“Dead?!”

  “I said brain dead, not—harder! Harder!—” Mia took the time for a delicate cough, while the rest of us promptly forgot the impromptu demonstration of her singing voice. “Not actually dead. All of Lynnria’s organs are working perfectly. Once we find the right stimulus, she’ll pop right up.”

  Had she been physically present to gape at, I would have. I felt like I was having a conversation with Miracle Max… if he was sexy and had Tourettes.

  “If she’s brain dead, she can’t react to stimuli! That’s what being brain dead means!” I shouted.

  “Is that so? Forgive me, my lord, I had no idea you were such an expert on lesser Dolilim anatomy,” she replied with the deadly aplomb of a butler long used to the antics of her fruit fly of a master. “You’re quite right, of course. There’s nothing else for it. She is a lost cause. You may toss her from the cliff at your discretion.”

  I responded in kind.

  “Suck my dick, Mia.”

  “Gladly. But as I lack a body…”

  “I’m getting to it!”

  And speaking of my ever-growing docket of items to do today, I had already given Lynnria a quick examination, looking for Runes, but lifting her gameball jersey had only revealed a spidery web of glowing lines emanating out from the center of her spine. There were no Words there at all, golden or otherwise, yet the ones she had carved into her own wrist were plainly visible. Whatever the rules to this magic nonsense were, they were being damnably recalcitrant in revealing themselves.

  “Ach, ye bloody haverin’ warmer. Why did ye nay tell me that were what we was about?” Jax grumbled. “Just give the lass a whiff of tadger drip. I’d bet me left tit she’d kip to after that.”

  She and Arx both turned to stare meaningfully at Xyn.

  I glanced from face to face for a moment, confused. “Badger-what now? Is that some kind of—”

  “No! Absolutely not!” Xyn shouted, cutting me off. Apparently, Jax’s meaning had not been lost on its intended target. “It’s mine. I’ve waited ages for this, and there’s no telling when I might get more.”

  “More of what?” I tried asking, but I was ignored.

  “You’re refusing?” Arx pressed. “Seriously? You skipped your turn and now you won’t even share? She has a right.”

  “A right? Ha! Why should I acknowledge a rank gained through luck and happenstance? We wouldn’t be having this conversation had I been first to meet him,” Xyn snarled. “The only right she has is to my fist across her jaw. As do you, if you think I’d surrender even a drop of Master’s love.”

  I straightened. “Wait, what? I thought we were talking about badgers.”

  “Tadgers,” Jax said shortly, correcting me.

  It did not help.

  Rising to her full height, Arx began to advance on the other lilim. “Donum would be dead if you had been first to meet him. Need I remind you whose hand it was that felled you?”

  Xyn stepped right into her face. Arx was a full head taller, but she cared not a whit.

  “Not yours…”

  Arx’s eyes flashed. “You will surrender it or you will be made to. And you will enjoy it!”

  “I would definitely enjoy it! But you couldn’t make me if your life depended on it.” A disturbing sort of grin grew on Xyn’s face. It was taunting. Eager. Yet her next words did not line up with her expression… at least from my point of view. “Besides, the girl doesn’t like it that way.”

  “So she’d like us to believe!” Arx roared. “You and I both know she’s lying.”

  “So give her some of yours!”

  “She’s had it from me. She has not had it from you, and it would be super hot if she were to wake up with you sitting on her face. So cough it up!”

  “Never!”

  Howling like a wildcat, Arx launched herself at the other lilim, and the two went down in a furious maelstrom of teeth and claws.

  Now…

  You might have thought I would be upset about this. And I was. Kind of. But mostly, I was just confused. What was a tadger, why would one drip, and what did any of that have to do with face sitting? More seconds ticked by than probably should have before the lightbulb finally clicked.

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake!”

  Grumbling, I was just about to yank my robe over my head when Jax snatched my wrist, stopping me. “Master, what do ye think yer doing?”

  I stared at her.

  “Isn’t it obvious?!” My voice was so thick with sarcasm, you could have spread it over toast. “I’m about to wave my dick in my brain-dead fiancee’s face to the soundtrack of a couple of lunatics barking at the moon.”

  Set your computer password to that line. Go on. I can wait. No one would guess it in a thousand years of trying.

  That I had said it with a straight face only added to the inanity.

  “What? No!”

  I turned in surprise at Xyn’s voice. The twin idiots had stopped their fighting just as suddenly as they had begun, though they were still locked in mutually compromising positions. Xyn had Arx in a rear-naked chokehold, while my second was attempting to block it with a hand inserted at the crook of the offending elbow. Her other had snatched hold of the more experienced lilim’s horn, pulling Xyn’s head into a terrible-looking angle. Both were looking at me like muddy children about to have their fun spoiled.

  “Not yet.” Xyn pouted. “We have to at least draw on her a little first.”

  “With Xyn’s man-batt—!” Arx started to agree before the other choked her into silence.

  I just glared at them.

  “This be important, Master,” Jax began, trying to be the voice of reason for once. “The bairn be fighting at her ownself, denying what be what. Be why she fell, I’m thinking… least in part. A Dolilim wants at her master strong, sure, but don’t forget, yer desire be a part of her. She also wants at them what should be brought to the fold. And her sisters, course.”

  “Of course,” Xyn agreed.

  Arx bit her arm.

  “Letting her crutch at yet all the time’ll only hold her back. She’ll ne’er grow into her power if this keeps on,” Jax finished.

  She was being a touch dramatic, in my opinion, but there was a kernel of truth in there. Dolilim were extraordinarily sexual beings by nature, so Lynnria remaining a prude about certain things definitely broke the mold. Whether that would ‘hold her back’ in the long run was not something I was equipped to answer, but I was not about to condone such forceful tactics.

  “Fine. Say I agree. But consider what you’re working with. She was the heir to some huge Clan. People had expectations. She was conditioned since birth to behave in a certain way. You can’t just shove your junk in her face and expect to break through all that. And I feel like you’re not accounting for how recently that changed for her. This is a fundamental shift in sexual orientation as a matter of her species—kind—whatever Dolilim are.”

  “Living constructs,” Mia supplied.

  I waved a hand dismissively. “Sure. Let’s go with that. And she isn’t even fully Dolilim. How can you be sure she isn’t dealing with the vestiges of her old… urges?”

  “We… can tell… Dearest…” Arx gurgled. “That’s the… that’s the…”

  I rolled my eyes. “Xyn let her go before she suffocates.”

  “Yes, Master!” the blonde agreed happily, before tossing Arx to one side.

  My gray-skinned Dolilim collapsed in a heap and laid there for some moments, gasping like a fish in a puddle of her own hair. I had to give Arx props for the attempt—ridiculous as the entire exchange had been—but she had known what she was getting herself into.

  Xyn folded her arms and tutted scornfully at the woman. “And this is why you need me to train you. How did you expect to succeed using techniques based around a body with no natural weapons? You should have been trying to gore my face with your horns, not slip from my grasp.”

  “Suck my dick…” the other drawled, doubtless in an ape of my earlier slight.

  Xyn hummed doubtfully. “It’s a little small.”

  “My point is,” I continued, ignoring them. “She’ll never admit she likes anything until she feels completely safe and free of judgment. Which you three clowns seem incapable of.”

  “We ain’t judging,” Jax muttered defensively. “We’s just trying to get the bairn’s flavor to sharpen up.”

  “Ah ha!” I exclaimed. “I knew there was more to it.”

  “’snails, Dearest. Just admit you don’t like it,” Arx panted, rising to all fours. “It’s not as if the girl can hear you.”

  “I admit nothing. Lynnria’s flavor is unique to her and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

  “It’s just a coincidence that it’s your least favorite,” Xyn agreed with a patronizing nod. Then she gasped as though she had only just put something together. “Yet another point in my favor! Perhaps we should reevaluate the rankings?”

  I would have glared at her, but you can only pull the same move so many times before it begins to lose its effectiveness. That it had never been effective was beside the point.

  “Fine! It’s a little weak. Happy? Now, can you please wake Lynnria up so we can move on? We’ve only got a thousand other things to do today.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Very well. But only because you asked.”

  Dragging herself slowly forward, she moved to straddle the girl, only to stop and begin tapping at her lip. “Come to think of it… I believe you are correct, my Gift. The direct approach is far too forceful.”

  “Aw, come on!” Arx moaned. “You agreed.”

  “No, no… I’m sorry, young one. Anticipation builds longing and longing must come before sex. Rushing the goal would be a hollow victory.”

  I nodded. Finally, someone was getting it. “Thank you.”

  Of course, I would have preferred that same courtesy when she had been courting me, but needs must.

  “Perhaps if you were to—” Xyn had started to face me, but stopped again, mid-sentence. For a moment, she looked thoughtful, then whirled toward Jax. Jutting her hips forward, she widened her stance and proclaimed, “Here. You do it.”

  “Me?” Jax lowered her chin suspiciously. “What are ye scheming now, ye sleekit bastard? Why not yer ownself? Or Donum?”

  “It can’t be Donum. That would sully his reputation with the girl. And I shouldn’t be the first thing she sees on regaining her senses.” She smiled mischievously. “But for you to wake her up? You, the stolid protector of the Clan, him on your finger… better yet, your tongue! Yet mixed with such an… unfamiliar essence? Can you imagine her reaction?”

  Jax narrowed her eyes. “Ye just want me to eat ye out.”

  “I’m allowed to want more than one thing at a time.”

  You might have thought being in a fistfight not a minute prior would have dulled her appetite, but no. Quite the opposite. Xyn began caressing the edges of her sex with the same eagerness as she had provoked the earlier whirlwind of claws. Despite my annoyance, the wanton display drew my eyes like a laser—almost to the point of missing the sideways glance and spreading grin on her face. Almost.

  That grin was the piece I had been missing: she was feeding. They all were. And in a twisted sort of way, that realization came with relief. They were not fighting with one another. Not really. It was just a kind of highly lilim-specific bonding—like growing up with brothers… except they were supermodel sex-maniacs who ate emotions.

  “Do you really expect me to believe you don’t want a taste?” Xyn threw her head back and laughed. “How strange. Donum seems to enjoy it. I thought a Dolilim’s desires were in line with her master’s.”

  “They be.” Jax cast a look my way and frowned. “But I ain’t a tube, neither. I may not’ve cottoned to yer clype yet, but I know yer plotting sommat.”

  Hmm… It seemed Jax was not as willing a participant in the feeding frenzy as I had initially imagined. But then, she was the one most in tune with me. She and I both held reservations about Xyn’s—and thus, the Demon Queen’s—ultimate motives. Sex? Of course. A bit of mayhem on the side? Probably. But I had a feeling that more-than-one-thing-at-a-time business was more significant than she was letting on.

  Xyn’s grin broadened. “The only thing I’m plotting, my dear, is how to forever remain a light within my master’s eyes.”

  “Now see, that’s what’s putting me off!” Jax grumbled even as she climbed to her knees. “There ain’t no fibs in yer speaching, yet when I sense at ye… ye know I ain’t understood ye. What gives?”

  “Just a lot of life experience,” she replied enigmatically. “Now go on. Taste me. Touch me! You want to. I want you to. But I’ll only bite if you ask nicely.”

  Jax hesitated a moment more before again casting her eyes to me.

  What could I do but shrug? She would know better than I whether Xyn was being earnest. And as for Lynnria, we were already flirting with some deeply fucked-up encroachments on each other’s boundaries. If any of these people had been human, I would have been more likely to take up a stick and start swinging than consider any part of this, but they were not. Mentally or physically. I was pretty sure she would be pissed in the short term, but I had seen enough to know the girls were right; she had been repressing at least a degree of bisexual curiosity. The sooner she accepted that about herself, the sooner everyone else would get bored with it and move on.

  That said…

  “Let’s keep this as professional as possible, Jax,” I suggested, knowing full well it was a contradiction in terms. “Fingers only.”

  Much as I might have liked to see Jax eating out a woman as hot as Xyn, neither of them were there yet. It would have been weird.

  Jax’s wavering stare lasted only a scant few seconds before she surged forward to plunge her tongue, deep and long, through Xyn’s slit. Her eyes never left me, though. This was pure theater, a dance of seduction done for the sake of that flicker of desire that had passed through my mind.

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  An indulgent smile stretched my lips. For every hour of pain these girls put me through, there were always at least a few minutes of pure joy to make up for it.

  “Ooooh~ yes!” Xyn crooned appreciatively before staggering away. “That was wonderfully done. Daring and confident, as befits one of our kind. Now for the next part. Remember, be enticing. That shouldn’t be much of a challenge for a Warrior of Beguilement. Let’s see some artistry!”

  Jax sniffed, briefly considered the mixed contents of her tongue, then crawled to position herself over our youngest member’s supine form. It was a nice angle for her. I could not help but appreciate anew the sweep of her spine as it traveled from her muscled shoulders to her perfect backside, but she did not linger overlong. Instead of scooping the dollop she had taken from Xyn onto her finger—or even delivering the kiss I was still half expecting—she merely inhaled and blew ever-so-gently across Lynnria’s face.

  After all of that, it was something of a shock for Lynnria to start awake so instantaneously… and something more of a shock for all of us to be greeted by the loudest snort we had ever heard.

  Everyone froze.

  I could just imagine how things must have looked from her angle. There she was, lying in the dirt along a frigid mountain pass, Jax hovering inches from her face, while the entire Clan was gathered, staring down at her, and struggling with all we had not to burst into riotous laughter.

  Face crimson, Lynnria gave her head a delicate little shake and asked, “Are we having spiced sugar buns for breakfast?”

  *

  “Alright, Mia. Give me the lowdown,” I began as I took in the dilapidated state of my Coin Pouch.

  There were no coins, of course, but I still had that worthless-to-everyone-but-us Tier III Lust pill in case we needed some emergency rations. And there was that odd gemstone Ahnbe had passed along. I would need to attempt its identification before we could use it, of course, so until then, it would remain safely ensconced within.

  As for Gems of Power, well…

  There was one Grand and a handful of Average Rank I’s, a Grand and thirty Minor Rank II’s, and a Greater Rank III—which sounded like a lot until you considered how many people I had to dole them out to. The Rank I’s were practically useless to all but Lynnria, and the Rank III would require a ritual to consume. Meanwhile, the Rank II’s were just enough to gain each of us a new skill before seeking this new Dungeon. Maybe two if we got creative.

  But that all depended on Mia’s report.

  “Do we know for sure that Jax cleared her Boundary? And what about Arx? Any complications there?”

  Mia drew in a quick breath before releasing it shakily. “Um~ yes? Yes. As we suspected, Arx must complete a Boundary trial before she may proceed, but it does not seem to have bled over to any of the others. Jax and Lynnria are both free to advance within their Classes.”

  At the sound of her name, Arx looked up from where she and the others had been catching Lynnria up to speed—aside from a few off-color remarks about certain aromas and debating the sounds appropriate to encountering them. “I knew something felt off. Why, though? My Class didn’t improve.”

  Xyn rattled her scales. “Donum may have expressed a minor appreciation for the protective qualities of my hide while you were connected to the, um… well, I don’t know if I’m allowed to speak of that. It wasn’t supposed to be active any longer. Far too literal-minded, you know. Completely outdated.”

  We all of us exchanged a few intrigued glances, but it was Arx who spoke.

  “Are you telling me I’m going to grow scales?!”

  “That was heavily implied, but we won’t know until it happens, Arx,” I said apologetically. “And it’s not just you. That was a species-wide change. Like with your tails.”

  Jax perked up and began clapping her hands in delight. “Wait a scanty! Don’t that mean I can finally start growing me own? Oh, I can nay wait!”

  “I’ll bet.” Lynnria chuckled. “I can’t even imagine what it must be like without one.”

  Xyn leaned toward her conspiratorially. “Do you think she’ll look sexy?”

  Lynnria scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous. Of course, she’ll—” She jumped, then cleared her throat. “I mean… probably. Donum likes mine, and she’s far more—uh. That is… w-well, once you consider the scales…” She must have noticed how quickly her ship was sinking, because her next move was to panic and hurl herself overboard. “So, what do we think is going to happen with this woman, huh? She was some guard, you said?”

  Arx rolled her eyes at the obvious attempt at changing the subject, but she played along. “Actually, we were hoping you might know who she was, seeing as how you’re a local and all.”

  “Only for the last couple of years.” Lynnria accepted the life ring with a relieved sort of chuckle. “I don’t recognize the hair, either. Hmm…”

  She made to stand, but she swayed a bit on the way up and had to take several long moments to steady herself before she could walk. I could sympathize. So far, the best my legs could manage was supporting my own weight.

  But that was a bone to chew on for later. I had others to worry at.

  “Do we know what Arx’s Boundary trial will be yet?” I asked, turning back to stare at nothing—and thus Mia. “And will it affect the Layers she had stored up?”

  Mia gasped. “Ah~! Too many questions at once! Be gentle.”

  “Sorry.” I grimaced awkwardly. “Take your time.”

  Lynnria glanced up from where she was studying the woman’s face. “I… think this might be one of Uchoyo’s relatives.”

  “I know that name,” Jax mused aloud, which was good, because I definitely did not. “Ain’t placing it, though.”

  “He was the owner of the arena before it got destroyed,” she filled in. “Nice guy? Kind of fat?”

  “Oh, aye… now I remember. Strange bloke. We only talked for a scanty, mind, but the fella did nay gander me tits even as a how do ye do.” She clucked disapprovingly. “Strange, strange.”

  I had to smirk. Most people would have taken insult over an uninvited lingering glance, but then, my First was not most people.

  “Not everyone is into tits, Jax.”

  “Maybe not small tits…” Arx countered with a completely innocent-I-was-sure adjustment of her top.

  Jax’s lip curled over a fang. “Bold words for a lass with a cliff at her back.”

  “When was this?” Lynnria cut in. “I didn’t see him at the tournament.”

  Jax took a moment more for glaring at her sister’s smug grin before she responded. “Were before that. I ne’er could find the man after the tents was up. Just his manager, Egger.”

  Lynnria deflated. “That’s a shame. He always had a stupid nickname up his sleeve for the kids. He used to call me the Lynnri-pedia.” She glanced up. “Because I was always rattling off facts about Warrior skills?”

  “We got it,” Xyn drawled.

  Jax looked at her askance. “Got what?”

  “And we come full circle,” I quipped.

  “…huh?!”

  “To welden scales that shilde the soule,

  Thou first moot leten feblesse shewe.

  Thruch shame’s embrae, thyne myght shal growe,

  Thruch scarnes, their myght in tyme bestowe.”

  “What the bloody…” Jax glanced from face to face in bewilderment. “Now I know yer having me for a laugh. That weren’t naught to do with no ‘pedias!”

  “Of course, it wasn’t, fool! Lynnri-pedia was an awful pun relating Lynnria’s interest in Class builds with training circles,” Mia griped—though even I had no idea what a training circle might have to do with anything. “I was not talking to you. It’s your sister’s trial.”

  “Oh.” Jax blinked a few times. “It… were a riddle? What language be that?”

  “Shut your gerbil tunnel!”

  “An old one,” Xyn interjected. “I told you that damned thing was outdated.”

  “Hmm.” Curiouser and curiouser… “Can you translate it?”

  “I can,” Mia offered. “It is rather straightforward. It proclaims you must first display a feebleness—or perhaps weakness would be better—to gain the power of the scales, then speaks of overcoming shame’s embrace and scars. Nothing too bothersome, I should imagine.”

  “Shame’s embrace?” I frowned. “She has to humiliate herself?”

  “Arx has shame?!” Lynnria chortled at almost the same instant. “Actually, do any of you? I mean, come on!”

  She cast about hopefully.

  Arx turned to me. “Speaking of nonexistent tits, Dearest, weren’t you planning to spray a load onto Lynnria’s chest today?”

  “And now ye be having a go at the bairn?” Jax tsked. “Me, I get, but that’s low.”

  “She started it!”

  “If she wants,” I began, glaring at them both, “I can probably be ready in another half hour.”

  I had excellent stamina, yes. But refractory periods were still a thing.

  Lynnria flushed and returned to her study of the woman’s face. “That answers that question.”

  “She raises a good point, though,” I continued. “How are you supposed to humiliate yourself when your body is a completely open book? It’s not like any of us hold back around each other.”

  “And how do ye shame yer ownself purpose-like?” Jax wondered. “It ain’t like we can lock her in a stockade and mark her for public use. She’d only get off on it!”

  “Only if Dearest watched!” Arx protested.

  I groaned. Who were they hoping to humiliate with that plan? Her or me?

  “Any display of sufficient vulnerability should be enough,” Mia explained. “Donum fondled our huge tits! No! He didn’t. I’m lying. I wouldn’t—I’m not lying! Fffrick.”

  “Can we please stop talking about tits?!” Lynnria exclaimed. “Fuck!”

  I nodded sagely. “Thank you for the excellent example, Mia.”

  “My lord.” She let out a soul-draining sigh.

  “It’s a shame Mia wasn’t the one to get that trial,” Arx remarked. “She only humiliates herself thirty times a day.”

  “Suckle my… my phallus!”

  Xyn snorted. “You don’t even have a clitoris.”

  “I told you I’m getting to it!” I grumbled. “The problem is, she has other duties to attend to. I can’t just stick her into a body while we have Boundary trials, potential skill picks, and whatever is going on with that guard hanging over our heads.”

  Lynnria snapped her fingers a few times in frustration. “I’m sure I’ve met this woman before. I should know her name. Why can’t I remember?”

  Xyn paid her no mind. “A Faen provided flesh should be able to disrobe as easily as enrobe… though it would leave the body vulnerable.”

  I looked at her. “Vulnerable to…”

  She grinned. “Other Faen.”

  “You wouldn’t dare!”

  “I would absolutely dare,” Xyn returned offhand. “But I was not referring to myself. You’ll need to be careful once you return to the Dungeon.”

  Arx spread her hands. “I still think you should do Lynnria’s tits first. That spell is supposed to be based around her, and I don’t think Mia would appreciate being flat.”

  “Good point.”

  “Oh, that is it!” Lynnria whirled, drawing her wand. “I am not flat! I was severed, you globs of vagina mucus. And the next person who says ‘tit’ gets a wad of dirt straight to the face!”

  “Don’t be so defensive,” Arx returned. “All I meant was that I would prefer to see Mia in her true form. You too, for that matter. ’snails, who keeps their top on during sex?”

  Lynnria stamped her foot. “People with giant scars on their chest!”

  “Ye ain’t got no scars,” Jax observed.

  “They’re emotional!”

  The conversation stalled for some while after that. Everyone needed to cool off, and I needed the time to consider our options. No individual problem was insurmountable… or even that difficult. It was just that they were all tangled together and required delicate handling to pick apart.

  Lynnria’s issue was easily addressed… in a physical sense. But that was only a symptom of a larger problem. As she had said, there were emotional scars at play, a deep underlying trauma resulting from the literal torture perpetuated at the hands of her own family. There was nothing I could do for that, save offer a ready shoulder to cry on… and a daily supply of magically induced happiness. I did not know how that might stack up against antidepressants and actual therapy, but it was better than nothing. I was just glad Xhinn’s first idea for my Quest had been discarded, else I would be elbows deep in plotting her family’s demise.

  That was all I needed.

  Meanwhile, there was the looming advent of Mia’s body to think about. She had forced the spell that would create it on me in a fit of sexual frustration, and though I had since forgiven her, that did not make it okay. But that was all in the past. It was a utility spell, and likely quite useful. Given the raw materials—i.e. a certain caged carnivorous bunny—I could resurrect a fallen companion or achieve Mia’s intended purpose to ‘enrobe’ a bodiless Faen. All of which sounded great on paper, but I had yet to cast it. And Mia’s spells tended to be a tad… dramatic. So I was a little nervous.

  But Arx was right. Lynnria needed to be as ‘whole’ as possible before I made the attempt. Yes, I knew that was entirely the wrong lesson any of us should have taken from her situation. She was beautiful as she was and we should have all hugged it out in a tearful display of bodily affirmation. However… magic could be tricky. There was no sense in setting a precedent when other people might suffer the consequences.

  Then, of course, there was the enigmatic guardswoman, but until she woke up, there was little I could do to address whatever was going on with her. I did not even know if she was in a proper coma. Like with Lynnria, she might have simply required the right stimulus… and I was giving some serious thought to just leaving her there. Honestly, we would have been better off to simply toss her over the cliff and be done with. But there was always the outside chance she could resist whatever monstrous impulses Ahnbe had instilled in her. I had to at least give her the courtesy to try.

  And on a much more practical note, there was a high probability that the fall would not even kill her. That mention of silver was giving me an awful premonition.

  Compared to all of that nonsense, Arx’s Boundary trial seemed quite trivial… provided we could figure out a way to humiliate her.

  “Hmm… a sufficient display of vulnerability…” I murmured, thinking aloud.

  Vulnerability did not have to mean shame. If it came to it, I could probably get the girls to hold her down while I performed some ritualistic pantomime of a sacrifice, but I would reserve that as a last resort. So long as Arx felt exposed and alone, that should be good enough. But how could I accomplish that without resorting to cruelty?

  Abruptly, my eyes fogged.

  I was not sure where the memory came from. It was vague. Indistinct. Mere impressions, really.

  There was an abandoned town. A sparsely cobbled road, more dirt than paving stones. Burned buildings. A castle in the distance. But most of all, I remembered a woman drinking alone in the blasted remains of an old brothel… while the ghost of a child wept in the background.

  “Arx…”

  I waited until her sparkling black eyes rose to meet my own.

  “Why was the girl crying?”