A woman with round cheeks and small, mischievous eyes stood in the middle and beckoned her over. She helped her undress and then examined Naya’s body, brushing her fingers over the peeling areas of her skin, the burns, and the faint bruises that remained. She did strange things like looking at her ears, parting her hair to examine her scalp, squeezing her fingertips, and repeatedly poked Naya’s lower stomach, breasts, the cheeks of her ass and her thighs.

“Stop that,” Naya snapped, batting her fingers away when it became annoying and a little painful, but the woman ignored her. She rummaged in her bag and took out a large piece of thin tubular metal shaped like half of a circle.

She knelt on the ground and pulled on Naya’s arm until she sat next to her, then placed the half circle on the ground. She inched her fingers around it carefully, as though she was looking for a particular spot, and then tapped a pattern on it. A beam of magic shot out of both sides and connected, forming an enormous circle, and the ground in the middle of the ring dropped away.

Naya gasped, leaning over to look inside the center of the metal ring; it was filled with water. The woman grabbed her legs and twisted her so her feet slipped in. Warm water enveloped them and sloshed against her calves, and Naya stared at the ring in disbelief. They’d created a magic circle of water out of thin air? How was that possible? Even with the most sophisticated magic at home, it wouldn’t be possible to do that so quickly or reliably.

She turned to the woman, who was behind her. "How did you⁠—"

The woman pushed her hard, and she slipped straight down into the circle.

Naya flailed, panic bounding in her chest, only to find that she was inside a large tube. And it wasn't deep. When her head sunk below the water, her feet touched the bottom and she could push her head above the water and remain on tiptoe.

Before Naya could yell at her, the water churned. Powerful waves hit her body as she tried to keep her face above water.

The woman pulled various bottles out of her bag and peered at them, before lining them up on the ground. Selecting one, she pulled off the cork and sniffed the contents. Satisfied, she tipped two drops into Naya's tube and the water bubbled.

She handed Naya soap and a small cloth, raising her brows with expectation, and Naya suddenly realized, this was a bath. Or at least their version of it. The bigger one she thought she imagined in the tent had been the same thing.

As she washed her face, the woman, who had to be an aide or personal maid, picked up another bottle and poured it in, a fizz encasing her whole body. Within a few moments, the lingering pain in her joints from the ride vanished. Naya wriggled her fingers and toes, twisted her torso and thrashed her limbs. Some pain remained in her ribs, but it was faint. She felt almost back to normal.

The aide washed her hair and helped her out. After drying her, the aide dressed her in a simple tunic and knelt back down to the bath. Her fingers flew over the device and the magic retracted, returning the ring back to a small half circle, and the floor reappeared.

Naya watched with interest. Although she’d had baths in the tents, they’d been raised and shallow. She hadn’t realized they’d been created using a magical device. Was this how they bathed here? It couldn’t be. It had to be only for traveling and convenience.

Taking Naya’s arm, she led her over to the other side of the room and helped her into an enormous bed that sat against the far wall—a thick wooden platform was its frame, covered with a mattress and blankets.

Naya wanted a chance to look around. Now that she was in the beast’s palace, he would expect her to help him with his invasion plans. She needed to decide how to approach it, but her exhaustion was overwhelming.

She was already drifting to sleep by the time the aide stopped fussing with her blankets, but still felt the light pat on her arm as if to reassure her that whatever was coming might not be as dark as the dread growing in her chest.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

The next morning a meal had been laid out on the platform at the end of the bed.

Naya climbed out of the bed and tried the door, but it was locked. Not a surprise. She explored every inch of the room, trying to see if there was a way out or anything she could use as a weapon.

With the sunlight streaming in, it was an earthy, beautiful room with artwork and detail on the walls. It was much bigger than she realized, but there were no adjoining rooms and no washroom, yet it was designed and decorated elaborately. Single rooms like this were typically what most of the Lox population had in their homes, but the way the room was designed and decorated didn’t seem typical. It was strange that he placed her in such luxury.

After she examined everything she could, she sat on the cushions by the lattice window. The view overlooked the enormous city, a canvas of honey browns, creams, and sun-faded yellows. From this view, it was almost impossible to believe that the outer areas had been so damaged and abandoned. War and time could do a lot of damage to a city, and she did not know the history of this place, but it was odd they had left the outskirts in ruins.

She padded back to bed and looked at the meal on the tray—cubed fried potatoes, saucy beans, and a crinkly blue pepper, all accompanied by a strong, heady liquid in a tiny cup. Next to the bed platform was a thin stand with a wide base and a ring at the top holding a long, knobby tmae with its top cut open.

Naya lifted the tmae and sat on the platform to sip it and formulate a plan.

Papa always said that trying to get out of a complex situation without a strategy was like entering a lion’s den with nothing but hope—brave but foolish. For him every battle was an opportunity to demonstrate his superiority, every enemy a puzzle to be solved and eventually break.

He’d been in one of his big-headed moods at the time—Mama always rolling her eyes behind him—and Naya laughed at them. But she never forgot the teaching. And now she could see why some enemies required those extreme measures.

She sipped the tmae, thinking everything through until she’d decided on four clear goals.

One; escape and warn her father. Papa needed to be armed with as much information as possible about the threat he faced. No one knew the beast existed, and even though her disappearance might raise suspicions, her parents didn’t know how powerful and cruel their opponent was.

To achieve that goal, running again without a real chance to escape wasn’t an option. She had to be calm, considered, and careful. It was over ten days of travel across the desert to get back to where she’d first arrived in this Land, assuming that was the way home.

Two; be selective. She'd promised the beast information, but that had to be carefully selected and presented. He’d clearly been to her Lands, but for how long? And how much did he know? He planned to hold her to her word and would punish her severely if she lied. Nothing should jeopardize goal number one, so telling him the truth was best, but navigating this would be crucial. Giving information to him didn’t mean telling him everything or offering knowledge he didn’t ask for.

Three; learn. If she was going to find a way home, she had to learn more about the culture, land, and its people. The turbulent sand under the dark clouds in the desert seemed to have caused the earlier urgency. But that didn’t exclude the possibility that the beast had enemies, especially if the ruins were any indication. And that could be exploited.

If all else failed—if she couldn't return home or warn Papa—her only recourse was to do everything she could to fuck up the beast’s plans. That meant learning everything about him.