When I saw the sheet of mahogany hair, I was certain I was seeing things. When I noticed it was attached to a heart-shaped face atop a curvaceous figure, I knew I had not gone mad. And then I got mad.

“What do you think you are doing?” I barked, storming forward.

Celine was reaching for Donna’s arm, and I snagged her wrist in mid-air. She leaped at least two inches into the air in surprise, and, the moment her eyes fell on me, her face dropped. Guilt flooded her cheeks in pink heat as she realized I had caught her disobeying my order.

“I was just…” she began. Her voice died off in an unspoken explanation, and she looked to her friend for help.

Donna unwrapped her arm from Celine’s and stepped forward brazenly. “She was getting out of that house,” she said loftily, tilting her chin upward to look me directly in the eye. “She’s been stuck in there for too long.”

“You were told to stay inside,” I growled.

“I know!” Celine said, her voice high-pitched. “But I haven’t been out in eight days!”

“Irrelevant.” I tugged on her wrist, pulling her to me. Gazes were turning in our direction from all sides, and the incessant chatter that was the soundtrack to the Fifth Ward market quieted to a meager buzz. Celine blushed a deeper hue of crimson as she realized the abundance of attention on us.

“Can you not treat me like a child?” she intoned.

I glared at her. “When you behave like a responsible adult, I will treat you as such.”

“What are you going to do?” she challenged, that spark of defiance lighting in her eyes. “Throw me over your shoulder again and carry me back home?”

“I have had worse ideas,” I retorted.

In truth, I was itching to do just that. I wanted to grab her arousing body, march her back to the dormitory, and take her up to her room to exhaust her until she had no desire to do anything but sleep. With the number of people staring at us, though, I refrained and, instead, I jerked her wrist.

“Come,” I commanded.

“She’s fine,” Donna insisted. She sounded angry, but she was looking at me with something I could only identify as desire. I was far from interested.

“And lucky she is,” I snapped at the blonde. Throwing a sharp look back at Celine, I repeated, “Come. Now.”

“No,” she replied stubbornly. “You don’t get to dictate what I do outside of these laws and regulations you never told me about even though you’re supposed to be my guide. If everyone else is allowed out until dark, I am too. Contrary to what you think, I don’t belong to you.”

It was as if I had been slapped squarely in the face. Had her words been a hand, my cheek would have turned navy with the impact. In my mind, my order for her to remain inside was purely for her protection—a little overzealous, perhaps, but the intentions were good. Clearly, she had interpreted it differently than I had, along with a number of other things. I eyed her for a long moment, reeling with her venom, then released her wrist and stepped back.

“Perhaps you are right,” I said coolly. “It was my mistake. I apologize.”

She opened her mouth to speak, looking a little rueful, but I turned around and walked away without another word.

Silah was standing near one of the meat vendors where I had left him. He either had no opinion about what just so publicly happened or he hid it well because his expression was mild and unobtrusive. When I drew up to him, he wisely said nothing and returned to studying shanks. The merchant, however, was less tactful.

“Your girlfriend?” he asked in A’li-uud, grinning toothily at me.

“Hardly,” I answered impassively. I plucked the first cut of meat I saw from the ice-packed table and held it aloft. “I will take this.”

He packed it in a parcel of frozen skin for safekeeping until I returned home and handed it to me, extending his palm upward for payment. I gave him the beads, fingernail-sized globes of aspex, and waited for Silah to make his purchase. He, too, paid with the aspex beads. They were a form of currency used only in Montemba, and they were generally only accepted at the markets. Most citizens operated by trade, exchanging goods of equal worth. Vendors sought the beads, though, to sell to citizens of other kingdoms at markets across Albaterra where aspex could not be found and was, thus, a valued commodity.

“Did you tell her about the Novai?” Silah asked when he had finished his transaction, and we had walked a respectable distance from any needling merchants.

“The Elders have not approved the informing of the colonists yet,” I responded matter-of-factly.

He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. We were going to the Headquarters to meet with Dane, but we had a bit of a walk yet, and I could see plainly that Silah was interested in talking.

“No, but I was under the impression she was special to you,” he pressed.

I frowned. “She is my charge, and I am her guide, as I am sure you heard,” I said. Celine’s words ran through my mind again, but I tried to shake them free from my consciousness. “She is due no different treatment than any other colonist here, and that includes access to information still under discussion by the Council.”

“Of course,” Silah said with an inclination of his head. He spoke respectfully, but I could tell he no more believed me than I believed myself.

We had not even come within sight of the Headquarters when I saw Dane. He was waiting at the corner of a crossroads expectantly. When he spotted us, he jerked his chin in greeting, but he continued looking around immediately after. We approached him.

“Were we not to meet at the Headquarters?” I asked, glancing around as well as if to locate what he sought.

“Yes,” he said with a sharp nod. “I am waiting for our guests.”

Silah and I exchanged glances. “Who will be joining us, Fierce One?” Silah inquired curiously.

Dane jerked his chin again, but his gaze was directed over my shoulder. I twisted my neck, and my jaw nearly fell open.

“I have called upon Sevani and Khrel,” he announced in a low tone, meant only for Silah and I to hear. “Desperate times.”

As the brawny A’li-uud strode up the street, their gait forceful and confident, their skin shimmering teal beneath the sun, I took in a sharp breath. If Dane had requested the presence of Sevani and Khrel, we were more than desperate.

We were doomed.