“That’s the last of them, my love,” Sunny said, lowering a stone block to the floor with a gentle thud. To ensure their privacy to carry out their plan, they were in a room on the second floor. Already the wooden floorboards seemed to be sagging a bit under all the added weight.

Please hold, Soraya thought. The last thing they needed was for the floor to collapse and have them end up in a pile of debris trying to administer godsblood to a raving, feral rat-monster.

Sunny went to Seela and placed a tender hand on her cheek. As strong as the woman was when she’d been carrying the cinder blocks, she was the opposite now. Tender, loving. She pressed her forehead against Seela’s and said, “This will all be over soon. Things can go back to normal.”

“Normal? How will I ever be able to look anyone in this town in the eye again knowing what I’d done to their friends, their family members. I’ve killed their mothers, their sons, their loved ones.”

“Then we’ll leave this place forever. We’ll go somewhere new, where all of this will feel like a distant nightmare. Where we can start fresh.”

“This is your home. You would do that for me?”

“That and a lot more. I would die for you, Seela.”

“Don’t say that.”

“It is true.”

“But you won’t need to if this works,” Soraya said, holding back her own emotions at being present while the two women peeled back their skin to reveal their hearts. She finished locking the last chain to the final stone block, scanning the setup for any flaws and finding none. It wasn’t perfect, but nothing would be. In any case, it wouldn’t matter so long as the godsblood did its job.

“When do we start?” Sunny asked, suddenly all business again as she peeled herself away from Seela.

“We start right now.” Soraya located the bulging leather bag she’d borrowed from Shim. She hated taking his supply of godsblood without his consent, but there was no way to avoid it. It wasn’t like he needed it now anyway.

She drew the first vial from the bag, holding it up so everyone could see the golden, glowing godsblood. “How much are you going to give her?” Sunny asked.

Soraya tried not to think too much about how many tenets of the Forsworn Oath she was breaking as she answered. “As much as it takes.”

“And it won’t harm her?”

“I can’t promise that, but I don’t believe so. She’s already shown remarkable tolerance for the substance, and her strength has only grown because of whatever material was transferred from the rat to her.” Soraya spoke with confidence she didn’t feel, hoping her words were more than just words, that Narcissi’s truth filled them.

“I’m not afraid,” Seela said. “I just want this all to be over, one way or another.”

“It will be soon, my love,” Sunny said, that tenderness slipping back into her voice.