Gian yanked her sword out, too late. His stick thumped her in the chest, sent her stumbling back.

He grabbed Lilia’s arm.

Lilia shrieked and kicked at the dirt. She remembered chitinous red armor. Heavy air. And the trefoil with the long tail. She closed her eyes until she saw the bright, burning image of the trefoil in her mind.

It will bring you back to me, her mother had said, but it had brought her back to the wrong place.

Lilia kicked the man in the knee. He cursed, stumbled back. Swung his stick. Lilia covered her face.

Pain seared her skin. Brilliant light surged across her vision. The image of the trefoil burst in her mind. A whump of air knocked her back. She landed hard on her tailbone. The man screeched.

Gian ran forward. Lilia’s head ached; she began to tremble violently, uncontrollable spasms that shook her whole body. Her jaw clenched. Gian killed me, she thought.

The man was screaming. Screaming. The way they had screamed in the village.

“It’s all right,” Gian said. She made little shushing sounds. “It’s all right.”

Lilia thought Gian was talking to the man, but as her vision cleared, she saw Gian crouching next to her, one hand on her forehead, the other on her sternum, holding her down as she jerked and flailed on the forest floor.

The fit lasted several minutes. When it was over, Lilia was exhausted, spent.

Gian asked to take Lilia into her arms and carried her back down the hill to the clearing near the rocky outcrop. Lilia had not realized how strong she was. Lilia buried her face in Gian’s hair and wept.

Gian held her while she cried.

“It’s all right,” Gian said. Her voice sounded distant. She was staring off into the woods. “I drew too much. I hurt you, too. I’m sorry. I won’t let that happen again.”

“You can’t do that,” Lilia said. “You can’t hurt the ungifted like that.”

“I used up a great deal of power,” Gian said. “It was my fault. Sometimes, I panic and pull too much. Kalinda says it’ll burn me out someday.”

“What did you do to him?”

“I flayed him,” Gian said. “Don’t go back there. I’ll get his heart and his liver. We’ll eat well tonight.”

“The sanisi will find us.”

“He’s close, no doubt,” Gian said. “But we’ll keep moving. My people aren’t far from here. It’s why I agreed to take you. Just another day to the northeast, and you’ll have your answers.”

Lilia saw the bloody body of the man crumpled on the hill. Gian could do anything she wanted with her. She wasn’t bound by temple rules. Why had she taken Lilia’s bargain, then?

“Kalinda wanted you kept safe from the Kai,” Gian said. “My friends can protect you better than I can.”