“I expected more.” Though mild, Nayan’s tone conveyed a realm’s worth of disappointment. “Certainly you have had enough time to turn out multiple pieces since we last discussed your progress. Did I not make it clear we have a deadline?”

Venkat heard the unspoken censure all too loudly. He’d let his attention splinter, singling out one dream runner, when it should have been fixed on his craft. On their project, which would, at least in theory, solve the problem of the garudas and make dream running irrelevant.

“So you talked to Madhu,” he said, striving to sound conversational.

“I did.” Nayan sighed. “My son, what is it you seek to achieve here?”

Venkat could tell Nayan he’d been planning to try forging calibrated potions next, until he’d seen the life restored to Tanvi’s face and heard the emotion in her voice, and how that had inspired another idea.

He saw her plaintive eyes again, begging him to help her. The shy smile when she reached for her bracelet in the treasury.

A warning bell went off in his brain. No, he couldn’t say anything about that.

If Nayan even suspected she’d been here in the workshop . . .

“She’s burning out,” Venkat blurted, and something in him broke. “I can’t lose another runner. I’m sorry.”

Lying. He was lying yet again to the person who’d taken him in and given him a home and a craft. Who’d seen potential in him no one else had.

Nayan regarded him for a moment before speaking. “I see.”

Venkat braced himself for a lecture. After all, he’d broken a cardinal rule by letting things with Tanvi get personal, never mind sharing secrets that could put their entire operation in jeopardy. Even if Nayan didn’t know that part, the fact that Venkat was hiding things just made it all worse.

He should tell Nayan. He should.

But he couldn’t forget the pain in her voice, the grief in her eyes.

“I realize you feel an attachment to the girl,” Nayan said kindly, “and that you are invested in her well-being. Indeed, the fullness of your heart is what grants your dreamsmithing such power. But I have entrusted you with a tremendous responsibility, and what I ask of you in return is respect.”

Venkat bowed his head. “I know. But I can’t let her go. Not yet, anyway.”

Please, he chanted, please don’t say it. If Nayan suggested they send Tanvi back to Prithvi like they’d done with the other burned-out runners, Venkat didn’t think he could keep from arguing.