“No. And he hasn’t spilled anything when I asked about it, either.”
“And has he told you about his lack of wings?”
I flinched, cursing silently. I suppose it was rather obvious after you spent a while around the kin that there was nothing hidden underneath his cloak.
I shook my head. The half-blood smiled gently, but said nothing more on the subject.
He tapped his fingers on the table a moment. I took advantage of the silence and nibbled the last bit of cheese. The tapping abruptly stopped.
“You described the ruins as being that of an ancient shrine, correct?”
“Yeah,” I said, swallowing a mouthful of bread. “It looked just like ones I’d seen in books.”
“How old was it, do you think?”
“It looked like the ones built in the era just after the Time of Gods. One of the first shrines to the ancients, possibly for Readiminan worship. The town was named for her, after all.”
“Hmm. I was afraid of that…”
“What? Why?”
He sighed. “If the kin’s still lurking about on the human side of the continent, odds are that there is more of than one of whatever he’s after. Probably somewhere nearby, and I think I know where he’s planning to search for the next one.”
“Where?” But the answer was already on the tip of my tongue. “Eigiollys?”
“Yes.”
“But how would he know it’s there?”
“He wouldn’t. However, Eigiollys was founded shortly after the Time of Gods, and before it was known as being the Hidden City it was known as -“
“The Hidden Temple.” I nodded. “You think that there could be another there?”
“I don’t need to think it. It appears that the dragon-kin, however, does.”
We sat in silence for a moment. The bread had hit my stomach like lead, and it did little to help me feel better. So, the dragon-kin’s mission was not over yet.
“What are you going to do?” I asked, my voice sounding a little pathetic.
If the half-blood really did not want the kin invading the merpeople’s home and stealing the item for the dragon king, there was one effective solution.