Looking past Thero, Alec saw a beautiful, raven-haired woman in a simple brown gown and green silk scarf standing by the tent door. For an instant his belly clenched; she didn’t really look like the woman he’d seen yesterday—for one thing, her eyes were so dark they were nearly black, rather than blue—but there were enough common features of color and build to make him look twice.

“Who are you?” It came out more rudely than he’d intended, but the shock of Klia’s loss blasted everything else from his mind.

“I’m Doctor Kordira. I examined Lady Zella and thought you’d like a report firsthand.” She looked past him to Seregil. “Perhaps my skills are needed, as well?”

“What about Lady Zella and Klia?” asked Seregil.

“Zella was found lying by the bridge on the highroad below Mirror Moon. She was taken to your estate and I was sent for. I haven’t been able to get much sense out of her, except her claim that she was attacked by demons.”

“What sort of demons?” asked Thero, who’d gone deathly pale.

“She raved of shadows and no faces and being surrounded by them.”

“Shadows with no faces,” Thero groaned as he took out a blood-spotted linen handkerchief and clutched it. He saw Alec’s questioning look. “Klia.” He performed the spell and his whole body sagged. “She’s gone.”

“What do you mean, gone?” asked Seregil.

“There’s no sign of her, which means—” He stopped himself from speaking in front of Kordira, but Alec guessed that he was thinking she was either dead or in the same place that Mika was. If either of them was dead on this side, Thero would know it.

“The dra’gorgos must have taken her and her escort,” said Alec.

“But not Zella,” Seregil noted with icy calm.

“Dra’gorgos? Forgive me, my lords, but I don’t understand,” said Kordira.

Seregil managed to sit up and swing his legs over the side of the bed, blankets wadded across his lap. “Hand me my breeches, Alec.”

“No.”

Kordira looked around at them, perhaps gauging the sudden increase in tension, then said, “I think I’ll go find something to drink. Send for me if you need me.”

“I said give me my breeches,” Seregil said again as soon as she was gone.

Alec locked eyes with him. “No. You’re not up to it yet.”

Seregil gave him a disbelieving look. “I’m going with you.”

“No, you’re not. I’m in good shape and I could have died in there if I didn’t have a little food with me. The state you’re in, I don’t think we could carry enough to keep you going, and we’d probably end up having to carry you, too. I’m sorry, Seregil, but you’d be a liability right now.”