“Oooh … wow,” I muttered under my breath as my whole body went up in flames.
Did Uncle Maveric seriously just say that? I mean, this was Terre Noble. He was the one and only heir to the Noble Corp – the owners of the one and only energy crystal mine in the world. The Nobles were, without a doubt, the richest family in the world. I knew that they lived somewhere around here, I just didn’t think I’d ever meet one of them, since they all tended to keep to themselves.
I never knew that Uncle was that close to them. And never expected him to say something that audacious in their presence. Seriously, I feel like Uncle is the one who is most concerned about my dating life – even more than me.
Terre Noble’s smile went a little awkward.
My mind was a mess, but that didn’t change the fact that I was still in front of a client. A repeat one, from the sounds of it. I pasted on a smile and instinctively reached out for a handshake. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Noble,” I said, proud that my voice only wobbled at the beginning. “Like Uncle said, I’m Ria.”
He reached out to accept my handshake. “Just call me Terre. The name ‘Mr. Noble’ is better suited for my dad.”
As soon as my skin brushed against his weapon calloused palm, a jolt of electricity went down my spine. It took everything I had not to throw his hand away, and let go in a professional manner. What the hell was that? Confused, I locked eyes with him. Did he feel the same thing?
Nothing about his expression gave anything away, every muscle in his face screamed kind and gentle, but there was a slight change in the fierceness of his two-toned eyes. They were intense and piercing – not cold, threatening, or rude – but as if there was a wall between us, and he was observing me from the other side. And what he saw was puzzling.
It felt like a bucket of cold water crashed over my head. I’d been so dazzled by his looks, that I forgot Hunter 101 – the cooler something looked, the more dangerous it was. That rule applied right now.
Terre Noble was, undoubtedly, an apex predator.
Even though his Hunter aura was on a tight leash and wasn’t suppressing me at all, I could still feel it enough to know that he could flatten me with lifting a finger. And maybe Uncle Maveric too. I couldn’t help but glance at the title bar over his head. And was given another surprise.
His title bar simply said: [Terre Noble, Level ???]
What?
Maveric laughed and rested a heavily scarred hand on my shoulder, breaking me out of my thoughts. “Good, good. Now that all the awkwardness is out of the way, let’s all get along, okay?” He squeezed my shoulders and leveled Terre with a look. “She’s precious to me, so make sure you take care of her, you hear?”
I nearly jumped out of my skin. What was Uncle doing, treating Terre Noble like that?
Terre nodded, not looking at all insulted. “Of course. I’m happy to help.” He smiled at me. “You and Shiva are getting along?”
I stiffened, not expecting his words at all. “You know Shiva?”
He nodded. “Yes. She’s a wonderful mount.”
Uncle huffed a laugh. “How vague. You’re a Noble, through and through.” Although he sounded like he was complaining, his voice was good natured with obvious affection. “What this boy means is, while his father plays with shiny rocks all day, his mother is the number one mount trainer in America. When I found out you were coming to Mist Haven, I asked her to train a mount for you, Ria. Since we’ve been friends for decades, she was happy to help.”
I gaped at him. “Seriously?” Such an important person trained my mount?
Terre nodded. “Yes, my parents used it as an excuse to take a trip to upper Canada last year. They brought a couple raindeer fawns back to acclimate them to living with people, but Shiva was the best one. The other fawn was sold to another Hunter in California.” He shrugged.
“Which is one reason why young master Terre is here now,” Uncle said with begrudging affection. “Making a birthday present for his mom.” He shrugged at Terre and gave a quick explanation. “Ria’s going to be an assistant manager at the shop now, and I don’t keep secrets from my family.” He cleared his throat. “Anyway, every other rich lady loves to drip herself in money and sparkly things – but not Jynn Noble. I have to go out of my way to design something that is simple enough that she would wear and elegant enough that her husband doesn’t harass me.” His lips curled as a challenge sparked in his eyes.
I didn’t know anything about Jynn Noble. Honestly, nobody did. There was limited information about Kesstel and Terre Noble available online, but nothing about Mrs. Noble. Only that Mr. and Mrs. Noble were happily married and anyone that tried to step in the middle met a horrible end – it was Mr. Noble who was the cold-blooded debt collector, no matter which gender tried to cause trouble. After seeing Terre, I thought his mother would be just as flashy as him. But I guess not?
Terre hummed in agreement. “We’re trying to see if we can merge Maveric’s barrier magic to a lasso or rope to make taming monsters easier. My mother has the highest success rate compared to any other monster tamer, but she wants it to be higher.”
“So, here we are, slaving away months before the actual date, trying to find compatible items to create a one-of-a-kind, new magical item.” My uncle rubbed his hands together in anticipation.
“Wow,” I said slowly. “If anyone could do it, it would be you.”
When it came to attaching magic to items, Uncle was a leader in the creative department. He used to make all the weapons for the shop himself, but now that he had competent assistants, he could leave most of the grueling crafting parts to them. It left him a lot of time to tinker and push the boundaries of magical items. In fact, the military had purchased quite a few of his designs and he’s trained a few military Hunters on how to craft the magic to recreate said designs. Some of the more dangerous ones weren’t available for civilians anymore.
“Well, succeed or die trying. There’s still some months to come up with a backup plan.” Maveric looked down at me. “Now, Ria, it’s getting late. Did you come just to brighten your old uncle’s day, or was there something I can help with?”
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Well, that’s a catch twenty-two. I didn’t want to sound like I was only using him, but I didn’t actually come here to hang out. There were still things I needed to do at home. “Um, I just found a weird monster in the wilds today. But we can talk about it after you’re done talking.”
Terre frowned and focused on me.
Uncle hummed under his breath with interest. “A weird monster, you say? How is it weird?”
“Well, I guess it’s not in the Monster Manual. And it looks … different.”
Uncle’s eyes brightened and his brows rose on his forehead. “A new monster, huh? It’s been a while since a new one was found? Where’d you find it? Show me. I’ll send a team out to get it tomorrow.” He waved a hand and a holographic map appeared between the three of us.
“Oh, I already killed it,” I said. “It’s in my Items Bag.”
Uncle paused and looked at me, his gaze assessing. Whatever he saw, it must have made him happy because he waved away the map. “Good, good. That saves time for everyone.” He glanced at Terre. “Why don’t you come with us, prince? You’re a leading expert on wild things nowadays, especially compared to me.”
I blinked in surprise when Uncle called him ‘prince.’ But I guess Terre is the sole heir to the richest trading empire in the world. That makes him practically a prince, right?
But Terre didn’t seem to mind the title at all. “Of course, it sounds interesting.”
“Let’s go to the back then,” Uncle said. “I hate cleaning monster blood off my kitchen table.”
I fell into step with Uncle with Terre walking on the other side. “What do you mean, you hate cleaning blood off your table?” I razzed Uncle. “You hire a cleaning service.”
He scoffed and opened the large glass French door to the extravagant back porch. “Even I wouldn’t leave blood sitting on the table until morning. That’s just unhygienic. Right?” He glanced at Terre.
Terre nodded. “True.” He closed the door after we were all outside and glanced at me. “Where did you find this weird monster?”
I walked around the cushy patio furniture, towards the large barn-like structure. Well, Uncle’s person forge was designed to look like a brown and white trimmed barn, but it was made completely out of metal painted like wood. Every single inch of the building gleamed faintly with magic, like two different iridescent rainbows fighting with each other. The first magic barrier kept intruders out. The second was designed to keep all the heat inside the building – you know, in case it blew up.
“By the horned monkey's lair,” I said, sneaking a glance at him. How much could I tell him? I doubted I could say why I specifically went looking in that location. The System didn’t like me talking about it, so I couldn’t say that it was to complete a daily task, right?
“That’s a fair ways out,” Terre commented. “How was the ride?”
Oh, he was asking about Shiva. “Oh, it was great. Shiva’s great.” I followed Uncle down the pebble path from the back porch to the forge. It took me all of three steps to realize that the only footsteps I could really hear crunching on the path were mine. Terre’s steps on the shifting rocks were completely silent, and even Uncle’s were barely noticeable. Bothered, I worked on quieting my steps. It didn’t really work.
He nodded. “She was trained for cooperative combat, offensive or defensive. How has that been working out for you?”
Well, the first time we worked together, Shiva’s protective instincts almost made me fail the test Uncle gave me. But I wasn’t about to tell Terre that. “I haven’t had the chance to fight cooperatively with her yet.” I couldn’t risk her scaring off the E ranked monsters. “I’m going to practice with her in the morning.”
“That’s a good idea,” Uncle said. “It’s best to perfect a skill before using it in battle.”
Unless you’re desperate, I thought, remembering when I used Bubble this afternoon. I still hadn’t had time to practice that ability. It just didn’t seem safe to test its limits for the first time on Shiva’s back. What if I accidentally hurt her?
Uncle opened the door to his forge. A motion sensor light clicked on inside, and he motioned us in. “Come on.”
Terre held out his hand, motioning me to go first. “Ladies first.”
“Thank you,” I muttered and stepped in, a little flustered. Chivalry wasn’t really a thing anymore. People were too busy trying to get ahead, regardless of the person’s gender. But I had to admit, Terre didn’t look silly doing it. His actions were so natural and smooth, as if he’d done it a million times. I was glad that my back was to him – it gave me time to control the blush that was threatening my cheeks again.
Uncle’s forge differed greatly from his house. Although everything was neat and tidy, there were no decorations or frills. Just a large dissecting table in the front of the open space, an anvil station in the middle, and in the back, five-foot wide furnace. Scorch marks stained the white walls and concrete floors all over the large space, a telling of all the dangerous things Uncle had worked on throughout the years.
How many times did he get injured when those scorch marks happened? Was this what Micah’s future looked like? It hurt my heart just thinking about it.
“So this is what the mighty Maveric’s personal forge looks like,” Terre said, looking around in fascination. “From the stories I heard growing up, it was supposed to be a secret treasure trove of magic.”
I bit my lips to hide the laugh. “No, that would be the business forge.” Since Uncle didn’t need to share things in this room – there was no one to share with when he was working – everything he needed was kept in his Items Bag. Or bags. I was pretty sure he had more than one, but I’d never asked.
“Well, my secret trove is nothing compared to yours, boy.” Maveric let out a dry laugh, and walked up to the table. “Put it here, Ria.”
I hurried over and set the unknown’s carcass on the dissection table.
Terre stepped to my side, and examined it, his expression just as serious as Uncle’s. “Did Shiva help fight this monster?” he asked.
I paused. “Ah, no. She wasn’t there at the time. I fought it myself.”
He motioned to the cut on its neck. “It’s a nice, clean move.”
Uncle hummed in agreement under his breath. “Where did this come from?” He motioned to its face.
I jumped then followed his gaze to the monster’s face. There was no way around it – the ugly monster’s face was undoubtedly damaged by magic. Anyone with a lick of Hunter knowledge could tell. Uncle knew that I was an E melee, so how did that happen?
“It was like that when it attacked me,” I lied with a straight face, a skill I perfected on obnoxious customers I wanted gone. “Is this a defective horned monkey?” I asked, hoping to distract the men.
“No,” they both answered at the same time.
“There’s no horn,” Terre pointed out the obvious, but he didn’t stop there. “Its face is shaped wrong. The jaw is bigger and its more muscular than a horned monkey.” He noticed the bloated back leg. “This is…”
Uncle was already leaning over the deformed leg. “This …” He pointed at the mange-like parts. “These are gargoyle scales.”
Terre and I looked at Uncle.
“What? As in, its coated in gargoyle scales or,” I added slowly, “are there gargoyle scales growing on its leg?” I didn’t take the time to carefully examine the carcass in the wilds, so I didn’t notice.
“No, this is growing on the monster.” Uncle took some latex gloves out of his Items Bag and put them on. Then he felt around the leg, showing that the scales were, in fact, attached.
My nose wrinkled in disgust, even though dealing with dead monsters was something I was used to. “How is that possible?”
Terre shook his head. “It’s not. At least, not naturally.”
I blinked at him, surprised. “What?”
He leaned closer to the carcass, peering closely at the third hand growing out of the arm bone. “Nothing about this monster is natural.” There was still a slight smile on his lips, but his eyes were sharp as steel. It was … chilling. “And that’s a problem.”
*****