An hour wasn’t a long time in the grand scheme of things. It was just a little longer than the time it took to stretch a meal and make it feel like there was more food than there actually was. It was how long it took to fall asleep on the days where a few too many things had happened. It was a blip in a day, which was nothing more than a blink in a lifetime.

To everyone else in the city of Treadon, most of a mere hour passed by like any other. But time was funny like that.

To Aylin, it was a feast.

To Rekeba, it was agony.

It hadn’t taken her long to realize that the game was rigged. She’d known it from the start. Nobody offered a game with immense odds against themselves unless they had a card hidden up their sleeves.

That card should have been Vrith. All Rekeba’s information had told her that the annoying woman had literally fallen at the puppet streetlord’s feet to beg for her life. Any idiot would have used the coward as a way to try and sway the scales in their favor.

When Rekeba had arrived at the camp, it had been painfully obvious. Lust and hatred weren’t all that different of emotions, and she’d felt the disgust pouring off Vrith in the shadows as she approached Aylin.

Rekeba had been so confident. She’d been so certain that Vrith was his card, and the game was already over. The original plan had been to toy with the idiot streetlord for a while before grinding him under her heel until the point where no self-respecting demon would ever follow him again.

That had been the plan — but the offer had been too sweet. The boy didn’t matter, but Spider did. He had yet to show himself to her scouts. Any information she could glean about his powers would be invaluable. The opportunity to ask anything she wanted about him and his abilities had sunk its claws into her and held tight.

But now, as Rekeba laid flat on the ground, arms trembling desperately to push herself back upright, breath coming in ragged gasps and her body wrung dry of energy like nothing more than a piece of laundry, it was painfully apparent that she’d misread the card entirely.

The grin on the boy’s face before her wasn’t that of an innocent, besotted child. It was the rictus smile of a streetlord. His lips were parted, but not in happiness. It was in hunger. He wasn’t looking at her like an opponent.

I’m just a piece of meat to him.

Rekeba’s heart slammed in her ears. She’d long since given up the idea of trying to win the fight. As soon as she’d realized she was up against a knowledge demon, it had become apparent just how badly she’d misplayed.

Entering a contract to exchange questions with one of his kind was akin to slathering her entire body with honey before dancing naked into the den of a Dire Bear, slapping it on the rear to wake it from its slumber, and shoving herself down its throat.

No, Rekeba had absolutely no delusions of winning any longer. Her only goal was survival.

“Is something wrong, Rekeba?” Vrith’s voice was so smug that it made Rekeba’s stomach twist in fury. “It kind of looks like you’ve prostrated yourself to me — but not even I got off my knees and laid completely on the ground.”

Rekeba’s teeth ground. She’d just asked a question, but she couldn’t remember what it was. Aylin answered it. She didn’t bother listening. Every scrap of her attention was on clinging onto the last power she still had.

Something about Aylin was deeply, deeply wrong. He ripped power from her with ease that should have been impossible for him. It was as if she was up against someone an entire rank above her.

“I like that question. Would you like to surrender completely to me and Spider?” Aylin asked, tilting his head to the side. “That is the surrender position, right?”

“I don’t know,” Rekeba ground out. Her voice was raspy and weak. It sounded bitter and pathetic to her ears.

I don’t know.

Those three words should have been her way out of the game. She’d been confident that they were the loophole that Aylin had planted for himself so he could avoid giving away information that was too important.

She couldn’t have been more wrong. As it turned out, not knowing something was still part of the feeling that knowledge demons could feast on. None of the actual words she said mattered.

Aylin wasn’t eating the words. He was eating the understanding. Rekeba had tried lying. She’d tried speaking in half-truths and in mysticisms. Nothing worked. Everything new that he learned made him stronger.

Rekeba’s fingers dug into the ground as her arms trembled in a mixture of humiliation and fury. The only winning move against a knowledge demon was not to speak. They weren’t demons meant for combat. Not in their younger years, at least.

But Aylin had accounted for that. If she failed to answer within ten seconds, it was the end for her. If she answered, it was the end. If she fled the scene, it was the end. Every single one spelled defeat.

Rekeba refused to accept it. She was his better in every single way. There was no possible way for her to have lost this badly. Returning to Rakkor with her tail between her legs and head bowed in defeat was an inconceivable notion.

For years, she had been envied. She had been loved. She had been feared. She had clawed her way through the ranks of the Silent Silvertooth just so she could get to this point. So close to her true goals. So close to what had been promised to her.

It can’t end here. I refuse to let a child defeat me in a trap. I have crushed men ten times greater than him beneath my heel and had them come back begging for me to do it again. I am Rekeba of the Silent Silvertooth.

I deserve victory. I am owed it!

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Rekeba’s hands trembled. She desperately pulled on her power and tried to gather anything she had left. Her guards stood around her, exchanging glances. None of them spoke. They didn’t need to.

She could tell what they were thinking. The doubt was clear in their eyes. More than doubt. There was derision. They watched her humiliation and found it amusing. Fury bit into Rekeba’s chest.

There were rules against attacking Aylin. She couldn’t make a move against him — not yet. Not without admitting defeat. Vrith, unfortunately, was the same. The vile woman was safe from her.

But my own men…

Rekeba’s lips pulled back in a cruel smirk. The way free of this had shown itself to her.

If they want to laugh, then they can join me on the ground.

She drew on her Runes, ripping what little energy still remained within them, and unleashed it. Her eyes erupted with energy as power poured through her body and snagged onto the buried thoughts of the men around her.

She latched onto the lust that drifted through their minds when they looked at her and drank from it greedily. The demons stiffened in surprise and pain, but they couldn’t let out cries of either pain or pleasure.

They’d been around her for years. Days on weeks on months of carnal desire had built within them. It had formed an ironclad connection to her. None of them had ever even considered quelling their vile thoughts. Perhaps they had thought they were safe.

Perhaps they’d thought they had a chance.

A laugh slipped from Rekeba’s lips. Her men collapsed by her side, gasping weakly for air and energy, but they weren’t strong enough to resist. Rekeba drank everything they had. Their skin dried and their gasps silenced as she pushed herself upright.

Power coursed through her body like a raging ocean. It filled her chest and raced through her limbs. She ran her tongue across her lips and let out a shuddering breath. The entire process had only taken seconds. There was still time for her question.

She rose to her feet, giving up on sitting, and her eyes lifted to meet Aylin’s once more — but what she found gave her pause. His expression was unchanged. Interest, mixed with flat confidence. There wasn’t a flicker of fear or concern.

There wasn’t a scrap of feeling she could feast on.

Impossible. I just released my full strength. It wasn’t directed at him, but he doesn’t think anything lustful of me at all. How?

There was no time to consider it. She had to ask her question before the time ran out, or everything would be for naught. Her jaw tightened in irritation. She didn’t care to admit how infuriating it was to see that expression on the face of someone her inferior. It was one meant for an interesting insect under a rock, not the most beautiful woman Aylin ever should have seen.

I refuse to let myself get put off guard by this brat. I need to take the offense.

“Where is Spider?” Rekeba asked. Spider was the only demon that mattered, and it was clear Aylin idolized him. That was a weakness she could exploit. “I would love to get intimately acquaintanced with him.”

“I don’t think someone like you would bear even the slightest amount of interest to Spider,” Aylin said dispassionately. He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “But the last time I saw him, he was in that tent over there.”

What? He’s here? Just… sitting around? Watching? Is this all a joke to him?

Rekeba felt her confidence giving. She clenched her fists and squared herself, trying to draw Aylin’s attention to anything other than her face. It failed. His eyes were like twin pools of ice, boring into the back of her skull incessantly.

“My turn,” Aylin said softly. “Are you scared?”

“I — what?” Rekeba asked, caught off guard once again. Her fingers twitched. “No. Of you? How could I possibly be scared of you?”

“That’s not an answer,” Aylin said in the same, quiet tone. Rekeba braced herself, preparing to resist him as he stole her power, but nothing happened. Aylin just sat there. “But at the same time, it is. Your turn.”

The proper move was to ask about Spider. To seek a weakness — but she’d already asked Aylin about that, and his answer had been that he’d never seen anything that could so much as hurt Spider, much less kill him.

She didn’t believe that for a second. Nobody was immortal. The problem was Aylin had played her yet again. The stupid boy barely knew anything about Spider. Half of his own answers about Spider had been admitting he didn’t know. There was nothing she could learn about him, so the only thing that left her was finding a weakness in the streetlord before her.

“You asked if I was scared,” Rekeba said, stepping closer to Aylin and leaning down so they were face-to-face and only a few inches apart. “But you didn’t say how you feel. What do you feel when you look upon me?”

By his own rules, he can’t lie. He’ll have to choose between dropping the barrier and admitting the truth or breaking his own rules.

“At first, I was awestruck,” Aylin admitted. Rekeba smiled, but he wasn’t done. Aylin braced his hands against his knees and shook his head, blowing out a breath. “I can honestly say you were the most attractive demon I’ve ever seen. I didn’t think it was possible that anyone could look like that.”

Rekeba’s smile faltered. Something was wrong. Despite Aylin’s words, she felt nothing from him. There was no lust. No hunger in his eyes.

“But then I learned,” Aylin continued. He pushed himself upright and brushed his knees off, rising to stand before Rekeba. “You see, I don’t think there’s anything left about you to learn. You’ve already revealed everything… and nothing kept my attention. You don’t interest me anymore.”

Ice prickled at the back of Rekeba’s neck and twisted down her arms to grip at her chest. He was telling the truth. Aylin was no saint. There was lust in him — she could tell it was present — but not a single scrap of it was directed toward her.

Rekeba couldn’t help herself. She took a step back. Her eyes darted around the market square. The only other demon there was Vrith.

Her guards all laid dead at her feet, completely drained of life and energy alike. There was nobody to help.

“We can stop playing the game now,” Aylin said quietly. “Feel free to ask me another question if you want.”

Vrith smiled beside him. She flexed her fingers and claws pressed out of their tips, glistening in the setting light.

Rekeba’s words couldn’t make their way out of her throat. They lodged there like a rock, barely even letting her breathe. She took another step back. Aylin’s gaze followed her. Watching. Waiting.

I was set up. I can’t win this after losing so much energy. Aylin was supposed to be some trembling child, not a competent Rank 3. A couple Rank 2 demons isn’t nearly enough to let me fight him and Vrith at the same time.

Justifications flew through her head, but they weren’t enough to cloak the truth that she was all too aware of. For a second longer, she stood frozen in place.

“The hour’s just about up, I think,” Aylin said.

If she stayed a second longer, there was no doubt about it. She would die.

The options were death or humiliation. Only one of those had potential for a future.

Rekeba broke.

She spun, sprinting for the street as fast as her feet could take her. Her blood pounded in her ears as she ran. Vrith was easily as fast as her. The demon could have been in any of the shadows — but she wasn’t.

Nothing accompanied her retreat. Rekeba glanced over her shoulder to see Vrith and Aylin standing side by side, watching her retreat impassively. They didn’t even view her as a threat worth chasing.

Rekeba’s chest clenched. Most demons would have sworn revenge on the spot. They would have shouted their fury to all that could hear, swearing that they would return to tear down their foes once they grew stronger.

She found herself unable to utter any such promises. Words like that required a spark of anger or a shred of resolve. Rekeba had none left. When she looked back at Aylin, the only demon she’d ever met devoid of even the slightest hint of attraction to her, the only thing she felt was fear.