The Tamerlain, guardian of Aethervon’s temple, sat in front of me. Another hallucination, I thought, so I didn’t answer her. She lived on the hill of Menogue in the ruins of Aethervon’s temples outside the city of Estian. She could not be in the Asylum.

Closing my eyes, I waited for her to go away. After a moment I heard the bowl they’d given me skitter across the floor as she inspected it.

“Good lad, you didn’t eat tonight,” she said. “Garranon said he thought you were drugged rather than magicked, and that’s harder to combat.”

It was the water that was dangerous; I felt very clever for knowing that much. I had sweated a great deal earlier and now my thirst was great—but I knew the water had held as much danger for me as the wizard. I held a straw in my mouth and that had helped keep my mouth moist, but it wasn’t working well anymore.

“Wardwick,” she coaxed (I could tell by the change in her voice that she was coming closer), “look at me, lad. You know me.”

I pulled my eyes reluctantly away from the wall, and stared into the face of the beast. She was as large as a small northern bear, and her head looked ursine, except for the large golden eyes that were more suited to a tiger. Her thick fur covered a body that was not as bulky as a bear’s nor as lithe as one of the big cats’. Her tail curled around her front paws and she purred when my eyes met hers. I thought the sound might have been meant to be reassuring.

The air suddenly felt clearer, like my thoughts, but I knew it was a continuation of my delusions, because the guardian of the ruins of Menogue had no business in my cell.

I sat up straighter and brushed straw off my shoulders, to give myself time to think. The movement exacerbated the remnant pain that lingered after Jade Eye’s rage.

“Leave me,” I said. The last time I’d met her, her god, Aethervon, had taken over my sister’s body and tormented Oreg. No one hurt my people if I could help it.

“Hold your anger,” she said. “I come as a favor for a friend. Garranon was worried about you. He asked me to see you if I could. So I took his request to Aethervon. My master has been interested in you since he awoke to your presence when you visited His temple at Menogue.”

“Go away,” I said again. Aethervon could hang for all I cared. He had used my sister without her consent and hurt my friend. Granted, the Tamerlain had little part in either—but I despised her master.

“I can help you,” she said.

I gave a short laugh and tried to hide how much even such a slight movement hurt.