The last time Daivad had heard Nyxabella’s voice, it had been strained, too bright, and only offered him a few words. A request.

Keep the stories coming, please, Daivad. Even when I can’t offer my own. Remind me of…

Please?

And as the days matured into weeks, he had.

It got to the point where Julius would arrive unprompted, often announcing himself in the dead of night with a full, joyous shriek of his pet name for Daivad (“Huge man”) right in Daivad’s ear, loud enough to wake Pait across the house. He didn’t know if Julius was there on Nyxabella’s orders or if he just enjoyed harassing Daivad that much, but either way, Daivad did as requested and told Nyxabella every little thing that happened in camp.

But Julius never had any of her words to gift him.

So Daivad did what he could to throw himself, mind and body, into preparing the camp for what came next.

They would be found, eventually. They’d always known that, but back when Daivad had first accepted the fact, it had just been a handful of them, outcasts who had always lived bloody lives and knew that they would die bloody deaths. But now, there were families here. Children, who had only ever known life in these trees. Pait, who was only here because she’d picked the wrong pocket. People who hadn’t asked for any of this.

The fact that they’d made it eight, almost nine years without being caught was nothing short of a miracle, and now they were just too big, too many, and Daivad had been far too noisy.

Then there was Nyxabella to consider. And her mother, and Jac, and—fuck it—all her monsters too. Somehow, when he wasn’t paying attention, Daivad had made a whole big complicated mess, and gotten himself tangled right at the center of it.

If there was one feeling he couldn’t stand, it was the feeling of being trapped. Restricted, controlled. It evoked a visceral, violent response in him, and his first instinct was to set everything ablaze. To rip and tear and break until he was free. But that was what made this mess so complicated. He couldn’t just burn it down. He didn’t want to.

Next thing Daivad knew, the Full Dry Moon was nearly overhead, and he could only stand and scowl as Tobei, Lenna, Kadie, and a few others readied their wagons and some newly bought horses for a train robbery.

Maxea sat beside him, shoulder to shoulder, both of them watching Tobei try to explain to Kunin why he couldn’t join them on this trip.

“It’s your beauty, love,” Tobei was saying to the silver Wolf, who kept body-blocking the back end of the wagon so Tobei couldn’t load the next box. “You shine in every environment. You’d shine in a Mother-damned snowstorm, Ku! We have to hide our identity, and just like there’s no cloak that’d hide Daivad’s shoulders, there’s nothing that could dull your shine, gorgeous.”

Daivad tilted his head toward Maxea and said, “I’d never leave you behind.”

She huffed out of her nose and sat a little straighter.

“You two shut up!”

“Yeah,” Kadie was saying, straightening from the last of the boxes that had yet to be loaded, “that crosses off the whole list. Wish we could spare more, but…” She gestured like You know.

“If Lenna’s words weigh true—!” Tobei feigned to his left, and when Kunin tried to block him, he ducked to the right and slipped past Kunin with his box. He had just released the box when Kunin full-body tackled Tobei to the ground. After some coughing and wheezing, Tobei continued, “—Then we’ll find more than enough medical supplies in that train.”

“Assuming the plan will run smooth is a mistake,” Daivad said, words rumbling. “The train workers are assuming their trip will run smooth, too.”

“My plan is good,” Lenna snapped, snatching up the box Kadie had just checked and tossing it into the wagon, rough, making bottles and jars clink noisily.

“Careful!” Kadie chided, but Lenna was already stalking away again.

It was a little reassuring, actually. For weeks, Lenna had been getting progressively worse, and for several days there, she had really seemed to be slipping. Muttering to herself, missing meetings, and once she’d even been found wandering the forest at night in her sleeping gown. After that, Kadie had poured a sleeping draft down her throat, performed a treatment that sounded a little like what Nyxabella had described about directing the flow of magic through the body, and Lenna had slowly improved back to this irritable, insolent version of herself. She still looked exhausted, still often zoned out mid-conversation, and still couldn’t sleep without a potion’s help, but she’d stopped looking at things that weren’t there and responding to words no one had said. And showing up at his house in the middle of the night.

Kadie had told Daivad of the mark she’d found on Lenna’s neck, a strange, unrecognizable rune, one like she’d never seen before. It didn’t take her long to puzzle out the source of the rune—after all, Lenna had started losing sleep the same night Nyxabella left, and they had all seen her carve that curse into the air and aim it right at Lenna.

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Kadie had insisted Daivad ask Nyxabella how to break the curse, despite the fact that he had explained she wasn’t responding to him right now. He didn’t want to mention Lenna or anything that had happened that night to Nyxabella, not when she was already struggling. What if it sent her over the edge, and she lost her magic and it got her killed?

But Kadie was relentless. She was a cheerful, charismatic, kind person—but get between her and healing a patient, and Daivad would rather face down a fully shifted Ubika.

Plus, it would be an excuse to ask Nyxabella a direct question, and maybe finally earn him a response. Hearing her voice, even in a barbed tone, would mean she was alive.

Three days had passed since he’d sent the message, and the vulgar monster had yet to return. Frustration hummed through Daivad’s body, strong enough that he couldn’t help but fidget. Maxea perked, ready.

“If I just—,” Daivad started.

“Tobei was right,” Kadie cut him off, already knowing where this was headed. (“Mother Dark, those words’ll get me wet, Kade,” said Tobei.) “You’re too recognizable.”

“So you’d put ensuring anonymity over ensuring success?” Daivad growled.

“And your impatient ass—,” Tobei asked, trying to pet Kunin, who kept dramatically tossing his head, “—is gonna ensure success?”

“Yes.”

“Lenna’s plan is solid,” Kadie said, “and Tobei and the others are more than competent. You know it. Search for a better excuse, Daivad.”

Tobei caught Kadie in a hug and pressed a quick kiss to her forehead. “Thanks, love. I’m down to fuck tonight if you are.”

A few of the Duxon group, plus Pait, emerged from the forest, heading back toward camp ahead of the setting sun, each laden with baskets and bags full of foraged berries, nuts, mushrooms, and more. Though Daivad had finally convinced the Duxon group to stop fucking bowing before him every time he passed by, they seemed to have simply shifted their gratitude onto Tobei. Upon seeing him, they immediately greeted him loudly and began to cluster around, offering their spoils of the day and shaking his hand enthusiastically.

It immediately took Tobei’s attention off Kunin, which the Wolf did not appreciate.

Pait, on the other hand, sidled up to Maxea and fished a handful of blueberries out of the basket on her unnecessarily bandaged arm. They were a favorite treat of Max’s, and this had become a regular routine for the two of them, whenever Pait found some. Max happily gobbled the berries up and let Pait scratch her ear.

Peering around Maxea, Pait asked Daivad, “Who shit in your breakfast?”

He cut her a glare. “You.”

“Ay,” she said, holding up her basket of berries, which Max’s eyes tracked carefully, “I been out earning my keep all day, any shits I did were out there. I’m a real country girl now.”

Daivad made a face. “I’d rather keep that knowledge out of my head.”

Pait shrugged. “So, who then?” And when she followed his glare toward the wagon, she said, “Ah. Still grounded, huh?”

“I am not grounded.”

She ignored this. “Now you know how the rest of us feel.”

“You can visit another train—just not one we’re robbing.”

“No, I can’t,” Pait crossed her arms and disappeared around Max’s other side.

“There’s no walls keeping you here. No chains.”

“You gonna gift me a map, a compass, supplies, a horse, and a few weapons, then? No? ‘Cause not all of us have giant fucking Wolves to carry us all across Lushale or even just through this forest, and to scare off the monsters while they’re at it. To me—us,” she corrected herself, “the forest is better than the highest wall or the thickest chain.”

A subtle burning sensation began across his skin, a faint itching. He fidgeted again.

She leaned forward to smirk at him around Max. “Won’t say I’m not a little satisfied to see you locked up with the rest of us.”

Reflexively, Daivad touched his neck. He growled, “Just ‘cause I can’t go with them doesn’t mean I have to stay here. Where out there is calling you, anyway? Sure as shit isn’t Luvatha.”

Pait disappeared behind Maxea again and fell quiet.

Fuck. He shouldn’t have said that.

The kid started toward camp. Fuck. Daivad fidgeted again. She would need to toughen up, he told himself. If an offhanded comment like that could get to her, then she was certainly still too soft.

The Nyxabella that seemed to have permanently moved into his head said, Strange flavored words from the mouth of a man who just snapped at a kid because of an offhanded comment she made.

Mother damn her. Both of them.

Daivad started after Pait, and Maxea followed him, leaving Tobei behind with his adoring fans who so captured his attention that he didn’t even notice Kunin hike his leg until it was too late.

Tobei’s shriek grated on Daivad’s sensitive ears.

It took only a few strides for Daivad to catch up to Pait, a cool, heavy scent coming off her. As if nothing had happened, he asked, “You been sleeping?”

There had been no nighttime crying nor impromptu cake baking for a couple of weeks now, but that didn’t mean that she was sleeping well. She still had to work hard to hide that look in her eye, like a trembling deer right before it bolted.

Trying and failing to outpace Daivad, Pait spoke in a thick voice, “Who cares if I’ve been sleeping? Sure as shit isn’t you.”

“Ay.”

She ignored this too, her head down.

“Ay.”

Without prompting, Maxea dashed around in front of Pait, who walked right into her.

Her voice unusually high, Pait said, “After I gave you blueberries?”

“Am I one to beg questions if I don’t care about the answer?” Daivad pressed.

She still wouldn’t face him, but her shoulders eased. “I’m sleeping fine.”

“Fine.” He gestured for Max to step aside, and added, “Just tell me if that changes.”