Topknot brought her a cup filled with water that tasted of metal and smelled of swamp, but she drank it anyway. When she was finished, he backed away at once. She looked around. The Goblins had faded away. She was alone with Hobstull and the master of the keep.

“Do you know where you are?” the latter asked. “You may answer.”

She nodded. The demon waved dismissively, and pain ratcheted through her once more, dropping her into a fetal position, where she lay moaning and sobbing. The demon studied her impassively, then came forward a step.

“Answer me as you have been taught. I want to hear you speak the words you were told to speak.”

She squeezed her eyes shut against her humiliation and rage, fighting to keep from breaking down completely. “Yes, Master,” she whispered.

“Do you know where you are? You may answer.”

“Inside the Forbidding, Master.” She opened her eyes again and looked up.

“Inside the world of the Jarka Ruus,” the demon corrected softly. “Where I brought you to live.”

She barely heard it; her head was buzzing with the aftereffects of the conjure collar’s pain. The demon beckoned to Hobstull, who moved to fill the water cup once more, then hauled her to her knees so that she could drink again of the foul-tasting water. She accepted his gift wordlessly.

“You may thank me,” the demon said.

She took a deep breath. “Thank you, Master.”

The demon nodded. “Hobstull is not pleased with you. You made him work much harder than he intended when he left here three days ago. You made him feel inadequate. He is my Catcher, my finder and keeper of specimens. He is the one you must rely on for food and drink, so you don’t want to upset him.”

She looked briefly at Hobstull, who stared back at her with the same inquisitive look he had displayed earlier.

“Hobstull uses traps meant to lure his quarry by sounds, sights, and smells that speak to their deepest needs. He is very good at it. I have acquired many specimens as a result of his cleverness and perseverance. You are the latest and perhaps the most important. But you are still only a specimen. Do you understand?”

A specimen. She kept the anger from her face and voice with an effort. “Yes, Master.”

“Good.” The blue eyes glittered. “I am Tael Riverine, Straken Lord of Kraal Reach. I rule here. I rule everything from the Dragon Line north to the Quince south, from Huka Flats west to Brockenthrog Weir east. I rule you. Learn to accept this. I am your master, now and forever.”

A pause. “Do you understand, Grianne Ohmsford, once Ard Rhys of the Druids?”