“Keep your head covered,” Asinis reminded Feri.

Feri didn’t chastise him for mentioning it a fourth time. They walked into the Capital City, Lostress of the Valador Empire. It was Feri’s first time there, but she didn’t dare look up from her feet. She had tucked her long ears away and hid the masked part of her face behind a red scarf. Her fur and layers weighed and heated under the afternoon sun, but caution made her bear the discomfort and endure the sweat dripping under her shirt. She hadn't felt this ugly and ashamed since leaving home. Now, hers was no longer just the appearance of a slighted woman but the face of a fugitive. An ugly goblin-rabbit hybrid. She felt ill for it and longed for the magic that made her beautiful.

She hadn't expected to get through the gate so easily. But if word reached this far of the pink beast-bunny and her human companion from Isenvel, one reveal of her face would alert the Summit Guard. They weren't as easy to slip past as small-town watchmen. Or so she’d heard. If not for the various sizes and shapes of peoples and races in Lostress, she would stick out like a sore thumb anyway.

“What are we doing here, Asinis?” she hissed while searching for a shaded street.

“I don’t know,” he said. “But we couldn’t stay in that forest.”

They could have if they stuck with Tree Keeper, but Asinis didn’t like magic he hadn’t studied, and as far as she knew, he’d yet to crack open a tome concerning nature.

“You there!”

Feri ducked. The guards at the gate they’d just left held an unraveled missive. Asinis, his face tight, looked that way. Confirming the guards called to them, he twisted around and ran. Feri darted after him, the wind she made sneaking through her clothes and cooling her feverish skin. She and Asinis darted down the immediate street ahead, a bridge connecting the two long side buildings passing overhead. And then they raced through an arch in a connecting wall, which led them into a series of shops.

The chase caught the attention of Summits patrolling the city. They flew into pursuit, no confusion among them as they spread out to block the alleys and streets while keeping pace. Feri’s heart fluttered in fright. She saw calculation in their eyes. Silent communication passed between them as they planned how to corral her and Asinis while maneuvering as well as a pack of wolves. Asinis grabbed her arm and pulled her down a street. Dread webbed through her chest as she realized it was the only one the Summit had left open. Asinis was falling into their trap! But where else could they go? They weaved through linked paths, ducked under hanging signs, and smashed into walls as they rounded corners. They hadn't gotten a look at the city yet, so neither knew where to run or hide. Feri hopped from a corner wall and off it into the adjacent alley ahead of Asinis and looked behind her.

“Stop them!” Shouts raised over their heads, but the city people were too flustered to respond.

She knew it. This was a bad idea! She should have taken the blame when they were questioned. She should have never let Asinis involve himself. It didn’t matter his part. She wanted to go further when they should have stopped like he wanted at the first sign of trouble in their research. Asinis was so careful, but she forced the issue in her desperation, and now they were running from capital soldiers!

“I’m sorry, Asinis!” she screamed behind her.

“Not now, not now, not now,” he shouted back.

“Asinis Uris! Feri Fel! You are under arrest for the death of three magical researchers and the destruction of the Isenvel Tower!” one of the Summit shouted.

“It was an accident,” Feri cried under her breath, tears wetting her cheeks.

Asinis pivoted to a stop and drew out his hands in front of him. A net weaved between two building walls. The guards flew into it and then bounced back, but they jumped up the walls to get around almost as fast as it appeared. Their reaction to the obstacle made Feri tremble. They knew not to attempt forcing through magic but to create an alternative route. And they found one in the blink of an eye by way of their own physical power.

“Come on!” Asinis shouted. He grabbed Feri's wrist and dragged her behind him around some crates, but she was too hot in all the clothes she hid under. It was getting harder to breathe. Sweat matted her brow, stress knotted her stomach. She was going to be sick.

A door flew open ahead of them and Asinis skidded before being grabbed. He ground his teeth and clamped a hand around the wrist of who had taken him. And then they were pulled into a dark room and the door slammed shut. The sound of the Summit Guard stomped past them. Feri panted, fingers curled into the uneven stone ground as she sat splayed on her backside. She held her breath, shaking, and then the boot stomps and shouts faded away. She twisted into a crouch, knife in hand as she faced the person that had pulled them into the dark storage room.

Orange eyes flickered to her, and an alluring grin split across teal skin.

“Now, now." His voice purred low and sultry-like. “I was looking for a different prize, but this is too interesting to let pass.” He helped Asinis to his feet, who stepped away once he found his balance.

“Who... who are you?” Asinis asked, voice airy in his chest.

“Me? Aw, now that isn’t the question right now. The question is, who are you and is what those Summit Guards said true? Did you kill some magical researchers in the Isenvel Tower? Because that is most captivating news.”

“We did not,” Asinis insisted.

A pause. “I actually find your conviction convincing. If that be the case, we can’t have you wandering around the city looking like wanted people.” He winked at Feri, who did not trust the ease with which he accepted their most basic explanation. He stepped toward her and squat to lift her chin with a finger. “Don’t look at me like that, little one. I’ve taken an interest in you. Best you accept my help.”

“Why are you excited by the likes of us?” Asinis asked.

“Because this one,” his eyes softened on Feri, "is different. Like me.” He sent an inviting grin at Asinis. “And I am very interested in the information you can give me in exchange.”

Feri and Asinis passed dubious glances.

“You’re going to protect us in trade for information concerning the accident?” Feri asked, brow twisted in continued skepticism. It seemed too convenient, and he too fishy.

“I am. It and anything else you find out,” the stranger said still on her level.

Was that him that smelled like cherries? It seemed feminine for a man so alluring. Then again, it fit. It'd be more confusing if Asinis smelled that way. The carrot top's earthy musk suited his current appearance, though it'd not been that way before. Feri's shoulders drooped, and she scowled at the stranger.

“What makes you think we’re going to uncover anything about anything you’re interested in?” she asked. She didn't like confident, well-speaking strangers. Though, this was the first one she'd met that stated what he wanted upfront.

“Hmm. I like your voice,” he muttered, and she winced. “Because you want to clear your names, don’t you?” He glanced at Asinis.

Feri peeked at him too. He peered past his coat collar at her, though she doubted he could see her under the single flamed candle. Solares and her kind had a mild advantage, and she could read the worst-case scenarios dancing across Asinis's face.

“We have no reason to trust him,” he said at last.

Feri agreed, but she didn't see a way out of their situation. Solares suffered discrimination like her kind, but for good reason. This stranger could have minced them and painted the walls in their blood already. If he wanted to. “Asinis." She swallowed, realizing they had no chance of escape without cooperation. Their alternatives were capture or murder by the charming solare. "We don’t have a choice.”

They scrutinized the solare gentleman sitting on a barrel in the storage room he’d pulled them into. The faint bit of candlelight he’d previously lit revealed a different smile. Conniving. Knowing. This was less of a negotiation and more like blackmail. He’d not revealed weapons or magic capable of subduing them, but a regular man didn’t hide runaways as skillfully as he just did out from under the nose of Summit Guards. And then there was the fact that he was a demon.

Overwhelmed, Feri fished in her pocket, clawed fingers bunching and folding the side of her pants. She hissed a curse and tears wet the corners of her eyes.

“Feri,” Asinis called. She searched more violently, and he knelt in front of her. He slipped her arm out of her pocket and dug in it for her. A wrapped caramel emerged between the tips of his fingers. He blew off the lint and lifted it in front of her nose. “Here.”

She snatched it from him and barely tore the paper off before yanking down her mask to shove it in her mouth.

“My, my,” the solare chuckled. “That is one vice I can appreciate. Though it doesn’t quite match that devilish face. I knew you were another demon.”

“Do not call me that!” Feri snapped.

“Little sister, you needn’t take offense from me. If my pallet is not enough to cue you—” a third, vertical eye on his brow split open, orange and with a cat-like pupil the same as the two he looked on them with. Besides it, small horns poked through his skin to line his brow and collar bone where they could peek out from his parted shirt. Some even pushed into his sleeves and came down his hand. “I may not be a dy’adrin, but I understand as a fellow outsider.”

“Dy’adrin?” Asinis asked looking at Feri.

“It’s the proper name for a beast-bunny,” she muttered.

“You’re of the smaller variety, but no less a member of that esteemed clan,” the solare said.

“Esteemed?”

The solare scoffed, a look of disbelief Asinis couldn’t quite see pointed at him. “You keep ignorant company, don’t you, little sister."

“Most humans aren’t educated on the demon races,” she said. "And it doesn't matter."

"But it does. Dy'adrin, after being dragged into the Hel Plane, led a revolution against the Demon Kings. They freed not only those taken from their original homes but solare as well. We all ended up in this world, Roes. You keep noble company, human."

“I didn’t realize,” Asinis muttered.

“Not all demons are born evil but are victims of circumstance. Many of us consider ourselves fortunate to be here. Even if we suffer the prejudice of the native occupants and their invited guests. We would rather endure it than the whips of our old masters,” the solare explained. “And we hold the dy’adrin in high revere for accepting us.”

"But then that makes her a beast not a demon," Asinis argued.

"The Devil Kings cursed the dy'adrin who opposed them--"

“Enough!” Feri snapped. “Just because the solare joined and helped my people doesn’t mean I have reason to trust you.”

“I don’t expect you to,” he chuckled. “But I am in the business of making the best of my connections and circumstances. You understand. Now. I can either aid you in keeping under the radar and discover who is really behind the destruction of Isenvel, or I can restrain you and call the Summit Guard. Either way, it’s a win for me. Though I do prefer espionage over a bounty. I doubt you’re worth much.”

“I have great and terrible magic. I could kill you and sneak us both out of here,” Asinis declared raising his hands.

The solare guffawed. “Oh. You need to practice your lying. One shouldn’t quake at the knees when making such a voracious threat!” He wiped tears from his two eyes, the third one closed. “I am Mr. Noarwin. And if we manage to become friends, I will let you drop the formality. Until then.” He took Feri’s hand from her side and shook it then Asinis’s with his other hand and pulled him close. “I will be keeping a very close eye on you. Demons aren’t always worse than humans,” he whispered so Feri couldn’t hear. Asinis coughed, and Noarwin let him go. “Stay close. We’ll need things from my warehouse if we’re going to help you blend in, and I can’t have you getting caught in my presence.” He thrust open the door, a confident and conniving look in his eyes as sunlight streamed in.

Feri and Asinis stared after him, and then, silently agreeing they had no other choice, followed.