The next morning, I swung by the rooms on Block D and no one was there.

This was bad. Very, very bad. It meant they’d found breakfast.

I walked into the food hall and there they were, already eating. I skipped past the food and went right to them. Ruck was hunched over his plate, and nearly groaned when he saw me approaching. I didn’t take it personally. He’d asked for a halt in arguing for one night, and he knew that was all I was going to give him.

Ruck glanced up as I sat down. “We’re not leaving yet, and you can’t make us.”

Sinsy, Marra, and Fetch nodded in agreement. This was going to be a battle.

They continued to eat as I continued to try and get them to see the light. “Listen, you have to leave soon. I’ll get you supplies to take with you. He needs me, so he’ll do it. Ryker, the scary man that’s in charge of this place, is going to start a war.”

“We leave when you leave,” Fetch said.

“We’re very good at extracting ourselves,” Ruck said. “And just so you know, calling someone ‘the scary man’ stopped being scary when I was three. If he was walking around lopping off heads, that would be a different story, but these people are all smiling.” Ruck appeared to have more to say, but opted to continue eating instead.

Sinsy took a break between bites to add, “Besides, this place is nice. It’s got real walls and ceilings without holes. No one looks like they’re getting beaten, either.” That last bit was added with a bit of shock.

Okay, so maybe no one was getting beaten here. There were still huge problems. “And if staying means death?” I asked.

Ruck stared at me with the same intensity I had. “If it means living a life that’s not constant hunger pains and misery? Yeah.”

I jerked back. Misery? Had it really been that bad? It had been a struggle. No denying that. But we’d had each other and we’d survived.

I’d tried to keep them safe, but I hadn’t made them happy.

Ruck paused, fork halfway to his mouth as he realized what he’d just said. “Look, it wasn’t just on you. I couldn’t make it better either. It was what it was.”

It was what it was. That was what someone said when they’d clued you in to reality and didn’t know how to reel back the truth.

“Is that how everyone feels? Everyone wants to stay?” I looked about the table, and it was slow nods all around. “Okay, then stay, but you guys have to promise to get out before it gets ugly.”

Ruck actually put his fork down. “We can’t go when it gets ugly.”

“Why?”

Ruck squinted and shook his head slightly, as if shocked I didn’t understand. “Because you’re my family.”

“Even if it ends horribly, we’re a crew. We don’t split,” Sinsy said.

Marra laid a hand on mine where it rested on the table, and then did her circle. We’re one.

Fetch flipped his fork and then pointed at Marra, as if to say, Exactly.

I nodded. “I’m going to go grab something to eat before I have to go train to get us in a war,” I said, trying to pretend they hadn’t all admitted how miserable they’d been, or that their love for me wasn’t going to get them all killed.

I grabbed a biscuit from the line, because I had to take something after I’d used food as an excuse.

* * *

“You really expect me to sit here with you all day, every day, week after week?” I paced a hole in his living room. A small hole. I’d only gotten there five minutes ago, but that was five minutes too many now that I knew the day loomed long ahead of me, trapped with Ryker. He took up too much space. It was bad enough in the open air, but confined… This was too much.

When I’d arrived, I’d figured we’d go out to the field, knock the shit out of myself for a while trying to get through his ward, then head back in. I didn’t know I’d be stuck in here with him like two sardines in a can all morning.

It was a lot tougher than it sounded, as his magic seemed to flow around me, similar to the first time I’d met him but different. Even then, it hadn’t felt this strong, this overwhelming, as it seemed to circle me, compressing me.

“Not every day. Here and there, until you figure out how to keep your magic in check. It’s not my fault you’ve been running around chaotically all these years.” He didn’t look at me as he spoke, just pored over all sorts of papers laid out on his table on the other side of the living space.

I hated Ryker’s magic. It was too big and too strong. I felt it everywhere when I was near him, and now he was jacking it up.

I paced a few steps away from him, feeling like a wolf about to bite off her leg to get the hell out of this trap. Six months wasn’t so short. I could do a lot of living in six months.

I turned back toward him, since it was that or hit the wall. He stood with his hands flat on the table, forearms tensed and muscular while he looked at a sheet beneath him. At least he didn’t look altogether comfortable either. And didn’t he have some long-sleeve shirts? It wasn’t that warm. Something a little bulkier? What the hell was he doing with himself that he had all those muscles? It would take an awful long time to saw through one of his limbs.

I turned on my heel before I got any closer than five feet from where he was. “What am I supposed to do all day?”

“Whatever you want, as long as it’s quieter than what you’re doing now. I don’t want to listen to you carrying on and on, but I guess we’re both screwed.”

The irritation in his voice made me feel better, and I didn’t care if that was petty. He clearly didn’t want to be doing this either. He wasn’t always pleasant, but I could feel how even his magic was wound tight. Then it bounced off mine and made it even worse, like we were ricocheting off each other’s magic or something.

Fuck this. I had to get out of here. I stood and walked toward the door.

“Before you leave, let me add that the longer this takes, the longer you’re stuck here in general. You’ve only got a six-month extension on your life, and I don’t plan on extending that just so you can throw tantrums.”

I gripped the door handle until my fingers cramped. “You’ve taken control of every aspect of my life. You’ve hijacked my crew and you’re setting me up to have a whopping target on my back. You can call my actions whatever you want, but if you don’t lighten up a little, I’m going to show you that I’m far from a child.”

He wanted to see magic? I felt it churning in me now, as if his had riled it beyond tolerance. If he didn’t stop pushing, I’d let it loose and see what it would do.

“That’s one thing I can’t seem to forget,” he said.

He must’ve felt the wild feel of my magic, too, but he didn’t look scared. He looked like he had the other night by the lake. His magic shifted, felt like it was weaving with mine. It felt…erotic. I’d heard that word before but hadn’t known what it meant until now, this instant, with this man. I felt like someone who couldn’t swim who’d just jumped into twenty feet of water.

I didn’t know what was happening, but he needed to pull it back or I was leaving, and I didn’t care what that meant. “You want me to control mine, get yours in check.”

He blinked and I knew I’d surprised him, or maybe he hadn’t realized how aggressive his magic had gotten. Either way, it pulled back, and I could breathe a little easier for the moment.

“Sorry. Our magic seems to be interacting strangely. I wasn’t expecting that,” he said, and seemed more surprised than me by it.

Had he not known? So much for ironclad control.

I nodded, not wanting to be a total dick after he apologized. After all, the way he’d gritted it out between his teeth, I had a feeling it wasn’t something that came naturally. If he felt discouraged, he might not rise to another apology for a decade, and gods knew he would need more than that with the way he acted.

He straightened, which at least relaxed the muscles in his forearms a bit.

“Come here.”

“What?” I took a step back. Then I took a few steps to the side, as if I couldn’t stand still and that first step had had nothing to do with being afraid to get close to him.

“Come look at the map,” he said, pointing down at the table. “You wanted something to do?” he reminded me in a voice that implied I was acting a few cards short of a full deck.

I went from panicked to disappointed, which was bizarre, since I didn’t want him to touch me. Not that I’d thought he was going to or anything. Hadn’t even been thinking about it. Hadn’t I just backed away from the door to stop physical contact?

I couldn’t think straight anymore, and it had to be the lingering effects of his magic. It had to be. I wasn’t this ridiculous.

I walked to the farthest end of the rectangular table and concentrated on the sheet lying upon it, and not him staring at me. There was plenty to take in. It was huge, with scribbles everywhere and rough-looking circles.

“What is this?” I reached out but froze before I touched it.

“Go ahead,” he said.

I didn’t look at him as my fingers grazed the smooth surface, gliding over the slightly dented texture where the marks were.

“This is a map of where we are and where we are going.” He pointed to one spot. “This is where we are now.” He came around the longer side of the table, closer to my side, and pointed at another spot. “This is Bedlam.”

“Is that point”—I moved my finger closer—“to this point far?” I’d heard it was two days by chugger and two weeks on foot, but I’d always avoided going too far in that direction.

“Without a chugger, it’s a couple of weeks. We need to stay out of sight, so we can’t take any of the roads.” His finger ran the length of the lines that ran in between the two misshapen forms.

There were tree shapes to the left and the Frozen Sea to the right.

“So you want to go through here?” I tapped my finger on the trees, hoping he’d tell me I was wrong, because it was the heart of the Ruined Forest. During the War of 810, strange magic had been released there.

“Yes. Through there.” He lifted his gaze to mine, his eyes intent.

I understood the look. The trip to Bedlam was going to be nearly as bad as the place itself.

It was the most warning I was going to get, and even that was surprising, since it was go or die. He could’ve told me a three-headed giant snake was in those forests—and it might be—and I would still be going because it was the only way he’d help me. And as much as I’d like to kid myself, I was pretty sure he was my best bet to renegotiate with the Debt Collector.

“You’re sure we can’t take the road?” I asked. Just because I’d resigned myself to the danger didn’t mean I was excited about getting eaten whole by a three-headed snake.

“They can’t see us coming. What I want, they’ll guard with their lives.”

“Of course it is,” I said, rolling my eyes.

The evil bastard laughed.

“Are you ever going to let me know what I’m risking my life for?”

“I’ll do better. I’ll show you after I have it.”