Seela’s eyes flickered to Sunny with a look that said You told her? before returning to Soraya. “It didn’t work out, unfortunately. The price was good, the product…not so much. My patrons may not have the highest standards, but they still have standards.”

“We’ll find another supplier,” Sunny said.

“I hope so,” Seela said. “Otherwise we’re finished.”

Soraya cleared her throat. “I’m rather tired. Do you mind if I sleep on the floor? I’d rather not leave Shim’s side.”

“Of course,” Sunny said. “I’ll get you some blankets and a small mattress.”

“Thank you.”

“And I’d better get myself cleaned up,” Seela said, following Sunny toward the door. “Goodnight.” With that, the women departed the way they’d come, and soon the sounds of feet on the staircase resounded. From what Soraya could tell, they were also arguing, their voices hushed, but not enough that the sound didn’t carry to her ears.

But Soraya was more interested in the fact that Seela hadn’t asked anything about why Shim had been there in the first place, nor why her tavern’s main room looked like it had recently hosted a rather large and angry dragon.

More than anything, though, worry for Shim gnawed at her bones. He was so still that she checked him for a heartbeat several times, breathing a sigh of relief when she felt the light tapping beneath his skin. His Leaves of the Goddess seemed less lustrous, dimmer, somehow. Like Narcissi, too, was well aware that one of Her Forsworn was clinging to life.

Unable to sleep despite her exhaustion, Soraya waited for dawn to arrive.

When it did, she slipped away, determined to recover their scant belongings from their room before returning to Shim’s side.

She’d intended to enter and exit The Milky Udder without being seen by anyone, including its proprietor, but unfortunately for her, it wasn’t meant to be. No fewer than a dozen soldiers, members of the Knightguard all, were waiting for her, along with the tavern’s owner, one Mister Loris Loriston, an unfortunate name that could’ve only been dreamed up by parents who despised their own child more than their own miserable lives.

“That’s her,” Loris said, pointing a bony finger at her the moment she entered.

No, no, no, no, no, she thought. This couldn’t be happening. The world had shifted on its axis when Shim had been ravaged by the nightdemon, but she’d hoped him having survived the encounter meant their luck was improving.

A familiar man with a stubbled jaw stepped forward. She vaguely remembered his name, Commander something-or-other Destin, leader of the Knightguard in these parts. “Young lady, you have been accused of breaking curfew, a very serious accusation for dangerous times such as these.”