“Can we finish this now?” Garo asked.

Alogun turned to Aria. “Come with me.”

He was several feet away before he realized that Aria had not followed him. He stopped and turned back to her with an irritated look. “What is it now?”

“You have not told me how you intend to help me.”

He gave her an annoyed glare. “That is what I’m about to show you.”

“Talk first.”

Chalik chuckled. She seemed happier, relieved. Whatever tension had frozen her before seemed gone. Aria struggled to find a word to describe Chalik’s manner.

Hope. She seemed pleased about the future.

Alogun returned to where they all stood and opened his mouth, but Chalik cut him off.

“We will attempt to reverse what Alogun did to you,” she said. “There is no precedent, but Alogun believes he has a solution that might work for you. If it works, there should be an attendant change in your personality. If your personality reverts to what it should have been without his modifications, you should find that Achi seems like a better romantic match. There might be more steps after that, depending on how much success we have, hence Alogun’s impatience.”

Aria turned to Alogun to gauge the impact of Chalik’s words and found him merely looking annoyed. Garo had wandered away and taken a seat on a couch to sharpen his knives.

“Where are we going?” Aria asked.

“The lower realm,” Alogun replied. “I need a volunteer.”

He was already walking away so briskly that Aria had to teleport to catch up. Outside, one of his carriages was waiting, with a female attendant seated in front and a large trunk occupying one row. Aria could not see into the trunk, and the ignorance irked her. As they took off, she considered opening it, but decided that there was no point in the action. If he used it, he would open it and her curiosity would be satisfied.

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The ride was cool and more relaxing than she had expected. They rode in silence for several minutes. Aria fought back thoughts of Achi while Alogun stared silently ahead.

After a few minutes, they broke the barrier between worlds. The accompanying flash triggered so many memories: her first trip to Garo’s palace, her ride with Tivelo, Achi forcing her back to the lower realm before his death.

They traveled for a while after the realm change. For the first time, she truly watched surroundings as they went. They were going so fast, that she could see nothing but blurs below. She wondered what towns they were passing over and if the people knew that a god was flying above them.

Alogun opened the trunk. The sound of its lock colliding with its wooden side drew her attention. She leaned over slightly, eager to see its contents, and felt disappointed at the sight. There was nothing of interest in it; several glass bowls, beakers, and metal spoons were arranged on the bottom, resting on and separated by woolen cloth. The only oddity was a thick book with a wooden cover.

Alogun took out the book and shut the trunk.

He flipped through pages slowly, inspecting each one for only an instant, but turning them with great care.

“Can you cast spells without a book?” Aria asked.

Alogun kept his gaze on the book. “How many men have you been intimate with?”

Aria sputtered. “How - what - how is that any of your concern?”

“My apologies,” Alogun said unapologetically, “I thought we were prying into each others’ affairs.”

After that, the silence was less comfortable.

Alogun found the page he was looking for a moment later and began reading from it in a low, musical voice. Aria ached to ask what spell he was casting, but she was still smarting from his last retort. Her curiosity grew as she watched. And eventually, so did her anxiety. She had not ridden many carriages, but even the ride from the lower realm to Garo’s palace had not taken this long.

Alogun stopped speaking and Aria’s anxiety morphed into panic. Her arms grew heavy and fell limp. Her body followed almost instantaneously. Her head rolled to one side, taking her body with it, off the bench. She would have screamed, but her jaw had clamped short. She collided with the floor of the carriage, her head hanging over the edge so that she could see the world blurring by. The motion of her body had not ceased, however. She felt herself sliding, worried that she would fall over, but friction kept her in place. A moment later, Alogun seized her and pulled her along the ground until all of her body was on the platform.

Her nose was pressed to the floor while her body lay pressed between Garo’s legs and one side and the driver’s bench on the other.

For the first time, she attempted to teleport away and was rewarded with nothing. The carriage remained stubbornly there. All the power she had churning in her and in her rings had suddenly become useless. She couldn’t even rage at Alogun. She couldn’t ask what he was doing, if this had been his plan from the beginning.