Chapter 32

It seemed like we'd been running for ages. We'd run through the night, and it was light out. I was worried, but the only humans I smelled nearby were the ones she was with before. They weren't really all that far from where I'd left them, and I didn't know why she'd called for us when they hadn't gone to Idric yet.

Every time I thought about her, my lion would start purring and rumble mine. Which was confusing because there were old fables about that, but if they were true, no one said it ever happened to them to challenge our whole ‘arranged marriages' shit. I wanted to shout to everyone that it was happening to me, but I was trying to be considerate to her. I didn't know if Belisarus explained the concept to her when from what I'd learned, he kept a lot from her.

When we got close enough to smell food being cooked, my father stopped, changed back into a man, and commanded everyone else to change. Joron slid off of Terbis's back and the air got murky as everyone was changing back.

"She's just in that clearing. Approach slowly. I've been told she's just a confused girl and we don't want to frighten her. Oris and I will go out first and then you can all meet her."

I didn't know what happened after I left, but my father had her all wrong. I hadn't spent all that much time around her, but I knew that much. Belisarus tried to terrorize her into being afraid of us and keep her ignorant of everything. There might be things she didn't know, but she wasn't confused. Sorcha knew her own mind quite well. And she didn't smell the least bit afraid when I pounced on her and tried to roll her.

Before we could speak, Esylle rushed toward us. "Where is my father?" she demanded.

Joron, who must have been sore from being jolted all night from riding on Terbis's back, appeared finally, walking gingerly out of the brush. Esylle rushed to him to hug him. When we finally sat down, all four kings and their heirs were here, and I didn't know who would speak first. I needed to know what had happened that caused her to call for us before she got to Idric. She deserved to know why he'd hidden everything from her.

I thought Sorcha would speak, but Volaris told us everything that happened that led up to her playing the flute. Sorcha looked wholly annoyed that he tried to speak for her and so did Sono. When Volaris mentioned Inanos, we all made the gesture from our tribes to ward off evil except Joron. Joron didn't know what the place was because the humans had taken his history away from him.

"Why should we believe anything that fool says? You know what he did. He took her away from us when she was just a baby and didn't properly train her. I don't know what we are supposed to do with a confused girl who doesn't know how to do what she is supposed to," my father snapped.

"You don't know how I'm supposed to do it either. You just seem convinced that I do. You don't know much more than I do and I've mostly been caught up. If I died there, maybe there are answers for me. If the tribes stopped going there, the humans probably don't know about it and we will be safe while you teach me some of the things Belisarus refused to. Maybe you have no reason to fear going there. Before I left, I was raised to fear both you and humans. You don't want to hurt me, and these four humans want to help."

"There's an entire army of humans headed this way who want you dead," Terros snapped.

"I'm only saying that sometimes, we may be raised to fear things and they are not as bad as we thought. He wouldn't have mentioned that place to me if I'd be hurt there. Use your fucking giant lion brain."

Oh, she was magnificent. I loved my father, but when he wanted to get his way, he could be a bit of a bully. She wasn't having it. Sorcha handled him like a master, and he was currently sulking.

"That place is cursed," Fluvis spit. "You died there. Does that not speak to you that you shouldn't go back there?"

"Then tell me where it is. I'll fly over and make sure it's not dangerous and come back."

I'd say this for her. She was braver than our parents. We'd all been told Inanos was cursed and to never go there. None of us had ever met Belisarus, but my grandfather had. My grandfather really thought he would have chosen to leave his lover and stay to continue his research over banishment. He'd neglected the Theran wife my grandfather chose for him in favor of travel and research.

He'd found countless relics belonging to the tribes that we all thought lost. I wasn't surprised he found the Vudos flute, too, but a little shocked he didn't give it to my grandfather. None of our parents were thinking. Belisarus could have already been to Inanos for his research and known it was safe and where she needed to be.

"You're a child and you don't know what you are talking about," my father snapped.

Oh, my father did not just tell the Spirus that to her face! I saw a small flame start to dance in her eyes. I was about to step in and say something to my father, but she spoke first.

"Am I a child or am I here to save you? You say I'm here to bring peace, but you're really shitty at listening to me. You didn't know who I was until I exposed myself. If I hadn't agreed to leave, you never would have found out about me. There's something in Inanos that is important to who I am and we need to go there. Stop being fucking cowards and idiots."

Oh, she was perfect. My father looked offended, Volaris looked like he still didn't want to go to Inanos, Fluvis seemed like he found her enchanting, and Joron looked like he was still processing she was his missing granddaughter.

I was on board with doing what she wanted. Sono looked like he was, too. Neptis had always been a hard-core believer in the Spirus, so he'd do exactly what she said.

You could cut the tension with a knife. Fluvis had always been the more diplomatic of all the kings, so he changed the subject to her meeting everyone before we made any decisions.

Which was probably the right thing to do.