Page 13 of Bane of the Wild Hunt

“Rhea,” the griffin responded as he reached her and stopped to survey her companions. He touched her arm with a casual familiarity, and she put her hand over his.

“Riordan returned,” Rhea informed him.

“Yes, I heard. We were summoned to the war room,” Nikos said while his eyes continued to trace distrustingly over the Ktínos standing in front of me.

“This is Ares and Helena who have been assigned to protect Amira. My brother’s intended,” Rhea explained before he could speak again. No doubt to stop him from saying whatever negative comment seemed to be brewing. “This is Nikos, my cousin,” she added to me.

Nikos dragged his eyes away from Ares to study me, and I had the wayward thought that he looked the way Riordan might have if he never went to Ergastiri.

My king was a powerful, battle-hardened warrior with battle scars and calluses on his knuckles from fighting, but there was genuine warmth and kindness in his eyes. Nikos might be a similar height with similar, classically handsome features, but he was slender, and there was a gleam of sharp calculation in his expression. They had the same dark, wavy hair which Nikos kept at nape length, and he had intentionally styled it. He wore a gold circlet around his brow which was mostly hidden under his curls, and he was clean-shaven, unlike Riordan. Nikos was also dressed like the other Imítheos nobles in a short-sleeved, ankle-length, cream toga with a very broad, gold and leather belt around his waist. He looked enough like my mate that I could tell Riordan would actually look really good with the charcoal smudged around his eyes.

“I should not keep my cousin waiting. I will find you after the meeting,” Nikos told Rhea without another word about me or the Ktínos.

Rhea inclined her head in agreement, and he gave her arm another squeeze, his eyes dragging over us one final time before he turned to continue on his way. I could not help wondering if he was one of the Imítheos that Riordan had promoted or if that elevation had been given to him after Riordan left. It certainlyhad not escaped my notice that my mate indicated a desire to speak with the current leaders as well as those he’d appointed. He already knew that the Ktínos he’d elevated would have all been ousted from positions of command as soon as he was gone.

I turned to ask Rhea what Nikos did and for how long but closed my mouth when I saw the look on her face as she watched her cousin leaving. There was a knit between her dark brows and uncertainty turning the right corner of her mouth down slightly.

“Are you afraid for your brother or for your cousin?”

The words had popped out of me before I had a chance to reconsider them.

Rhea looked startled as her golden eyes darted to mine, her nostrils flaring before she seemed to compose herself.

“Both,” she admitted. “Riordan and Nikos never… They could never agree on anything.”

Ares muttered something under his breath which I did not catch, but it made Rhea bristle.

“Riordan won’t be happy to see him?” I guessed as we commenced our way again, passing several more griffins who gawked openly at the Ktínos.

“No. I expect there will be harsh words exchanged,” Rhea admitted with a sigh. “But Nikos knows very well what battles to pick and which ones to let lie. He is astute. A gifted strategist and legislator. I just hope my brother will finally see his merits rather than allow himself to be blinded by their old rivalry.”

Yeah, I was going to assume Nikos had been promoted after Riordan left the Vale.

“You think Nikos would be useful to Riordan?”

“I do. My brother makes no secret of the fact that he has no patience for politics. He certainly gets things done, but he does it regardless of how anyone else might feel about it. I hope Nikos can… help him,” she admitted.

I almost pointed out that she could help too, but I held my tongue on impulse. It occurred to me that she hadn’t expressed an opinion other than scolding Ares and then explaining his presence in the Metropolis to her cousin. And neither of those situations told me how she genuinely felt about the Ktínos or their plights. SheobeyedRiordan, but I was not sure that sheagreedwith him.

Chapter five

THE EXTENSION OF MY SOUL

Orion

Riordan moved at a brisk pace, his long strides eating up every hallway within the Archigeío building at Ergastiri. The college functioned primarily as a school for training new cadets, but it was also the hub of military command and the place Riordan and I had always felt most at home. But it had been almost twenty years since I set foot inside this command building since Ktínos were banned again as soon as Riordan was gone.

Nice speech,I thought to him.

I wanted to make the new direction of our people clear before both Imítheos and Ktínos together,he responded.

Not that I expected it would make much difference for the Imítheos.

And what exactly are you hoping to accomplish with this impromptu meeting?

They already had a warning that I was coming home,Riordan pointed out.I did not wish to give them any more opportunity to discuss their strategy for managing me, nowthat they know my intentions. At least not before I got them here to interrogate them properly.

Ah. So you plan to antagonize them first,I teased.

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