‘The suns’ll go down before we get anywhere useful,’ said Varg. ‘Do you want to set up a camp or go on through the night?’

‘When the suns go down, I have to go too.’

‘Why not wait one night? We’ve only just found each other again.’

‘Because if I wait one night, I might never have the strength to go.’

‘I’m okay with that.’

She reached up to touch his face. ‘I … I can’t, Varg. Please don’t make this any harder for me.’

‘I don’t understand you Sapphire, an’ I don’t get why you’re following such a stupid order. If Pari told me to do something like this, I’d tell her to piss off.’

Chandni didn’t say anything about this being more to do with the nature of true authority, or that Lord Rochant Sapphire could hardly be compared to Lady Pari Tanzanite. ‘I made a deal with the Wild and now I have to pay the price. That’s just the way it is.’

He set his jaw in a way she didn’t like. ‘Then I’m going to pay it with you.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous.’

‘I made a deal too, with Fiya, so I could stay in that tree, remember? I’m just as bad as you.’

Chandni had made that same deal. With horror, she realized that she’d never mentioned it to Lord Rochant. How lost must I be that a deal with the Wild becomes trivial? Forgettable? But then, compared to the others, it was trivial. A little hair was nothing, compared to giving up her own blood and nails, or the blood of another …

‘I don’t think you’re as bad as me, Varg. Believe it or not, in some ways, I think you’re better.’ She sighed. ‘But you must make your own choices.’ He squeezed her closer to him and she added: ‘I wish you were somewhere else, with someone else, where you could be happy, but … I am glad you’re here.’

‘Yeah?’

‘Yes.’

If she could have stopped time and stayed on the wagon, she would have. However, the suns continued to cross the sky, preparing to set in all their inexorable cruelty.

‘Here,’ she said.

Varg brought the wagon to a stop. ‘You wait on the Godroad,’ he said to Glider.

Glider barked back, making it clear she was not happy about the situation.

‘Let her out,’ said Chandni. ‘We won’t be coming back and she should be allowed to make her own choices too.’

He nodded and unstrapped the Dogkin. ‘There. You’re free now.’

Glider watched them with her mismatched eyes as they climbed down the side of the Godroad. She barked at them several times as they walked away, then jumped off to pad alongside.

Chandni stroked her muzzle. ‘Thank you.’