Touch of the Demon (Kara Gillian 5)

“No,” he said with a shake of his head, eyes crinkling with humor. “Same family, not identical twins.”

I chuckled. “I can handle that.”

He laughed. “I am delighted, as I do not think it will change.”

Snorting, I rolled my eyes. “Okay, my mad syraza, what do you have planned for me today?”

Taking my hand, he hauled me out of the pool, ignoring my protest, though I was surprised to find that the warmth of the hot spring seemed to insulate me from the frigid air. A heartbeat later, I thought we were standing at the mouth of a cave very high above the ground. Then I realized there was far too much wind, and that the cave itself sure seemed to be moving around a lot. Plus the floor was weirdly squishy.

I groaned. I’d seen Star Wars. I looked askance at Helori. “Are we in some sort of giant flying demon worm thing?”

He laughed. “Not a worm. A nehkil. Reminiscent of the Earth basking shark, except more reptilian, and it flies. But don’t worry,” he said as my expression no doubt betrayed my apprehension. “We are far too large to make it down his gullet. Ethereal spores prevalent along the coastline are his primary sustenance. You could say that he soars for spores,” he said, laughing.

I gave him a pained grimace.

“You may note them passing in as flickers of light,” he said, then gestured beyond the open mouth of the nehkil. “Is it not a glorious view?”

I had to agree with him there. It was pretty damn awesome. I’d only flown in airplanes a few times in my life, but I figured we were probably a couple thousand feet up. Sea spread off to the horizon on the right, in varying shades of blue and green from near black to luminescent turquoise. Shifting white marked the places it crashed into land or partially submerged rocks. Verdant forested mountains veined with waterfalls and rivers rose to the left.

Helori pulled a blanket from elsewhere and spread it out on the beastie’s, er, tongue, I assumed. I found myself inordinately glad for the blanket, since I was still buck-naked from the hot springs. But, since Helori was nude as well, I didn’t see a point in making a fuss about clothing, and after only a few minutes I forgot about it completely.

We stayed there for what was probably most of the day. The nehkil’s mouth and tongue were nowhere near as moist as I’d expected, and Helori explained that its salivary glands shut down during this open-mouthed basking in order to prevent it from dehydrating. I alternated between enjoying the view, napping, and general navel-gazing while the nehkil flew along the coastline.

The sun was beginning to dip toward the west when I saw a huge arch of stone stretching from a mountain into the sea. Though I was pretty sure that part was natural, there was something about the shapes around and on top of it that were not. As we got closer, I could make out windows, balconies, and arched doorways, all blending beautifully into the stone and greenery of the arch.

“What’s that?” I asked Helori.

Helori lounged on his side, propped on one elbow. “That’s the home of Rayst and Seretis.”

“Both of them?” I asked. “They live there together?”

He nodded. “They each have their own sections, but most is common use.”

“I met Rayst during the conclave,” I said, “He seemed very nice.” I paused. “I don’t despise him.”

“On the scale of lordly ratings, ‘nice’ serves,” Helori said with a smile. “He involves himself with the power games as little as possible, but will not hesitate to step in if he sees the need.”

As my gaze traveled over the palace, I caught a glimpse of iridescent wings atop the stone arch.

“Rayst and Seretis had a lot of syraza with them at the conclave,” I said. “Do the syraza like them more or something?”

“It is a preference,” he replied. “The potency environment is not only stronger there with two lords together, but also more comfortable due to the nature of those two. And thus many of the younger syraza live near and associate closely with Rayst and Seretis.” Helori smiled. “It took much for the other lords to agree to the shift—for both to be in the same geographic location—because the entire structure of the potency flows had to be reconstructed. But it was long enough ago that all came to agree on it.”

I pursed my lips in a frown. “Ilana is Mzatal’s syraza-counselor, his ptarl, and Zack…Zakaar is Rhyzkahl’s. Where is Szerain’s?”

“Xharbek.” Helori exhaled. “Xharbek is in hiding.”

My brow furrowed. “Because Szerain is in exile? Or because of why he’s in exile?”

“Both.” He fell silent for several heartbeats before speaking again. “Xharbek is thought dead by, well, most.”

I regarded him, considered his words. “But you don’t think he is.”

His eyes met mine. “No. I do not.”

Interesting. Yet another addition to the mental clue board. At this rate I was going to need a mental clue wall.

I lifted my chin toward the structure as we came closer. “It’s not as Palace-y as the others I’ve seen.”