“Wait,” she said. “Movement alarms it.”

A body’s length from them, the viper lifted its head and flicked out its tongue to smell the air, to taste his presence. But Kem did not interest the viper; he wasn’t its prey. It lowered its head, unconcerned, sensing no threat in him. As it crawled closer and closer, he tugged on her arm. “Aunt! Move!”

“Trust me. It won’t hurt me, or you.”

He stared in stunned disbelief as it crawled up to her hand and dissolved into her arm. Into her body.

“What?” he gasped. “What? How? Your arm. Is that why you always rub it? Have you always … Of course. Of course! It explains…” He trailed off, panting.

“Explains what?” She swallowed her fears and hopes and dreams, all useless. She had to stay calm as she rolled down her sleeve and pulled her glove back on. She was prepared for him to reject her now.

“Something Mama said once that I didn’t understand and she wouldn’t explain. I thought it was just her way of phrasing things but now…” He touched the ribbon that tied back his hair. “Is that the only way in and out?”

“Yes, my wrist is the only way in and out. It’s not going to attack you. It only hunts Spore. Not people or animals.”

“B-but is it poisonous? If it eats Spore, if it can go into and out of the Pall, why doesn’t it infest you with Spore?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never known.”

“Have you always … had it?”

“I think I was born with its egg in my heart, and then eventually it hatched.”

He pressed his fingers against his eyes, sighed grievously, looked at her. “And Mama?”

“She was no different from you or any other person, Kem. It’s just me.”

The Pall shone gauzily beneath the sky. The wind had died. In the quiet, they heard the clop of horses’ hooves as someone moved them into the stable, then silence.

“They’ll burn you,” he said softly. “They’ll chain you to an iron pillar inside a shrive-steel cage and burn you on the burning ground.”

“That’s why I never told you. It wasn’t fair to burden you with this secret. But now you know.”

“Oh!” he said angrily. “So now you think because I’m a novice warden, I’ll just betray you to others and give you up for some kind of reward? Is that what you think!”

“No! Of course that’s not what I think! Why would you say that?”

“You’ve been so awful to me on this journey! Barely speaking to me! Like you’re mad at me!”

“Mad at you! I just wanted to give you space. You’re the one who is mad at me.”

“I have every right to be mad at you!” he shouted.

“Yes! You do!”