Only when she paused for breath did she realize how foolish it was to trust this creature who wore a dragon’s shadow, a haunt who had stolen a man’s body for its own purposes, who spoke casually of hunting down and eating spirits. Who hadn’t actually ever answered when she’d wondered aloud if he was a sorcerer. Yet she hadn’t hesitated to trust him.

“A griffin scout? How intriguing! I heard there is one missing.”

Elen blew out a breath in relief, collected herself, and went on in what she hoped was her usual pragmatic tone. “Presumably, this is the griffin scout meant to bring word to the intendant of your arrival. Let it seem your discovery is happening by chance.”

“Why? Did you kill the griffin and scout and need me to cover it up?”

She laughed. “Very kind, I’m sure. But no. I’m not in the habit of killing griffins or their riders, since I doubt I could if I wanted to. Which I don’t.”

“Oh, you could,” he remarked as easily as if commenting upon the weather. “Your viper is deadly to all living creatures, except you. Did you not know?”

She rubbed her arm, thinking of the Duenn Manor captain who had assaulted Ao. After her viper had bitten him, Roel had died in agony, unable even to scream. But she knew better than to fall down this abyss into a past she was better off never revisiting. She stubbornly veered back to the matter at hand.

“I never knew a griffin scout was in the area. I only heard the prince had sent one when the prince told the intendant. I am hiding the identity of the person who revealed the truth to me, since their involvement will bring unjustified punishment on their head.”

“Who was it?”

“I am hiding the identity of—”

“Very well. It shall be as you say.” He clasped his hands behind his back and surveyed the canyon, the far rim, the line of the road, the uneven heaps of scree caught among the shattered buildings of the buried town. In a louder tone, he said, as if to the High Heavens, “What a lovely view except for the terrible fate visited upon the humble folk who lived below all unknowing on the morning of their death.”

The words hit as knives to Elen’s heart. She hurried forward, suddenly wanting nothing more than to escape the burst of pain. She wasn’t even sure she knew how to grieve. She just had to keep moving, lest they stumble into Spore and be eaten by the very poison that wanted only to consume lives.