She fixed her gaze resolutely on his face. Nothing about his stance threatened her, but she was sure it was a test. “I think you are in danger of waking the custodian, or the archon, and having to explain an action no imperial prince would ever take.”

“Ah, but you see, they are all asleep.”

“The entire village is asleep?” She sidestepped to get a look into the custodian’s room. Ralt slept with the door open so folk seeking aid might easily rouse him. There was enough light that she could make out the old custodian stretched out on his humble cot. Ralt snorted in his sleep, sighed, and settled back.

“Are you truly unfamiliar with this simple enchantment?” the haunt asked.

“I’ve never heard of such a thing. It doesn’t seem so simple to me. It seems powerful.”

“Things can be both powerful and simple. You, for example.”

“Me?” Again, she met his gaze, starting to feel annoyed.

He examined her face, lips curving up. “Am I distracting you?”

“From my sleep? Yes, you are.”

“I crept out of the compound in order to speak to you,” he admitted, “and also because I needed to see who I am now and what I have to work with. I rather enjoy this body. I apologize if I have in any way offended you or caused you distress. It was not intentional.”

“Wasn’t it?”

“A misunderstanding, perhaps, of the customs of this place. I beg you, Deputy Courier, to acquit me of ill intent.”

He lowered his arms, which made his nakedness seem more approachable, less of a deliberate provocation and more of a random accident. Yet she remained powerfully aware that he attracted her and that, for her part, she was clad in only her undershift, whose hem barely reached the midpoint of her thighs. The brush of soft fabric against her skin made her more aware of the ridiculous sexuality of the situation. She didn’t even know him, and she wasn’t one to bed down with strangers for a single night’s pleasure. More than that, she didn’t think he was trying to seduce her, not physically anyway. Or perhaps he was measuring what other forms of influence and power he possessed in his new body, the way a young child is thrilled to discover they can stand on their own two feet.

What exactly did he want? In an odd way, he seemed both naïve and terribly dangerous.

“All right then, why am I awake if all the others are asleep?” she asked.

“We already had this discussion, did we not?”

“At the Spires?”