Gruff lounged on his side the entire time, watching without looking the least bit faint or nauseous. “Yer good at that,” he commented, after she’d cracked the ribcage and extracted the heart.

“It’s still beatin’!” she said, dropping it in surprise.

Gruff shrugged as if that was just another thing that happened in life. “So?”

“It’s…strange.”

“And drinkin’ Narcissi’s blood is less strange?”

“Will it keep beatin’ like that?”

“Until we eat it.”

It seemed that was the most information on the topic the dwarf was willing to share, so she moved on, using her knife as a lever to pluck out the eyeballs. She tossed one to the dwarf, who fumbled it twice before getting a grip. Then he popped it in his mouth, crunching loudly. “By the Heart, that’s good. Damn good.”

Perfidy hesitated long enough to sniff it. There was a smell there that she struggled to describe. Slightly sweet, like honey, but also spicy enough to water her eyes, like a hot pepper. At least it wasn’t foul-smelling, like the bloodfruit. With a shrug, she tossed it in her mouth, tasting both sweet and spicy, just like its scent had indicated, trying not to think too hard about what she was eating. It’s jest a grape, she thought. Not an eye, not an—

She gagged, almost retching but managing to get a hand over her lips, sealing them shut. And then she swallowed it whole.

Gruff grinned at her. “Yum, right?”

“The taste was okay, I guess. But I’d rather it not be an eyeball.”

Gruff shrugged as if it mattered little to him what part of the squirrel they needed to eat. “Next time, crunch it. You’ll get the surge faster.” He’d hopped back up to his feet with a spryness that was at odds with his usual grumbling and creaking. His eyes were opened wider than usual, too, almost black in color due to his fully dilated pupils. Of all things, he was smiling, his lips curling upward wildly.

It was disconcerting. Strangely, she’d rather have the old grumpy Gruff back.

She was about to tell him he looked like a ruttin’ fool, but then the surge hit her. It was like it had been with the bloodfruit, except stronger. At least as strong as her first dose of godsblood had been. The entire world around her seemed to brighten, as if the shadows cast by the army of trees had been chased away by a brilliant light, the leaves inlaid with diamonds, which sparkled from hundreds of perfectly cut facets.

Strength flowed through her, until she had the urge to run, run, run and never stop, leaping things in her path. Like the trees, for example. Surely she could leap over them. Why not? They were nothing next to the power flowing through her veins.

“The heart,” Gruff said. “Cut the heart now, before the effect wears off.”