Chapter 36

“How long have you owned the Red?” Victoria asked Tristan.

They were riding through the forest. Sophia, on her small pony, was a few feet ahead of them, chattering animatedly to the animal as it picked its way through the trees.

“Just over a moon or so. Why?”

“Just curious. Your mother said she and her sister were owned by a family in the city who had to sell them. Which family was it? Were they Lycans?”

“I never asked,” he grunted.

“They must have been. No human family, with their silly superstitions, would have allowed her in their home,” she mused. She reached across and stroked his arm. “It was kind of you to take her in.”

He grunted again and they rode in silence for a few moments.

Victoria sighed. “Although I do not believe the humans and their stories of the Reds being witches, I do worry about her influence on your Sophia.”

“She would never harm Sophia,” Tristan said.

“No, of course not, my lord. She is obviously very fon