Before Issari could step outside, Shedah snapped her fingers and the door slammed shut. The walls rattled. Several clay tablets engraved with letters—poems Issari had written in her childhood—fell from alcoves and shattered. Issari grabbed the knob and twisted. The door was locked.

"You cannot flee me, child." Shedah drew closer and placed a leech on the back of Issari's neck.

The clammy creature latched on. Issari gasped and spun back toward the witch, one hand trying to pluck off the leach. It clung hard, and she could not remove it.

"Guards!" Issari shouted.

Shedah only laughed. "They cannot hear you. I have blocked this chamber from sound. Hush. Listen. Do you hear?"

When the crone fell silent, Issari listened. She heard nothing. The trees no longer rustled below in the gardens. Though she could see demons flying outside her windows—winged, oozing creatures—she could no longer hear their shrieks.

"Guards!" she cried again, and she knew they could not hear. She reached into her cloak, drew her dagger, and held the blade before her. "Stand back."

Ignoring the blade, Shedah drew another leech from her bucket. She tossed the squirming worm, and Issari winced and leaped back. The bloodsucker landed on her cheek, attached itself, and began to feed.

Issari cried out. Before she could reorient herself, pain flared on her wrist. Through wincing eyelids, she saw Shedah twisting her arm.

"I must whet my appetite . . ." The crone leaned in, and her rotted gums cut into Issari's wrist.

"Release me!" Issari shouted, but Shedah kept biting, and blood gushed, and the crone's throat bobbed.

She's drinking my blood.

Issari's fingers uncurled.

Her dagger fell to the floor.

Issari had never fought anyone before. All her life, she had been sheltered from the scraps so many children fought on the streets of Eteer. But today she balled her free hand into a fist. Today she was no mere princess; she was a savior of weredragons, an heiress to a crown, and she would not let this filthy creature defile her.

She drove her fist forward.

Her knuckles connected with Shedah's head with a crack.

Shedah released her wrist and hissed, opening her mouth to reveal bloodied gums. Her moles twitched and her brittle, white hair thrust out like a halo. The crone leaped forward, claws outstretched, and barreled into Issari. The two crashed onto the floor.

"Feisty, yes indeed." Shedah grinned above. Her gnarled knee drove into Issari's belly. "Your blood is as hot as your temper. It is delicious." A long, white tongue unfurled from the crone's mouth to lick Issari's cheek, smearing her with bloody saliva. "I will eat all of you."