Kaden turned to the gathering. “That…thing on Airenzian soil, our Regent finally sticking it to those arseholes, he does not need another bother. And where there is one, there might be others. He might even be at the call of the AG. Prince Cassius should know.”

Jellan was shaken.

No one along their journey had sensed anything amiss with Daemon.

Indeed, many a woman had gazed on him with no small amount of admiration.

How had these men sensed what he was?

Or that he was…other.

They had mentioned fangs, but they had also all survived a run-in with the Beast.

And if he had fully transformed, there was no chance of that happening.

The only answer to this puzzle was that it was clear, for some reason, he had not.

He had let them get away.

And Jellan did not have to ponder the why of that.

Marian.

But now, these men lived to share their tale. Perhaps even with Prince Cassius.

Oh yes, the woman was a crafty, clever cunt.

And it should please Jellan they were both about the same business.

But he loathed her so much, it did not.

He would be the hero of this tale.

He would have the stories told about how he helped save Triton.

She would be forever remembered as the harridan who raised the Beast.

“We will think on it the night and vote on it on the morrow,” Nick decreed. “Now I need whiskey and my wench,” he stated, reaching out and jerking the arm of one of the women so she cried out not in protest and fell astride him with a husky laugh. “And all will be well,” he finished.

It appeared the course of the evening had changed for this crew, something Jellan did not intend to witness, so he turned his mount and headed away.

He made certain he could no longer see the campfire before he relieved himself of his magical shroud.

And he rode on.

There was much to think on of that night.

He was also tired.

But he could not rest.

“You need a name, old boy, what should we call you?” he muttered to his steed to turn his thoughts to something that was not sleep.

The animal had naught to say.

“Chance,” Jellan decided, gazing into the moonlit night.

Making his way through Airen.

On his way to Sky Bay.

142

The Rainbow

Prince Cassius

Divinity Boulevard, Sky Bay

AIREN

Cassius rode with Aelia tucked to his front, Theodora astride Caelus at his back, and he did this with his eyes to their surroundings, wondering why the bloody hell he’d allowed Ellie to convince him they should participate in this ridiculous affair.

But he had.

Thus, on his wedding day, he rode to the Combined Cathedral of the Gods in order to take his woman to wife.