I wasn’t sure what to expect.

  This was my first time in a different Ward and while the city we had just driven into was ruled by my father’s brother, Iver, that didn’t mean a lot to me.

  Trent Vowler, the most well-known Adventurer had claimed me as his son. Not that I was his real son, but we knew that the two of us shared a bloodline, so even though I was probably a cousin or a nephew, the two of us were still family. That had been enough for Trent to call me one of his own and give me his last name.

  I looked out the window of the RV at the ship we’d just left. It was going to be in the harbor for a while to get repairs from the attack by the god eater. My wife and the rest of my team had fought against the massive sea dragon and won.

  Ether Vowler squeezed my hand under the table. The two of us were sitting in the booth in the RV. Her skin was as pale as mine, though thanks to the black blood that ran through my veins, my skin tone took on a more ashen color, while her white blood kept hers as pure as snow.

  “Something wrong?” Her red eyes looked over me.

  I ran my fingers through her shoulder-length white hair. “Just thinking about the fight.”

  “Keep it to thinking.” Miel Warray grumbled as she sat down on the couch behind the driver’s seat. Ether’s mother looked like an older version of my wife, down to the row of shark-like teeth in her smile. “Too many ears out here.”

  I shook my head. There was a ship full of sailors who had seen the great monster that had attacked us. If she thought they weren’t going to talk about it, then she must have put some sort of spell on all of them to maintain their silence. Not to mention we were inside Trent’s personal vehicle. If that wasn’t a safe place to talk about things, nowhere was.

  “If you need something else to think about, I can give you a few ideas!” Nakten Saisol winked at me as she sat down across from us. The Anubis woman was the latest addition to our group and while she wanted to join the harem, I felt it was more because she hoped that being with me would upgrade her Nephilim class to a Godling one. The bump in base stats would provide her with a huge boost, though I wasn’t sure how much I trusted the jackal demihuman. Her father was currently leading the Primus, the secretive group that culled godsired to make sure the world wasn’t overrun with those who could challenge the Gods for their cities.

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  The seal on her heart ensured that she was loyal to me and the others, so I knew she wasn’t a spy, at least, not directly anyway. But considering she had been forced into my team, I was going to keep her at arm’s length for a while until I felt more comfortable around her.

  Aelin Aurox, the bubbly blonde in the driver’s seat, laughed at Nakten’s suggestion. We were both from the same small town and while I’d grown up in the orphanage, Aelin had been raised by a single mom, so our paths hadn’t crossed until we’d gained our Mantles. Our short time together hadn’t stopped her from becoming like a little sister to me, even though she was the biggest advocate for me growing my harem as large as it could be.

  “Aelin, we need to focus on the task at hand.” Justia Publian looked at her girlfriend from the passenger seat. The green Healer had been made my priestess on day one, which had earned me some interesting perks that most Gods didn’t get until they received a city Mantle. “Trent told us to meet him at the palace.”

  My father had gone ahead to meet with his brother. There was a small part of me that wasn’t looking forward to meeting with my uncle. I wasn’t sure why, but there was something that didn’t feel right about the ruler of this city.

  I glanced around the vehicle but didn’t see the last member of my team. Fray Alard had recently learned she was Justia’s cousin. The two looked similar with the same green skin and long brown hair. The main difference was Justia had bright blue eyes and pointed ears, while Fray had dark brown eyes and rounded ears like the rest of us in the RV. Fray had been struggling with the revelation of who her father was and was spending more time locked away in the sleeping bunks as she processed things.

  “When we get there, only Atlas and Ether are going in.” Miel grumbled. “The rest of us are going to wait out here.”

  “Justia is our priest and I’m godsired.” Nakten turned her head to look at our part-time teacher. “Why just those two?”

  “I’m not going either.” The older woman grumbled. “If you’ve got a problem with that, you can take it up with Trent when he gets back.”

  Nakten turned to look at me, but I shook my head. I’d countermanded exclusion orders before, but that had been in places where I’d been comfortable defying authority. Here I didn’t have the same comfort.

  “Don’t worry, we won’t be long.” I took a deep breath. “We’ve still got a long drive ahead of us.”

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