Page 81 of Made

“Somethin’ to do with this.” Kagan looked over his shoulder at the sphinx, who appeared uninterested in their conversation. “This. What we’re doin’.”

“Whatwe’redoing? Or whatyou’redoing?” Kagan noted that Keir was making a distinction.

“What I’m doing is…” Kagan began.

“A test. Or challenge. Or mission. Or maybe a ransom. You’re trying to pay a kidnapping ransom with a sphinx egg,” Killian said.

“Right,” Keir sounded hopeful, like they were on the right track. “It’s a test.”

“Is that the answer?” Kagan asked.

“I don’t know,” said Keir. “What does your gut tell you?”

“What does my gut have to do with anythin’? asked Kagan.

“You know. Not your literal gut. Your, em, intuition.”

“My intuition?” Kagan sounded like he’d never heard anything more preposterous.

“Is it the right answer or not?” Killian was frustrated and completely out of patience.

“How am I supposed to know?” Kagan snarled.

“You’re not,” Keir said. “It’s a guess. No matter how you slice it, it’s a guess.”

“It’s not just a test,” Kagan said. “It is a test, but it’s more. It’s a test of… A test of what?”

“Not what,” Keir said. “Who. If you think the word ‘intended’ is the key, then it’s a test of love. Or… no. It’s a lover’s test.”

“A lover’s test?” Kagan asked. After a significant pause, he said, “Could be.”

“You want to try it?” Keir asked.

“Might as well. No matter how long we stand here, I think we’ll no’ come away with somethin’ better.” He walked over to the sphinx and said, “I’m a lover’s test.”

Her reaction was a stare. A very scary stare that seemed to go on forever. At last, her face spread into a smile that could’ve meant anything. “I will accept that answer,” she said. “New species, you may claim your broken egg. Best of luck to you and your ‘future mate’,” she told Kagan.

For the first time since they’d arrived on the mountaintop, the sphinx stood. The sheer enormity of her was overwhelming, and she didn’t even have her wings outstretched. “Knackers,” said Killian. “She’s the size of a football pitch.”

Kagan and Keir both wanted to throttle their brother on the spot. Both, having close female attachments knew that saying something about a woman’s size can be a relationship kiss of death. Granted. They weren’t in a relationship with the sphinx, but why take chances. She’d promised to not eat them on a whim, she could change her mind about that on a whim.

The sphinx looked sharply at Killian. “What’s…?”

Kagan took a leap of faith that he’d forgive her for interrupting. If they still wanted to get out alive, a distraction was necessary.

“Excuse me. I was just looking at the size of your beautiful eggs when I realized we haven’t been given the means to transport something so much bigger than ourselves.”

Standing on the edge of the next where the eggs waited, Keir said, “We could probably handle the weight, but there’d be no way to balance the mass.”

“Well…” said the sphinx.

“We could break the egg pieces into smaller pieces and take one at a time, but that might occupy the better part of this century,” said Killian.

The sphinx stomped a back foot on the ground and caused the entire mountain to tremble like a Richter level three earthquake. “I AM SPEAKING!”

The lions knew it would be in their best interest to stop and pay attention. All three faces turned upward in unison.

When she was satisfied she had their attention, finally, she said, “It seems fortune is with you because you’ve met a most agreeable and generous sphinx. When you open the portal to return, I will accompany you and personally deliver my egg. It will provide me with the opportunity to tell the Cardinals what I think about this.”