He was too close. Lita shrank away but was trapped by his arms and the cliff side at her back. One darn rock was digging painfully into her shoulder blade but she didn’t dare make room for it.

“I don’t think you understand just how much danger you’re in.”

“From you?” she snapped.

Demons were scary. Very scary. When she was a child, Taiken had almost made her forget that. Almost. He’d ruined her delusions himself in a heartbeat before she’d left. And now he was so pissed off with her that even looking him in the eye made her breath freeze.

“If I leave you here, what do you think your chances of survival are?”

“I’ll be fine.”

Her hands trembled as she squeezed them into fists, keeping them down by her thighs so she didn’t draw attention to them.

Then he laughed and she winced. That laugh had none of the pleasant warmth it usually had.

“Why? Because your rebel friends will keep you safe?”

“What makes you think they can’t?!”

“Lita.”

He said her name with a sigh, abruptly letting his chin drop before looking back up at her.

“Lita, they know your name.” He surprised her by touching her cheek and she winced. “They know your face.”

Her hands trembled even more as he dropped his hand and leaned forward. Taking an audible, deep sniff of her hair.

“They know your scent.”

“They can’t smell-smell me right now,” she snapped. She’d made sure of that. So how in all the voids had he followed her?! “And knowing all of that doesn’t matter if they can’t find me.”

He snorted, and to her relief, took a step back. Freeing her of the prison he’d made around her.

Then he again brandished the accursed document, which he hadn’t let go of during that whole time. This time, though, he pointed it down the trail he’d chased her up.

“Diana has the search party not a mile from here.”

Lita’s face instantly paled.

“Wh-what?”

“Closer now than before, I’d wager. I passed them on the way up.” He looked at her, still pointing but looking at her. Blue eyes slitted. “Wearing no-smell doesn’t change regular tracking techniques and she has good trackers to call on. Unless your friends are right here, ready to whisk you into a dark hole for the rest of your life, I give you until nightfall.”

Fear made her legs weak and she slid down the cliff face. Her stomach churned and heaved.

I’m going to die, she thought. Her whole body trembling now.

She flinched as Taiken crouched in front of her, holding parchment out near her nose. The end flopped down, but he didn’t bother to correct it.

“Sign it, Lita,” he said quietly. “Then I can keep you safe. I promise to keep you safe.”