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A pang of regret that she was once again the aloof, unapproachable vampire sliced through Ryshi. He’d heard the expression one step forward and two steps back, but with Sofie it was like a teeny step forward and a mile backward. Not that he was going to concede defeat, he assured himself. It didn’t matter how many steps backward, forward, or in between it took, he was going to have this female in his life.
Forever.
“No. It’s very real,” he assured her.
Sofie turned to study the nearby town. Her nose wrinkled as she took in the sprawling buildings constructed from wood with thatched roofs that sagged from the constant drizzle that fell from the gray sky. There were a few muddy lanes, but most of them meandered in strange curves and often ended without warning. Probably because the large population of minotaurs spent most of their time in the nearby colosseum, drinking their potent ale and enjoying violent battles between their chosen warriors. They weren’t big fans of wasting time repairing their homes or cleaning the foul waste that clogged the sewers.
“We reached the homeland?” she asked in disbelief.
Ryshi shook his head. He hadn’t actually entered the minotaur homeland when he’d been there before, but he very much hoped it was better than this place.
At least cleaner.
“My guess is that this is more like a suburb.”
Her gaze remained locked on the town, where they could see several large minotaurs staggering down a muddy lane. One of them stumbled forward, smashing into a lopsided building that promptly collapsed beneath the impact.
“Is that a joke?”
“Not really.”
“This doesn’t look like any suburb I’ve been in.” She sent him a suspicious glance. “At least not since medieval London.”
Ryshi shrugged. “I was forced to stay here long enough to determine that this place is not the same as the labyrinth. There are no illusions and the only creatures here are minotaurs.”
She wrinkled her nose. “That’s what I smell?”
“Unfortunately.” There was nothing pleasant about wet, moldy fur. “It’s also unfortunate that they aren’t held captive by the same spell that’s inside the rest of the maze.”
She snorted. “Thank the goddess. I hate magic.”
“I’m not a fan of the labyrinth, but in this place there’s no hiding the fact that we’re intruders. As soon as one of the minotaur spots us we’re going to be hunted.”
Sofie shrugged, obviously not as terrified of the minotaurs as she was of magic. Understandable; any vampire would rather face a danger they could see and touch.
“How can you be sure this isn’t the homeland?”
Ryshi waved a hand toward the squalid settlement. “It’s a crappy homeland if it is.”
“True.” Her gaze skimmed toward the distant buildings that spread out as far as the eye could see. “But there might be nicer neighborhoods on the other side of town. Most cities have their slums.”
“This city is all slum,” he assured her. “Last time I had to hide for several days in my jinn form while I searched for—” He bit off his words as he realized he’d almost revealed more than he wanted. “The exit,” he managed to mutter before clearing his throat. “I have seen more than enough of this place to be confident that there are no nice neighborhoods. Plus, I overheard two minotaurs discussing the homeland.”
Sofie narrowed her eyes, but she surprisingly didn’t press him for an answer on what he was looking for. She seemed more interested in how he’d managed to travel without being detected.
“I assume your jinn form means that you moved around the area in a cloud of smoke?”
He smiled at her blunt question. “That’s one way to put it.”
“Are you invisible?”
“Not completely. A demon searching for a jinn might be able to see me, but the minotaurs had no reason to suspect that I was here. It allowed me to overhear several interesting conversations.”
She nodded. “What did you discover?”
“There were two minotaurs fighting over a barrel of ale,” he told her. “They were complaining about being banned from the homeland and the fear they’d never get to return.”
“Banned? They were kicked out?”
