The place seemed desolate now, with Lucius gone. Han kept expecting the old man to come banging out the door, calling, “Boy! That you, boy? Got me some product to go to town!”

Lucius had done terrible things. He’d betrayed his best friend and the woman he loved, and he’d lied to Han. He was weak—but he was also one of the few pegs Han’d had to hang his life on, growing up.

Was there any way to change a story that had been told for a thousand years? Han imagined himself going before the deans at Oden’s Ford, explaining that he and his dead ancestor, the Demon King, had interviewed the drunk hermit of Hanalea and it turned out Alger Waterlow wasn’t a fiend after all. That the powerful Bayar family had caused the Breaking, then remade history to blame it on a love-struck young wizard who didn’t know when to give up.

Dog moped about, inconsolable. Han didn’t really know what to do with dogs. He’d never had a pet of his own—to Mam, that was one more mouth to feed. He allowed Dog to sleep at the foot of his bed, and woke in the morning to find himself crowded to the edge, Dog’s nose pressed into the small of his back.

When Han and Dancer returned to Marisa Pines, Han took Dog along. In the camp, Dog clung to Han like a sucker vine, growling and snapping at the camp dogs and defending Han against imagined threats. Willo was the only one who could win him over.

Han enjoyed the sanctuary of Willo’s hearth, for what he knew might be the last time. Everything would change when Elena and Averill learned of Dancer’s parentage, which they surely would. Dancer was growing edgy, being apart from Cat for so long. More and more, he mentioned returning to town.

Willo seemed loathe to let Dancer go. “I worry about you these days, whenever you are out of my sight. I think we were right in confronting Bayar. And if it helps Hunts Alone, that’s a good thing. But I have no doubt that Lord Bayar will find a way to take revenge on us.”

They were just finishing dinner when the camp dogs set up a clamor that said there were visitors approaching. Han and Dancer walked outside, with Dog plastered to Han’s side, his ears laid back.

A lone rider approached, with the standard Demonai escort. The rider reined in outside the Matriarch Lodge and slid to the ground.

It was Cat Tyburn, incongruously dressed in a yellow gown with tall boots underneath, riding an unfamiliar horse.

“Cat!” Dancer ran forward and embraced her, swinging her around in a circle. “I have missed you. Thank you for coming.”