"It's just as well; Tava approached Drew the other night while Lissa was at the river."
"As if he'd be interested," Crane huffed.
"He wasn't, but she wasn't complimentary toward Lissa. She told Drew that he didn't need to be with, in her words, that tiny, weak excuse for a warrior. She offered to bed him while Lissa was gone."
"What did Drew do?" Pheran was just as interested in gossip as anyone else.
"He told her to get out of his sight or he'd toss her out of our camp."
"That tiny, weak excuse for a warrior just took down half the enemy," Crane said.
"More than half," Dragon agreed. "Let's go find Devin before she wears herself out."
* * *
Drake and Drew let me sleep in (for a little while, anyway), before getting me up and off to breakfast. The others were already eating at the table when we got there. The Badger dude was banged up but standing in line ahead of us. We got our plates and headed for our seats. Tava was missing—only Hart and Nima were there. They didn't look at me—they just kept eating.
"What happened?" I stared at the empty seat on the bench.
"Tava didn't make it," Devin said. "Lissa, sit down and eat. It was a clean, swift kill. She didn't suffer."
I sighed as I set my plate on the table; the cooks had made biscuits again. The cooking tent was noisy and warriors were trading battle stories already. "We're going to Gram's after we clear up our campsite," Drake whispered as I ate. I was feeling tired and out of sorts, but I didn't want to tell him that. At least I'd be able to clean up at Kiarra's before heading back to Le-Ath Veronis and whatever was on the schedule for the day. I felt bad about Tava, too. If stupid Badger-man had trained her properly, she might still be alive.
"Take us with you," Hart begged Dragon later, as we took down the tent and packed up our belongings.
"I have no place for you," Dragon informed her. "I am sorry."
"But we wish to continue our training," Nima said. The look of disappointment on her face was heartbreaking.
"We will not be a bother, such as Tava was," Nima blurted. That caused me to raise an eyebrow.
"It was nothing, we sent her on her way," Drew assured me. Well, that didn't sound good. But Nima and Hart—I figured they'd had more than their share of crap at the hands of the males on Falchan.
"Where I'm going, you might not like it," I turned to Nima. "It stays dark there, most of the time. Like it is right after sundown?" I was trying to describe the lighting conditions on Le-Ath Veronis. And that didn't include the vampires. Well, Nima and Hart might like that, actually. "You're welcome to come with me, if you want."
"It's your call, baby. Drew and I can put them with the others and train them together," Drake looked thoughtful. Well, Le-Ath Veronis was begging for women. Nima was already nodding her head enthusiastically and Hart looked hopeful.
"All right, but if you don't like it, you have to tell us and we'll bring you home," I agreed. Nima almost giggled with relief.
* * *
I can't begin to describe the looks of shock and wonder on Hart and Nima's faces when they were folded to Gryphon Hall.
"How did we get here?" Nima finally worked up the courage to ask.
"Like this." I pulled a sheet off a pad of paper at Kiarra's kitchen island and borrowed the pen sitting nearby. "This is where we were." I drew a dot on one end of the paper. "This is where we are, now." I drew another dot on the opposite end of the paper. "Now," I said, "we did this." I pushed both ends of the paper together, causing the middle to bow upward until the two ends of the paper met.
"That is frightening," Nima breathed.
"But true," I said. "I want a bath. How about you two?"
"I think we can find an empty shower." Kiarra walked into the room and introduced herself, along with Adam and Merrill, who'd followed her.
"Little girl," Merrill leaned down and kissed my cheek. Well, he and I had declared a truce. It was the only way, I guess. Now, he was treating me as if he were still my surrogate sire. I sighed. Punching him in the face would only cause problems. I ignored that thought.
"Careful, I'm sure I taste like dust," I warned him. "Falchan is covered in it, right now." Merrill's bright blue eyes lit up and he smiled—he knew what I'd been thinking. The schmuck.
Dragon, Devin and Crane had gone off to their villa to clean up, before talking to Kiarra about what we'd found on Falchan. Drake and Drew were with me. I knew Karzac was at the villa, too, but I still didn't know what to do about that. Caylon and the others had gone off in search of mates.
"You're taking those two for guards?" Merrill lifted an eyebrow after Kiarra took Nima and Hart down a hall to show them the guest bath.
"They begged us to take them with us and I have to tell you, female warriors aren't being treated well on Falchan right now. Besides, I told them if they didn't like where we're going, we'll take them home. Simple fix."
"Lissa, Erland Morphis came to Adam and me two days ago and gave us a proposal. I'd like to come and discuss it with you and the others sometime soon." Merrill was smiling slightly.
"All right. How is the winery coming along?" I couldn't argue too much—he and Adam were building Roff's winery and I didn't want Roff to be disappointed if I reignited what I'd come to think of as The Vampire Family Feud.
"We're almost ready to build and Roff has gathered a group that can be taken to Kifirin to harvest the oxberries on the Northern Continent. He's quite excited over the whole thing."
"Good. I sort of love Roff. A lot."
"As if we couldn't tell," Merrill teased. When did he start doing that?
"Geez, Merrill, I never expected that from you—teasing, I mean."
"You might be surprised at what I can do. Frank, Shane and Tomas want to come for a visit, too." Was he trying to get back in my good graces? I couldn't tell. And he could keep that crap to himself. I wasn't falling for it. But Frank—and Shane, well, I loved them. Tomas, too.
"Frank is welcome anytime, as are the others. In fact, I'll name a guest suite after them and they can live there if they want. I love Frank. I've loved Frank since the first minute we met, I think. He's the brother I never had. Just like Charles, actually."
"Conner might have a fit but I'll tell them. And Charles loves the house he has in Lissia. He lives next door to Flavio and Dalroy and Rhett are nearby. Kyler spends most of her time there, now, and she has even built a home on the light side, near the ocean."