I scooted out from under him, sitting up on my arse, hearing a constant low sizzle, and now seeing I was correct.

We were imprisoned in a magical red veil that sparkled in a dome all around us.

Cassius’s arm captured me at my waist, dragging me on my rear across the leaves and dirt and plastering me to his side, doing this raising his sword again with his other arm, but I noted he did not raise it to the point it touched the veil.

He was also on his behind, but somehow he managed to look alert and fierce, even sitting on his arse in some leaves.

But now I had confirmation of the reason for his grunt. Touching that veil caused pain, even if you didn’t do it bodily. He must have touched it with his sword.

He did not know Zees.

I sighed.

This was going to take some diplomacy and I wasn’t sure Cassius was up for that.

The Zees came out in force, surrounding us.

“Fucking hell,” Cassius muttered grimly.

I started counting.

I quit, still not done, when I got to thirty.

“What’s this, what’s this?” the voice that came earlier came now attached to a man who was standing beyond the veil right in front of us.

He wore a hat, but even so, I could see the scarf tied around his forehead under it. His hair was long, dark, and flowing over his shoulders and down his chest. His short jacket was open, the shirt beneath unbuttoned low. He had many necklaces hanging down his bare chest, some with medallions, most made of beads. His wide eyes were rounded heavily with black kohl. The sword at his back had a large jewel at the bottom of the hilt that blinked in the moonlight.

“An Airenzian soldier and a Nadirii warrior?” he asked. “Have we interrupted a spat between two forbidden lovers?”

“Be on your way,” Cassius growled.

“I have not seen this in all my years,” the Zee stated.

“You look naught but twenty-five,” Cassius returned, and the man burst out laughing.

Through it he put his hand to his chest and said, “You flatter me.”

“I’ll say it only once more, be on your way,” Cassius demanded.

“We shall, oh, we shall,” the man replied. “After you toss your coin pouch through the veil. And I like the look of your sword and dagger, thus we shall take those too.” He tipped his head my way. “Your warrior’s dagger as well.”

“We will not be doing that,” Cassius told him.

The man quirked just one dark, arched brow. “No?”

“No,” Cassius confirmed.