Lasa Rook’s gasp trailed away, leaving nothing but silence, although as he glared at the fire he heard her collecting up her shirt. Then she spoke. ‘This path of mine proves in error, then. Oh, my foolish ways now turn about to let loose the most vicious snarl. The pup at bay, cock limp and awaiting the tree, modest claws readied for scratching the earth, a scent piddled here, a proud strut there. Foolish Lasa Rook, were you blind? This one seeks to do the seducing! Not for him the come hither! No! As the Lord of Temper told you plain as day, this one requires the conquest!’

Hanako moaned and said nothing.

The laugh that came from Erelan Kreed at that moment was appalling in its cruelty, and then the warrior spoke to them both for the first time since consciousness returned. ‘My sister hunts me. There is no refuge. We must traverse the night, children of Kilmandaros. The bitch wants my seed and will take it from this Thel Akai corpse if necessary. Into the timeless realm for us, then, and best we be quick about it.’

Straightening, Hanako took a step towards Erelan Kreed. ‘Who speaks with your tongue, Erelan?’

‘Blood is memory, child. Need is immortal. Above all, vengeance never dies, never fades and never grows cold. In my heart there burns refusal, a fire nothing can quench. Refusal and defiance, such wildness in these two sentiments, such pure… horror.’ He bared his teeth at them. ‘Only among the Jaghut will she hesitate.’

When it was clear that he would say nothing more, Hanako turned to Lasa Rook, met her flat, sober eyes. ‘I believe,’ he said, ‘we should hurry.’

She tilted her head back to regard him with level eyes. ‘To you, Hanako of the Scars, I am now closed. Sting at my indifference, see me turn away again and again. A wall around me I shall raise, even in the realm of the dead, with corpses stacked high. I am the widow’s trap, forever closed, forever sealed away—’

‘Lasa Rook, I was speaking of resuming our journey.’

‘—and your hunger for me shall grow, a poison in your soul—’

‘There is a dragon hunting us! ’

She blinked. ‘I heard him,’ she said in a low tone. ‘His sister wants his seed. How peculiar! What sister would ever desire a brother’s seed? Lifelong proximity alone would incite such levels of revulsion as to spew out a veritable ocean of disgust and derision! Why, if I think of my own brothers in such light, all that lives within me curdles and puckers, a flinching retreat so sour I feel the need to spit.’ She looked over at Erelan Kreed. ‘On your feet then, bold warrior, dragon-blooded. Lasa Rook and Hanako of the Scars shall stand in defence of your dignity!’

‘Lasa, a dragon!’

She waved dismissively. ‘They die too, pup, as we well know.’