Perhaps. The word alone...Elohim wondered if it stung to hear, at least from Arius' perspective. To know that he had merely been a perhaps to the stranger who had him beneath her paw...But then again, maybe Elohim had been assigning too much calculation to Menkhet. It was, after all, more likely that she hadn't meant it as anything other than the truth. It would not have surprised Elohim to discover that the younger woman truly didn't know whether or not Arius had any real value to her, at least beyond her curiosity. She likely hadn't considered it, more preoccupied with the boy's importance to him. Elohim shook his head slowly, a half-smirk on his lips. He was amused. He couldn't deny that. Even if his heart was dark and heavy with the threat posed to Arius, Elohim still felt his own amusement in having found himself - and his son - in such a predicament.

What stung, in truth, was watching Menkhet's teeth descend upon Arius. Elohim held back, a distinct effort needed to hold his muscles still, but he could not hold back the breath that escaped him when she did little more than nip the boy's ears. Despite the smell of blood, Elohim was relieved that it was all he had been issued - his eyes narrowed on Menkhet momentarily, but he quickly turned his attention towards Arius rather than linger on the woman. He took a step forward and lowered his head, beckoning Arius forward and offering the boy his body as a shield if he so desired. "In silva," he spoke to Arius, though his eyes had fixated back onto Menkhet. In the forest, he had said in their native tongue, if Arius so desired to find Natiya and his siblings instead. Even if Menkhet caught the words and meaning, Elohim hoped she did not catch the context. Anything could be in the forest, and the forest might have meant any one thing. There simply wasn't time nor reason to coddle the boy, Arius, but he deserved the choice as to whether he wanted to mend his pride away from his father and Menkhet, or if he wanted to see their encounter through.

His brow rose at her declaration, and he lifted his head and met her squarely. "I won't accept it," he said bluntly, "but negotiate, perhaps. You say mine, but if I'm to accept anything, ours is the only thing I'll consider." It had taken him no more than a split second to understand the woman's intention with her claim, and he hadn't the time to consider how to completely remove Arius from whatever web he'd managed to get tangled in. If his son found complaint in that kind of 'negotiation'...well, Elohim would deal with it later. It was more important to find equality with Menkhet, and Asteraia by extension, than to worry about complaints that might not have even existed. Arius was clever, after all. Surely even he would understand the implications of Menkhet's words, and what it could mean had Elohim accepted them at face value, or if he had fought against them too madly.

Menkhet moved towards him, and Elohim forced his muscles to relax, to meet her in the middleground. He felt neither relaxed nor at peace, but he at least felt that the immediate threat had washed back out to sea. Instead, he had only to handle her, rather than whatever game she had been hoping to play. That, at least, was easier. Despite the fact that Menkhet could choose to become a threat at any given second, Elohim truly did not mind her company. The woman was cunning and clever, but she seemed to at least have a code of her own. She wanted to ask and to know, and those things Elohim could respect easily. Shared interests, really.

"Iromar has been given to a former wolf of Glorall. She is of an old bloodline, one once pitted against the Angels of Old Trenus and Diveen. Demons, they are called and so they call themselves." It was perhaps not the most exciting secret, but one that Elohim thought Menkhet and her kin might come to appreciate one day or another. At least, it might be worth them investigating. Elohim knew some of the stories that surrounded Ruby and her kin, her blood, and it had been said they had a particular interest in different kinds of prey, different kinds of games. Whether or not that held true in the case of Ruby, he could not say, but if Menkhet and Asteraia wanted to reach out to it...It wouldn't be Elohim's problem. Not immediately, at least.

He tilted his head as she spoke her own tongue, close enough to her to smell the fields of Asteraia on her fur. "Do you hide a secret behind that language of yours, Pharaoh's Daughter? Is it a secret worth chasing, or bait for me to follow, I wonder?" He kept close to her, and kept his eyes closely on her. "Did finding the boy not satisfy your want to hunt? Are you hoping there are more morsels floating about the sea, ready to be dragged to shore?" His voice was smooth and passive, his lips curled into their usual confident, amused smirk.