“Dhan, it’s me, Ash.” I did not lower my weapons. He was a healer, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t hurt me. I’d taught him how to use his curved sword that even now wavered in front of my face.

“Ash?” He said my name as though he wasn’t entirely sure.

“Yes. I am an elemental from the Rim. I helped you build your home here.” I kept my eyes locked on his while being completely aware of all around us. Just in case he had another trick up his sleeve.

Dhan shook his head once. “No, she said Ash was dead. That I could no longer keep my home.”

A chill swept through me. “Who said that?”

“A queen,” he whispered. “But the cat spoke and she told me to wait for you. That she wanted a message given. You aren’t to go after her. Let her go.”

My jaw ticked and I lowered my two swords. “Dhan, thank you.”

He shivered and ran a hand over his face. “She spelled me to attack you, friend. Only . . .”

“Only because you are a supernatural, it didn’t work so well?” I offered.

“Because I am a healer.” He breathed out softly and the weapon clattered to the floor. He slumped and I caught him right before he hit the ground. Moving swiftly, I carried him to one of the large bedrooms and laid him down.

“What do you remember of her?” I sat beside him because he wouldn’t let my arm go. He clung to me, as though fear had made him wildly uncertain.

“She said you would come here looking for her. She took my healing for herself. She was dying, wounded badly. But she took my healing and then hurt me.”

Understanding dawned slowly. Cassava had been injured by Lark after all. Driving the avalanche had been done to slow us down, to give her time to escape to Dhan. I was not surprised she knew about him; she’d been my queen and the one I reported to during the escapades with the idiots. I’d told her all about him and his miraculous ability to bring people back from the brink.

“Dhan, did she have anyone with her? A man, perhaps?” I didn’t want to lead him too much. I needed his words to be the truth, and not what he thought I wanted to hear.

“Maybe.” He frowned. “But . . . he . . . told me . . . to forget.”

Of course he did. There was no way Cassava could have spelled Dhan on her own—she needed Raven now to do her dirty work. Damn it, they were so many steps ahead of me. “Was there anything else?”

He drew in a breath and then shook his head. “I’m not sure. Get me that bottle over there, it will help me recover.”

I went to the dresser where he pointed and grabbed a large green glass bottle with a cork in the top. I brought it back to him and uncorked it. The strong heady aroma of jasmine filled the air. Dhan took the bottle and swallowed it down until it was empty. He leaned back and closed his eyes. “Give it a minute.”

From the front of the house came a loud grunt. “Hey. Is there a prank with this skeleton?”

Dhan’s eyelids flickered open and a smile hovered for a moment. “You brought a Yeti with you?”

“Long story.” I stood and made my way out to where Norm hovered over the skeleton, pushing it with one big foot.

“Is it a joke?”

“No, come on back, I want you to meet my friend.”

Norm leapt over the skeleton, clearing it by a good six feet, and landed almost on top of me. I stumbled back and he shot out a hand to catch me. “Sorry, don’t want her to reach up and touch me.”

“Fair enough,” I grunted, and then led the way back to where Dhan was already looking better. “Norm, meet my friend Dhan.” I backed out of the room and headed to the kitchen. There was a pot of food on the stove; I peered into it. By the smell and color, I was guessing a curried chicken, and a part of me was hoping for butter chicken. I hadn’t had that in over fifty years and my mouth salivated at the thought. Even better, it looked fresh, probably made only in the last day or so.

I flicked the gas stove on and started the food to heating. Dhan would need his strength back, and both Norm and I needed to eat as well. Unlike Lark, who went into things without much thought, I’d learned the hard way that you had to take care of yourself if you wanted to see a hunt through to the end successfully. Within minutes, the pot was bubbling. I scooped it into three bowls, stuffing some naan bread I found into each to use as a scoop.

I stepped back into the bedroom and Dhan gave a low whistle. “I never thought of you as a housewife, Ender Ash.”

“Glad I could amuse you. Do you want to eat or should I give it to Norm there?”

Dhan held out a hand, and I gave him the smallest of the bowls, the largest to Norm, and the final one to me. As men are wont to do, we settled down to eat, no questions passing between us. The silence was a nice change after all of Norm’s questions about pranks.

But the silence, of course, could not last. Dhan put down his bread when his bowl was only half empty. “What happened, Ash?”

I chewed the last of my meal and put the empty bowl on the side table. “The woman who came to you was my queen, and she has taken hostage a companion to my mate.”

That last word hit me in the chest. The first time I’d said out loud that Lark and I belonged together. The burn in my heart suddenly had nothing to do with the heat of the curry dish.

Dhan gave me a solemn nod. “It is good to see you involved in this world, finally.”

I frowned at him. “What do you mean?”