The punctures on Kaleit’s forearm had healed well, but the scars left where Zabor had bitten him would be permanent. He’d taken to wearing long-sleeved shirts once he’d realized that fact, for they were marks of shame, a reminder of how incredibly careless he’d been that a mere infant had gotten the better of him.

Having long gone sleeveless as a matter of habit for years, he was quickly reminded why he’d started doing so upon attempting to carry out his work at the Aerie with his arms covered. He was quite used to the unpleasant smells that came with looking after numerous large animals, but after getting freshly-soiled straw kicked at him by a temperamental griffin, those same smells had infused themselves into his sleeves, as well as the entire front of his shirt. Wiping sweat from his brow or bringing any kind of food to his mouth was suddenly a disgusting prospect.

As a result, he decided to use his midday break to stop in at the manor, change his clothes, and have a meal of his choosing rather than whatever fare was being served at the Aerie. It would also be a pleasant respite from people like Erin and Tannoran, whose regular daily schedules mirrored his own. For a brief, shining time, he could be free to move about his own home without having to deal with either of them. Erin would be particularly insufferable if she witnessed the current state of his apparel.

He strode up the steps to the house two by two, looking forward to a quiet lunch outdoors, perhaps seated on one of the benches in the garden that had a view of the distant ocean horizon.

Just as he cracked the door, two male voices moved into the foyer from the main house. Recognizing his father’s immediately, he paused and waited to see if the effort of being forced to interact with the man on his way through the entry would be worth it.

“This time, Rittan, you’ll keep your part of the agreement to my exact specifications.”

Rittan again. Both Kaleit and his father loathed the loudmouthed, rabble-rousing delivery manager, but Tannoran kept him around anyway. Something about keeping one’s enemies close, but it was a bit more complicated than that.

"When will you let that go?" the man complained. "I did what you wanted, in the brief minutes of time you actually allowed for me to do it."

"Wrath's appearance in the battle couldn't have been foreseen, but it suited our goals too well. I couldn't let the opportunity pass." Tannoran paused. "It was rather short notice, but you could have been a little less bloodthirsty while getting things done."

"You asked me to sling mud, and I slung it as broadly as I could."

Tired of standing there smelling his own Aerie-fresh clothes, Kaleit had been about to go through and take his chances. The moment they began talking about Wrath, however, he waited again, curious to see how his father would frame the incident.

“Indeed. The entire point of it was to discredit the general’s half-wit son. You were not to sling anything at my son.”

“I had nothing to do with that. He put his own face right in the line of fire. You heard him yourself, crowing like a songbird about it. What was I to do then but improvise?”

“You were very lucky that things worked out in his favor in the end. I’d hate to think what might have happened to your career if I’d had to repair my own reputation because of your fool ‘improvising’ making me into a laughingstock.”

“Whose career is really at stake here? You forget, Captain Tannoran, that being a laughingstock would be the least of your worries if I told the truth about your son.”

Kaleit quietly latched the door. On second thought, the entrance to the kitchen would accommodate him just fine.

Fists clenched, he went back down the way he'd come, then around to the side of the house and into the kitchen. With similar testiness, he yanked his shirt over his head and crumpled it into a ball, ready to be shoved toward the housekeeper's hands as soon as she was within reach.

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Grudgingly, she clasped the collar between a thumb and finger. Nostrils flaring in horror as the dirty shirt unfurled, she held it as far away from herself as possible, then gingerly walked off toward the laundry.

The youth didn’t even stop during the hand-off, going right on past her to the water pump. He scrubbed his hands and arms and then went to the pantry, where he took up some bread and cheese with irritable, distracted swipes. There was little difference from what he’d be having at the Aerie, but his appetite had completely flown out the window.

Instead of resting and enjoying his lunch, he went out to the garden and paced its paths as he ate. Lost in his thoughts, he tasted nothing.

He would not remain in his father’s shadow. Tannoran might interfere however he pleased, for better or for worse, but his influence meant nothing to Kaleit. Neither did the opinions of those who’d denounced him to his face all those years ago.

From the very beginning, Zabor was far from the ideal griffin for his needs, yet represented his one and only shot at victory. He had no assumptions that it would be easy, but he would get through to the animal somehow, and prove them all wrong.

His entire midday break wasted, Kaleit went inside to his room in the guest wing to fetch a clean shirt. He caught sight of red-brown feathers through the window as he dressed and went over to see who’d arrived, still working on the last couple of buttons.

It was Koben. Another of his favorite visitors.

Fully prepared to glide right past Tannoran on his way back to the Aerie, Kaleit went down to the courtyard where the two older men were already busy greeting each other. The prince had his bulky arm wrapped about Tannoran’s shoulders, speaking quietly and earnestly as if sharing a delightful secret.

The image was shattered as the captain abruptly jerked away from Koben. “My ward?” he yelped.

“Afraid so, my friend. Hand in hand with the merling, not an hour past.”

“If she lives long enough for it, so help me, I’ll throw her out. I’ll throw her right out on the street, and she can fend for herself.”

Kaleit froze mid-step, staring at Koben with just as much surprise as Tannoran.

Stupid, stupid girl!

This proved it: He’d waited too long to tell the prince of her conspiring with Coyrifan. He couldn’t have done it any differently, though. He had to be absolutely certain first before risking such a volatile accusation. He wouldn’t have missed her at all if she’d run away with a manling swain, but sending Erin to whatever terrible fate lay below in the dark seawaters had never been one of his idle fancies for finally being rid of her.

Koben saw him staring, and that grating grin of his spread across his face. “All part of the plan.”

The cold sensation in Kaleit’s chest was quickly spreading into the rest of his body. “What plan? What good does it do to sacrifice the girl to the merling?” Was Koben really that ruthless beneath all of his waggery?

“I, too, would like you to answer that,” Tannoran said, his expression becoming steely.

“If all goes according to said plan, this won’t be a sacrifice,” the prince said. “If he cares for the girl as much as it seems, he’ll keep her well until our deal is satisfied. If nothing else, he’ll do it for the sake of getting his seabeast back.”

“He’s already doing everything to get his seabeast back,” Tannoran pointed out. “You still haven’t explained why it was so necessary to let him kidnap my ward.”

“Erin is a surprising young woman.” Koben shrugged off-handedly. “I’ve no notion of how she came to possesses it, but she has something quite integral to the merling’s success, as well as Katharesa’s mission.”

“Oh? And what else could we possibly need for the latter, besides the Medelapura?”

That irritating smile returned full bore. “The Medelapura wasn’t the only artifact that was lost.”

Mirroring Kaleit, Tannoran’s eyes rolled to one side. “Koben, listen to yourself. That artifact has been missing for four hundred years, since the breaking of Crylis. There is no way that it came to a stray orphan girl plucked from the middle of the ocean.”

“There should have been no way for that orphan girl to be plucked from that particular area of the ocean in the first place, if you’ll recall,” was the prince's airy response. “It was providence that my ship was shunted off to those waters during the storm that night, else the girl and the artifact would have been lost.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Kaleit said, just as certain as he was of that fact as he was the day he met Erin, and heard Koben talk of friendly merlings following his ship. “All of this is ridiculous. Every step of this ‘mission’ of yours has been more and more irrational. You say that the girl and this priceless artifact would have been lost if not for some grand destiny that led you to them, and yet in the same breath you admit to sending them right into the arms of the enemy. Are you just plan daft? Whose side are you on?”

“I would tell you to be silent before your prince, if I didn’t completely agree,” Tannoran replied in an ominously dark tone. He never took his eyes off of Koben.

As infuriatingly effervescent as ever, the prince merely smiled. “Wait and see,” he said. “I guarantee, within a fortnight I will have the Medelapura in hand and your ward at my side.”

“I certainly hope so,” Tannoran said through his teeth. “For your sake.”

Gaze still fixed stonily upon Koben, Kaleit silently echoed the captain’s sentiment.

As much as he disdained the stupid girl, the last thing he wanted was Erin’s innocent blood on his hands.