“How much could I get for selling my polearm?”

Mark grabbed the weapon like he thought I might snatch it away. “It’s irreplaceable.”

“So, it’s worth a lot?”

“You said the weapons were part of the spell that brought you here, correct?”

I nodded, worried I might know what he was getting at. 

“It’s entirely possible they’ll be necessary to send you home.”

“Of course they are.” I leaned against him with a sigh, setting my head on his shoulder. As soon as I’d done it, I felt strange. Guilty. He probably only liked me because of the magic that bound him into my service. The moment his friends dispelled it, he would hate me as much as they did. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” He gingerly rested his hand on my leg. 

“You being forced to be my Knight.”

“My ancestor swore allegiance to yours. It isn’t your fault.” His tail snaked around my waist, pulling me closer. “And I’m glad I’m your Knight. I wouldn’t have met you otherwise.”

It would be a lie to say I wasn’t glad to have someone so devoted to me in such a dangerous place, but it wasn’t right to enslave someone else’s mind forever. Even trying to do it for a few moments had turned my stomach. “I don’t want you to be my thrall or whatever.” 

“I’m obligated to protect you, which I would do willingly if I weren’t enchanted.”

“You can’t know that.”

“The Knight bond doesn’t affect my mind. Think about it--down in the dungeon, I didn’t trust you. I thought you were mad and dangerous. Why would a spell make me think that? And before you assume that I’m lying about what I thought, how could I lie to you if the bond controlled my thoughts?”

That was a good point. At least, kind of. “If the enchantment’s only goal is to keep me alive and unharmed, it would obligate you to do anything necessary to save me, including lying.” 

He groaned. “Liza-”

Click. The door to the hall unlocked and opened. Harker slipped inside, quickly locking it behind him. As he turned toward us, I was frozen in place while terrified fire scorched my veins. Mar’kost’s tail tightened around my waist, preventing me from getting up even if I’d wanted to. 

Harker stepped around the couch. “Even if you aren’t an Ortai, I shouldn’t have hurt my teammate’s friend. For that, I apologize.” 

That was what he apologized for? Hurting his teammate’s friend? Not hurting a poor, confused girl suffering from a delusion because she was terrified to admit that magic and aliens were real? The urge to shout at him was so strong that my throat burned, but fear clamped my mouth shut. 

Mar’kost took my hand and squeezed. “She accepts your apology, but she doesn’t feel up to talking at the moment.”

I didn’t accept Harker’s apology, and I resented Mar’kost for trying to accept it in my stead. If only I could force the words out, I would tell them both. 

With a nod, Harker walked past us into his bedroom. The door clicked shut, releasing some of fear’s hold on me. 

“Why’d you say that?” My voice was weak even to my ears. “And why didn’t you care when he was shouting at me? You even said you only got angry because my telepathy affected you.”

Frowning, he lowered his voice. “It isn’t that simple. I did care, but I thought the shouting might snap you out of your dream delusion. Besides, from my point of view, all he’d done was shout, and I suddenly felt like I wanted to kill him. Your telepathy was the only thing that explained it, so I said as much. That doesn’t mean I like seeing you upset.”

“You told him I accepted his apology. Well, I don’t.”

He paused, mouth slightly ajar. “I’m sure this will damage what little we’ve managed to repair of our relationship, but I have to ask--why?”

“What do you mean, why? He grabbed me hard enough to make me bleed and shouted in my face about me being stupid enough to get people killed.”

“I agree that he shouldn’t have hurt you, but he believed you’d released a wild, murderous drykon on a town of thirty thousand people. Because you did. And then you broke his nose, which is a bit more serious than a bruise and a small cut.”

“No, I didn’t-” My heart pounded in my ears. “You don’t really think Bloodflight…?”

“It’s a possibility. If you sensed no malice in the drykon’s mind, it’s a slim possibility, but the animal could always change his mind when he gets hungry.” 

I had sensed malice. I had sensed hunger and a desire to eat people in particular. Bloodflight didn’t even understand the concept of people or why she shouldn’t eat them. If she decided she didn’t believe the lies I’d told her, she could wreak havoc. 

“I have to find her.” 

He blinked. “Who?”

“The drykon, Bloodflight.” I started to get up. 

He held me in place. “There’s no need to rush. Harker sent Cadmus and his men after Bloodflight. While you were in the bath, he sent a message saying they’d found him--er, her--eating a katsith several kilotails from Darver. A meal that big will keep her full for three, maybe four days. She’ll sleep for at least a day. We’ll go to her tomorrow.”

“Oh.” That was a relief, at least for the moment. I didn’t want to think about what would happen if Bloodflight decided to ignore me tomorrow. “Maybe Harker had a point.”

“Yes.” 

“And I broke his nose.”

“Yes.” 

“I should apologize.” 

He cleared his throat. “That is for you to decide.” 

I didn’t want to do it, both because I didn’t want to face a man who made me tremble with fear and because I didn’t want to admit how stupid I’d been. But at the same time, it wasn’t fair of me to act like Harker had been the only one at fault--or even that he was the one at more fault. After all, a bruised arm was hardly worse than possibly killing people. 

Trying not to shiver, I stood. Mar’kost started to do the same, but I shook my head. “I’m not going far.” I moved around him to knock on Harker’s door. 

“Come in,” Harker called from inside.

Opening the door, I stopped at the threshold. 

Thyr reclined in a normal-looking bed, reading, while Harker half-stood, half-rested on the disembodied arm of a couch. He looked at me over a standing desk. 

“Do you need something, human?”

My voice caught in my throat, and I shook my head. Forcing out raspy words, I barely managed to say, “I’m sorry for hitting you” before closing the door. I wanted to hide in the bathroom again, but I wasn’t so far gone to anxiety that I could overlook the humiliation of hiding again. And as long as I was already nervous, I might as well do something nearly as nerve-wracking. 

“Let’s go to the Communications Guild.”

“It’s closed. We’ll go early tomorrow morning.”

“Great.” I’d better get to sleep. I flopped on the couch and threw the blanket over my head to block out the light. It would be at least half an hour until the adrenaline wore off and I had any chance of actually sleeping. Reading would be a better use of time than laying with a blanket over my head, but I didn’t think I had it in me to focus on a book right now.

***

As soon as my eyes opened in my misty dream circle, a wave of shame washed over me. The last time I was here, I literally pounced on Mar’kost and bit him. And because of my magic affecting him, he liked it. Just thinking about what I’d done to him made me want to puke. 

His footsteps came closer, but I couldn’t look at him, even as he sat close enough for his shoulder to touch mine. “How do I smell?”

“Like normal.” I shrugged, breathing through my mouth. It did nothing to ward off his tantilizing scent, but I was determined not to bite him again. Surely, a human-Ortai hybrid like me didn’t need to consume arka. Even if it tasted amazing. 

“Are you sure? What I gave you yesterday was a small fraction of your arka capacity.” 

I shook my head. “It isn’t like I’ve used any of it since then.”

“What makes you think you haven’t?”

“I haven’t done magic.” 

He paused. “Telepathy is magic.”

In that case, I’d been using it this whole time to talk to everyone. Sooner or later, I would run out of magic and have to bite him again--or find some other way to get arka. Seeing as he did magic, he had to know some way of getting arka without biting people. 

“How do you get arka?”

“Microcrystage--very small pieces of solid arka--permeates nearly everything we eat. It provides enough power for the average arkan. As for a shifter like myself, I absorb gaseous arka through my skin. The dungeon is flooded with it.” 

“Can I go with you tomorrow?”

“Certainly not. The dungeon is much too dangerous for you.” 

“Why? I’m like a deity when it comes to arka, right?”

He stifled a laugh. “Sorry, but I thought we’d established that your anatomy is identical to a mortal’s.”

“You said arka killed mortals. It didn’t hurt me. Why would the gas version hurt me?”

“The gas is the least dangerous part of the dungeon. The monsters are far worse.” 

“What if I just went in a tiny bit?”

“No.” He stuck his hand in my face. “If you’re hungry, eat.”

I turned away. “I’m not. I’m just being proactive.” 

“Sure you are.” He paused. “If you change your mind, you know where to find me.”

***

The next morning, Mar’kost gingerly shook me awake at the crack of dawn. The only other person awake was Harker, who came in from the balcony carrying a bowl of ashes and a small yellow-green crystal. 

At my curious look, he sniffed. “I was praying to Ortai Taroth--a true Ortai.”

I tried not to look too surprised at the sound of Grace’s last name. Maybe I’d misheard him. I didn’t want to offend him by assuming anything. “Did you say Taroth?” 

“A heretic has no right to use Ortai Taroth’s name.” 

“Sorry, I didn’t realize. It won’t happen again.” 

“Good.” He slipped into his room. 

Mar’kost leaned close enough to whisper, “How do you know Taroth’s name?”

“What makes you think I know it?”

He rolled his eyes. “Your acting needs some work. What do you know about Taroth?”

“My cousin is Grace Taroth.”

“I see.” He chuckled. “What other Ortai were part of the teleportation ritual?”

“James Keta, Rowan Gelt, and a few others.” 

“Shiel, Taroth, Keta, and Gelt were four of the ten Stellus--a group of the most powerful Ortai. Supposedly, the Stellus brought life to this planet and lived over a thousand years before disappearing. They must have led the rest of the Ortai to Earth.” 

“If Shiel was one of those Stellus Ortai, she was like a goddess, right?”

“To some.” At my curious look, he explained, “Ortai--especially the Stellus--have always been feared for their power, but not all of them are revered nearly as much as Taroth is in Grassland. Shiel certainly isn’t. Taroth spread lies about her being… an unsavory woman.” 

“Like what, a prostitute?”

“No, he said that she fed babies to shifters because she liked hearing their screams as they were devoured whole.” 

“Wonderful.” I yawned, wishing I could go back to sleep. 

He grimaced. “I know it’s early, but if you want to post the bounty today-”

“Yeah, I know. Just give me a minute to get ready.”