I’ve seen Aron lose his temper before, I realize vaguely. Each time, it brought on a flash of his powers—and a headache for me. “You drained me,” I realize. I’m his anchor and he’s not supposed to use his powers. Somehow he tapped into them and nearly killed me doing so. “I’m your battery and you drained me.”

He holds me close, squeezing me so tight that everything aches. His mouth presses to my brow and his voice is low, so low that I’m pretty sure only I can hear it. “It was my mistake, Faith. I didn’t realize I was hurting you until it was too late. I’m sorry.” He strokes my hair again, then lays me gently back down in the bed.

I want to protest. I want him to keep holding me, because it feels better, but my mind is disoriented. I’m just…so…tired. So I lie back and close my eyes.

Aron’s hand brushes against mine once more, sending that familiar spark through me, and I hold onto his fingers, stopping him before he leaves.

“Did we make it?” I croak out. “All of us?”

“Almost all,” Aron says. “One of the soldiers is gone.”

He doesn’t know his name. “Vitar,” I murmur. It’s important that we remember.

“Yes.” His thumb brushes over my fingers, caressing them. “Rest, Faith. We’ll talk more when you feel better.”

“Did…did they help you?” I ask him. “The fates?”

“Rest now,” he says once more, and then lets go of my hand.

As if a cord has been cut, I fall unconscious again.

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60

I don’t know how long I’m out of it, I only know that when I wake up, I’m fucking starving. I’ve never been so hungry in my life. Ugh. I would straight up murder someone for a cheeseburger right about now. My stomach growls as I open my eyes and blink at my surroundings.

“Faith?” A low voice murmurs.

I turn my head, and I’m relieved that it’s tiring to do so, but it doesn’t feel like so much effort that I want to just go back to sleep. I look over at Solat. His jaw is covered in a scruffy almost-beard that wasn’t there before and there are rings under his eyes. At my side in the bed, Yulenna sleeps, curled up in a blanket.

“I’m so damn hungry,” I whisper.

Solat grins, his mouth crooked, and reaches over to a nearby table. It’s full of dried meat and a couple pieces of fruit, next to a waterskin. I’m guessing that’s his meal, but he takes the plate and offers it to me. “Do you want broth?”

“Nope.” I grab at one piece of fruit and eat it, bitter rind and all. Then I grab another, and another, and I’m shoveling food into my starving mouth, washing it down with his waterskin. I’ve never been so ravenous, and I know it’s because of the bond. I have to eat twice as much as a normal person to fuel my body now that I’m tied to Aron, and I’m guessing I’ve been unable to eat for a long, long time.

“You might want to slow down. You’ll make yourself sick,” he cautions.

I might—I’ve been sick before, but this time it’s different. Somehow, I know the food will stay down. My body is craving this and it’s different than when it was in the desert. Right now there’s a bottomless pit inside me that needs to be filled. Even as I polish off the last bit of meat, I’m still starving. I still need more. It’s like a drop in the bucket. I drink the last of the water from his skin and lick the top. “I need some more.”

“You…do?” He looks shocked. “You just ate all my rations for the day.”

He doesn’t get it. None of them do except Aron.

Aron.

My mind flutters with vague memories of him. Of Aron’s nearness even when I was sick. Of him being in my bed and holding me against his chest, rocking me. Taking care of me. Brushing my hair back and caressing my face. Speaking in a low voice of endless things I don’t remember, just that he was speaking, as if he knew I needed something to focus on to bring me back. That he needed to be with me.

My heart squeezes with affection, but he’s not anywhere to be seen. “Where’s Aron?”

Yulenna sighs and turns over in bed, oblivious.

Solat watches her closely for a bit too long and then looks over at me. “Last I saw him, he was arguing with one of the spider gods.”

I swallow hard. “Spider gods, huh?”

“One of the three Spidae, Lords of Fate.” His mouth flattens and he doesn’t look thrilled. “We are at their mercy here in the tower.”

I’m not afraid. Aron wouldn’t put me in danger. I just need to know what’s going on. What he’s found out from the Spidae. What happened back there on the lake. I get to my feet and nearly collapse again. My legs feel as unsteady as a newborn foal’s.

Solat is immediately at my side, holding me up. “You’re supposed to stay in bed, Faith. I’m to watch over both of you, protect you with my life.”

“Protect me from what?”

“Anything. Everything.”

“I thought we were safe here?”

“I do not think there is a safe place anywhere in this world,” Solat says, the words so solemn and ominous I’m surprised they came from him. He’s the lighthearted one.

For the first time, I look around at my surroundings. “Are these bad guys?” I ask hesitantly. Because this doesn’t look like the home of the “good guys.” It’s a stronghold of sorts, but not like any I’ve ever been in before. Aventine was dirt and soldiers and crowded, clustered buildings. Katharn was hovels on top of hovels atop the bones of what had once been a magnificent city. Novoro was an opulent keep in the mountains, with rock and stone everywhere.

This is…almost blank. It’s like there’s no personality in these walls. They’re stone, but such a smooth, unnatural pattern of bland gray that for a moment I think I’m looking at an optical illusion and not stonework. The walls are perfectly symmetrical, without a window to be seen, and the bed Yulenna and I slept on is the only furniture, other than the camp stool parked next to the bed.

Even the bed itself is unnatural. It doesn’t look like a normal mattress, but a large, puffy cocoon of…something. Like a cloud of cotton that’s been draped with our familiar blankets. The cotton reminds me of the boat, actually, but I’m not sure why.

I take a step forward, working on regaining my balance, and this one’s easier than the last. I’m wearing one of my Novoran nightgowns, with a furry hem and a long, wrap-around length. I hold it tight against me so I don’t flash Solat. I’ve been asleep long enough that my hair is dry, my clothes are dry, and my nails are longer. Jesus. No wonder I’m stiff.

Several more steps forward, and I make it to the wall. I place my hand there, only to draw back in surprise.

The walls are coated with spiderwebs.

This close up, I can see there’s a fine layer of webbing covering the stones. I look up and they stretch to the webby ceiling, and along the floor. I glance over at the bed again and wonder if it’s made entirely of webbing, too. And the raft…

I shudder.

“Faith,” Solat says, moving to my side. “Please return to bed.”

“I’ll be fine.” I shrug off his arm before he can help me. “Aron would be hovering if I was in danger, wouldn’t he? We’re safe here.”

Solat gazes at me with solemn eyes. “He’ll kill me if I let you leave.”

I shake my head. “No, he won’t. We’ll tell him I didn’t give you a choice. That I insisted on finding a bathroom and then a kitchen.” Neither of which is entirely a lie.

Solat doesn’t look as if he believes me.

“I won’t let him kill you,” I reassure him. “We need all of the guards we have.” Especially now that Vitar’s gone. I swallow hard. Poor Vitar. He wasn’t my favorite, but he didn’t deserve to die being eaten by a giant worm in a lake.