Despite the differences that separated him from human-kind, he had an otherworldly beauty to him. Had he been human, Eva would have been tempted to use the word handsome.

His nose was slightly flatter than a human’s, his mouth filled with sharp lower and upper canines. Dark black hair brushed his shoulders, feathers interspersed throughout as if his body hadn’t been able to decide between the two. He wore a loincloth, his only nod to modesty.

His companion was similarly attired. Unlike the wingless one, he had some type of bone protrusion sticking out from his forearms. A natural weapon. Like the first, he had dark skin, although he lacked the sheen that made Eva think of a jar with fireflies locked inside.

The Tenrin were nocturnal, which made her wonder what two of them were doing here, in the first hours of day.

A challenging snort came from the mythological behind her, his head raised as he stomped a foreleg.

"I wondered why the Battle Queen sent out a summons last night," the wingless one said, his gaze heavy and his words holding a touch of sharpness. "It seems I need wonder no more."

He sprang from the boulder, easily landing as if the fifteen-foot drop was no more than a foot. He straightened and Eva fought the urge to back up. He was tall, even taller than the Trateri.

This close she could see the muscles corded in his body. He could easily break her in half and she doubted there'd be much she could do besides scream.

The beads on the many necklaces he wore clattered as he walked toward her, a quiet rattle announcing his presence, similar to a rattler lizard the Trateri told her about that resided in their homeland.

He felt dangerous. Unknowable. Alien.

The moment was broken as Ollie and Jason rode up.

Ollie's expression shuttered at the sight of the mythological, his mouth set as he scowled. He swung his leg over the back of his horse, dismounting while still in mid-gallop. It was a dangerous maneuver. If he faltered or lost his balance, he could easily end up under the horse's hooves, or tripping and falling flat on his face.

He made it look easy, running with the momentum and reaching Eva's side in the next second.

"Look, the mice rush to each other's side. How very fortuitous for the hawk," the mythological drawled. His teasing wasn’t gentle or kind, instead meant to flay the skin from bone. To ridicule and mock.

Eva's chin went up. The worst thing she could do would be to let him think she was afraid. Bullies preferred prey that feared them. The stubbornness that had enabled her to survive on her own, away from her village, steeled her spine and muffled the fear that crouched deep in her soul.

"Even mice can be dangerous in great enough numbers," she challenged.

The new mythological peered at her, his gaze considering, as if she'd done something wholly unexpected. "How very true, little mouse."

Eva fought not to back down, her earlier bravado wavering. These were allies of the Trateri. Threatening him was perhaps unwise and foolhardy.

"Where did you get so rare a pet as a Kyren?" he asked