She did, of course. Honing one’s physical senses—sight, smell, taste, hearing and touch—had been a focus of The Crimson Daggers, but so had developing nonphysical senses. She still vividly remembered the first time she participated in a training mission while blindfolded with her ears and nose stuffed with cotton. At the time, it had been nothing short of frightening, and she’d failed miserably. But she stuck with it, improving with each attempt, and eventually emerged victorious.

“I won’t hire a guide who I haven’t even gotten a good look at,” she said.

“You’re assuming I want the job.”

“You wouldn’t have come if you didn’t. Especially considering you’re the one who’s been watching me from the moment I left your friend’s tavern.”

“True. I could use the coin. It’s not easy for one like me to earn a living when I can count on my claws the number of people in Dunmire who even know I exist.”

“Then why do you live here? Why not go back to where you’re from? Where you’ll be accepted?”

“It’s complicated. Not everyone has the luxury of staying in the place they were born. And I like Dunmire. At night, when most everyone is asleep, it’s peaceful.”

“So about your face…”

“It’s a dealbreaker, huh?”

“Pretty much.”

“Fine. But don’t blame me when you have nightmares.” With that, Dagr used both paws to push back his hood, shaking out the vibrant blue hair she’d spied earlier. Hair that, given all of his other features, could only be described as a mane. A rather lustrous one at that.

“You’re a, well, a lion.” She couldn’t hide the incredulity in her own tone.

“Guilty,” he said with a fanged smile. “Is this the part where we part ways permanently?”

She paused only a moment before saying, “No.”

“You hesitated.”

“Do you blame me? You’re a lion. I’ve never heard about a lion-person-thing.”

“Thing? Now that’s just disrespectful. Though I’m not surprised you haven’t heard of my kind. We are a rare species indeed. We’re not shapeshifters, as we can’t transform between human and animal form. It would almost be better if we could. People are afraid of shapeshifters, but at least they’ve heard of them. But someone who is part lion, part human, but walks on two legs and looks like me? I might as well have two heads and a scorpion’s stinger tail. Speaking of which, do you mind if I let my tail out? It’s feeling kind of cramped tucked under my cloak.”