“No, not you.” Kaen looked displeased. “I placed my faith in you and your master once. I no longer believe you’ve been steadfast in your loyalty. First the Black Knight and now Tya. Tya? This should never have gone so far.”

Senera bowed. “As you say, Your Grace.”

“What about my family?” the blue-haired man interjected. “You promised that you’d reunite me with my family.”

Kaen stopped and looked at the man.

“I mean … I … please. My Hon.”

Kaen said, “Wyrga, take the prisoners and our new friend here down to the Spring Caves. I want you to make sure they can’t escape. If anyone tries to remove them without my permission, I want you to destroy them.”

“What? But I told you everything!” the Yoran man protested.

Qown had his own reasons for disbelief. He was reasonably certain Duke Kaen had no idea Janel and her mother, Tya, had rendered the caves safe. So Kaen had—or rather, thought he had—just sentenced them all to a terrible and slow death. Indeed, Kaen’s vague instructions didn’t prevent Wyrga from killing them either, so long as she kept their bodies in the caves. But he’d also made life difficult for her, since the duke had effectively demanded Wyrga kill Tya if the goddess showed up to free her daughter.

And Qown didn’t think Wyrga was anywhere near powerful enough for that.

Wyrga must have realized as much. She threw a murderous look at the duke, but he either didn’t see it or didn’t care.

“Husband, what are you doing? This can’t—”

“Don’t cross me!” the duke screamed. Then he motioned to the guards, who didn’t realize they too were being sent to their deaths. “Take them downstairs.”

“You’ve lost weight,” Ninavis said as they were marched downstairs toward the caves.

“Nice to see you too,” Brother Qown snapped.

“No, I mean: Are you eating enough? You look like they’ve been starving you. I liked the baby fat. It was cute.” Ninavis glanced around, looking for some way to escape, looking for some opportunity.

“You did?” He shook his head. “No, no. I just … I forget to eat sometimes.”

Ninavis threw him a concerned look.

They walked down five flights with a guard carrying Janel slung over his shoulder. Then they heard a voice from an adjacent hallway, yelling for them to wait. Senera appeared.

She’d either opened a gate or she’d run. Possibly both.

“How many floors down are we going?” Ninavis asked out of the corner of her mouth.

“You don’t want to know,” Qown said. “It’s a large building.”

“Wait,” Senera said, holding her side as if she had a stitch. “The duke forgot to have me spell you.”

Ninavis groaned. “Oh, it’s you. I hate you.”