I bristle at that. He makes it seem as if I’m an idiot. That I have no idea what I’ve gotten myself into. I know—and have always known—that traveling without a chaperone isn’t done for a holder’s daughter. I know that coming to a rough city like Vastwarren makes it ten times worse, because the reputation of this place is less than savory. The guild is considered a necessary evil by most holders—required, but disliked.

I know all this.

I just don’t care.

Being a pristine, virginal holder’s daughter with an impeccable reputation got me nowhere for the past thirty years. I haven’t married. My father’s hold is broke. Our artifacts are gone. We’re in danger of losing our lives if the truth comes out, and frankly I’m tired of all of it. I’m here in this rough, despicable city, preparing to do the dreaded manual labor of a guild member, because I’m out of better choices.

I’m finally doing what I want. What I need to do.

And Barnabus is here, sticking his nose in and trying to ruin things. My anger rises, and I grab the onion from his mug and crunch down on it, not caring that I spray bits of white onion flesh everywhere. I hope he finds me disgusting. “I’m not going to marry you.”

“Wrong.” He leans back, his expression downright smug, as if he has me trapped. “You marry me, and I’ll keep your little secret about all of this. Otherwise, your reputation is destroyed.”

“I’m not going to marry you,” I say again calmly. He doesn’t need to know that I can’t. That I’m already married to someone else. Seeing him here has just cemented the fact that I would rather walk across broken glass than marry this jerk. To think that I once enjoyed his kisses. I try to imagine this selfish, self-absorbed boor tonguing me the way Hawk did and the onions in my stomach churn. “Don’t make me say it again.”

“Well, then, enjoy hunting artifacts for me,” Barnabus says, voice light. “I’ve paid a lot of money to the guild to get everyone possible down there scouting for artifacts, and they’ll all come to my hands. They know I’m planning to go to war. To take down another hold. And do you think they care? No. All they care about is getting a commission, so I made sure it’s an enormous one.” He smiles, all teeth, and leans back confidently. “You’re of course welcome to commission teams on your father’s behalf. It can be a race between us.”

My nostrils flare as I seethe in silence. He knows I can’t stop what he’s put in motion. The guild is neutral when it comes to the squabbles and power plays of holders. They have to be. It doesn’t matter who is fighting whom, just that the guild gets paid for the artifacts they retrieve.

“So you should marry me,” Barnabus continues. “Marry me and I won’t tell everyone that I saw Lord Honori’s spinster heir Aspeth pretending to be a guild lackey. That she was slumming with commoners and thieves. Trust me, you want my silence.”

My mind is racing. I can’t even tell my father about this. Can’t warn him. If I get connected to the guild itself, Father will show up and drag me home and marry me off to Barnabus anyhow, just to stop the oncoming bloodbath. A marriage to me stops everything.

Which is why I threaten Barnabus instead of cowering. “You’re not going to tell anyone that I’m here.”

“Won’t I?”

“No, you won’t.” I straighten. “If you do, I’ll marry someone else—the first holder I see—and make him the heir to Honori Hold.”

His face flushes with angry color. “You wouldn’t.”

“Oh, I would. There are other holders with sons who aren’t married. What about Vurlith from Morsell Hold?” Mereden has mentioned her brother is courting another man, but I don’t care. “He seems nice enough, and he’s not married. We don’t have to be compatible, understand? We just have to be married for me to make him the heir.”

Barnabus leans in toward me. “You little bitch, listen here—”

I slide out of my seat, moving away from him before he can grab at me. I’m playing a deadly game—there’s nothing that would stop him from dragging me out of here with him tonight and hauling me in front of a priestess to marry me forcibly. I need to extricate myself, and quickly. “I have to go.”

And just then, I see a huge, hulking, angry Taurian shape in the doorway, horns swinging back and forth as Hawk scans the room looking for me.

Uh-oh.

“I’ll be in touch,” I tell Barnabus, and then race toward Hawk before he can see me with my ex.

TWENTY-THREE HAWK

13 Days Before the Conquest Moon

Not every retrieval mission goes smoothly, no matter how many skilled Taurians are sent.

This one? This one was a fucking nightmare.

Everything that could go wrong did. The flags were in the wrong tunnel and we had to backtrack once we realized it. The trainees were useless. The tunnel we actually needed was collapsed. Then when we dug them free, it turned out they had found a nest of ratlings. I’m covered in bites and bruises, and one of the idiots I was trying to save slashed me with his blade because he was waving it about so crazily.

My shoulder throbs under the hasty bandage. My artificial hand aches as if to remind me that it worked doubly as hard as any real hand down in those tunnels. I’m tired, sore, and most of all, fed up with humanity for a day.

I want to go home and sleep and not think about anything until dawn. Maybe two dawns.

I want to go home and roll over the innocent, nubile human woman in my bed—my wife—and lick her cunt until she squeals against my tongue. I want to jerk my cock to the scent of her bathing my muzzle. I want to drink in her soft cries and her panting, let it soothe my irritations like a balm.

That’s what I want.

I want to forget all guild business for at least a night, and focus on plump thighs wrapped around my ears. Nothing would be finer.

When I open the door to Magpie’s, though, I’m surprised to see Gwenna in the hall. She sits in one of the chairs facing the fireplace, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and a candle on the table next to her. She jumps to her feet at the sight of me, a worried look on her face.

“What are you doing here?” I ask. It’s late and all students need to be in bed, because drills start early.

She hesitates and then sighs, shoulders slumping. “Don’t get mad.”

My hackles rise. “And why would I be mad?”

She smiles brightly, her expression brisk. “Aspeth will be back very soon. Any moment now.”

Aspeth is…out? At this time of night? I narrow my eyes at Gwenna, taking in the worried expression she’s trying hard to hide. “Why is Aspeth out and where did she go?”

“It’s nothing—”

I dump my mud-encrusted, heavy pack on the ground and cross my arms over my equally dirty shirt. “If it’s nothing, then why is it happening at midnight? And why are you waiting on her?” When she hesitates again, I continue. “If I wake up Magpie, is she going to be aware of this excursion?”

The look on Gwenna’s face becomes panicked. She clutches her blanket tighter around her shoulders. “She had no choice.”

“What do you mean?” I’m trying to keep the infamous Taurian temper in check, but it’s growing more difficult by the moment. Aspeth is somewhere out there in the city. Alone. Against her will.