The day was spent following the giants' tracks. It was happenstance that we found their camp around noon.

They had been moving around a lot, but they were big; they cleared much greater distances than we were able to on foot, so maybe the space between Bryn Shandor and the city of Taervelaine and the Dwarven Valley was a normal hunting range to them. The camp was watched by day, occupied mostly for rest or relaxation. It was a good time to strike, but there were still four of them left. One was using a sheep rib as a toothpick, another two asleep.

I knelt on a ridge under a tree, watching them. The one I had cut, the one-eyed one, wasn't there. He must be the one roaming this time.

Of the three I could see, all of them had bite marks on their arms, ragged marks from teeth. Where the werewolf hunting me had toyed with them long enough to infect them. Undoubtedly, when I knew it had been following us on the road, then the giants had found us at the dwarven valley. It must have happened sometime between all of that. One bite looked infected, red and puffy. The others were healing. None mattered.

We had days to kill them—all of them.

I crept back, pale and trying not to shake with fear. I explained the marks on them. I said, "We can't wait for Bryn Shandor to act if I'm right. There's only a few days left."

Aela's grip tightened on the mace at her hip. Leeroy looked grim. "We'll need a safe place for the horses. And I advise some simple traps."

I said, "We can make a corral at the camp. And some rope could make a tripwire for a giant between two trees. Pit traps are right out though."

Aela bit her lower lip as she thought. "They have ravenous appetites. Eat nearly anything. You think we can give them a tummy ache?"

Reyne nodded in approval. "We've got to even the odds." He glanced around the wood. "Aela. You're the most skilled in plant identification. I need you to find poison. Hemlock would be preferred, but wolfsbane would be apropos." He shouldered his bow. "I'm going hunting. Leeroy, secure the camp. Valac, the traps. They can see well in the dark, so it's best we plan our attack for daylight."

Leeroy grumbled on the way back, muttering about Reyne's behavior. To my eyes, Reyne had done exactly as I requested; he was trying to order us around in a way that made him less of an asshole, instead calling out our strengths and letting us do the tasks we ourselves had suggested needed doing. Leeroy just hated him so much that he didn't see it.

I said, "Wouldn't any officer act this way?"
He scowled.

I gathered the rope I could use and waved vaguely to him as I set off to find likely places for my traps. I didn't dare leave them out all night, but I could mark the trees with a bit of chalk, try to find the other giant's whereabouts. I worried about Aela and Leeroy by themselves.

I was careful when I walked near the camp, scouting places I could put the ropes. They didn't notice me.

When I got back, Reyne had yet to return, but Leeroy had made a paddock for the horses under some tree cover and put some work into disguising the camp. I helped him cover the tents in pine boughs. Aela came back around sunset, tired, but carrying what she claimed was hemlock. It looked like a wild carrot to me.

Keeping dry in the drizzle was a wasted effort, and my boots were covered in mud. The others looked cold, even though they'd taken appropriate cloaks and boots for spring in the north. I said blandly, trying to squeeze some of the water out of my hair, "Braids will take days to dry."

Leeroy said, "Could cut it."

My eyes flicked up toward him. "Took me twenty years to grow this. Absolutely not."

He laughed. But Aela knew what happened to me twenty years ago, and her expression bordered on despair. She was behind Leeroy and he did not notice.

Three hours until nightfall, I was working on a fire while Leeroy measured out rations, Reyne trotted back into camp. A deer carcass was draped over the back of the horse. It had been dressed and bled. He insisted on cutting off a haunch of it for us tonight, but carefully stuffed the remains with the hemlock. He said, "They'll barely cook the thing. I doubt they'll check too thoroughly." He laced it with the hemlock from the inside, and only carefully.

Reyne told us his plan to get them to eat the deer. Reyne was also the best suited for the task, as the best rider with the horse that he could command mentally; he planned to take his horse dangerously through their territory with the deer carcass on the back of it. Upon spotting a giant, he would flee and drop the carcass. Ever hungry, they would probably take it.

This, I watched him do from a distance. I couldn't see him, exactly, but I could see the giants, the way they behaved. Aela said, "I hope they catch him too. It would serve him right."

I blurted out the words before I had a chance to pull them back. "Oh, no. They'll probably just under or overcook him."

Both of them laughed, wheezing and giggling.

Leeroy sighed. "I don't like him. I think he must have done awful things to be blessed by such an evil thing, but we've no evidence of it." His jaw tightened. Far off near the camp the giants pushed over trees trying to get to him, but they were slowing their hunt.

Aela said, "He sort of admitted to the creation of undead."

I frowned. Strong choice of words. He had implied it was himself, but if pressed on it, he'd just lie about it, and we couldn't say he had broadly admitted it, as such. "Implied it. Nothing we can pin directly on him." I was quiet. "He also never directly admitted to the Bane worship either. Just didn't deny it exactly."

She made a face. "Which he does intentionally."

He had probably been doing this for years. Using his good looks, his charm, his noble birth, his lineage, to gain people's trust and commit atrocities.

One of the giants was pursuing, but only half heartedly before it threw a tree. It must have missed the blow, because it just turned around. I couldn't see distinctly enough to tell if they were bringing back the carcass or not.

Leeroy glanced back at Reyne's tent. "Maybe he left something more substantial behind?"

Aela viewed it as entirely justifiable to search his things, to my shock, and the two were about to raid his tent when I said, "I'll do it. I'm good at this."

Aela said, "I'll trust you to do it then."

Leeroy went back to the overlook and Aela watched the other side. I stole into Reyne's tent. I was methodical about placement, taking nothing, damaging nothing, and carefully pulled things out of his pack, then back in. I found nothing at all out of place or even suspicious.

I opened his sketchbook, thinking that if Aela and Leeroy, who saw wickedness in everything he did, were right, there'd be depictions of blood and death and vile sacrifice in it.

Mostly, it was actually just people. A market scene, a woman dancing, a child playing with a dog. He was a brilliant artist.

My heart sank, not because the sketchbook didn't include any wrongdoing, but looking at it gave Reyne far more depth than I cared to credit to him. It told me there was, in fact, more to him.

He had drawn Aela from the waist up as she had appeared in the caves—dirty, but full of determination and a fierce pride, holding a lantern in one hand aloft. It was an incredible likeness. A few more pages—sailors at the docks, a dwarven smith hammering something on an anvil. A pockmarked harbor whore rendered with such tender care, I would have sworn he knew her.

Me. I was half-finished, but he had captured my likeness with a half-smile on my lips, like I had just turned toward the viewer. He had included the scar on my brow, from where the wolf had bit me, but not the tattoos. He hadn't drawn the collar either. More, I just looked like a person, not a monster, in the image.

Did I really look like that?

There was so much passion in each sketch that I wondered if he hadn't wanted something else out of his life.

I felt guilty for even looking and closed the book, replacing it.

Aela turned when I emerged from the tent. "Anything?"

I shook my head. "No. Aela. We should leave him be. Please. Nothing good can come of us all being hostile to one another right before a fight."

Leeroy agreed but begrudgingly. Aela relented.

I wondered, if I showed them the notebook, if they would understand he was a person.

Reyne got back in the evening from his escapade. I offered him dinner. The others barely acknowledged him. He said, "I've had a long day. See to my horse. She needs the rest."

The others glared at me, but I did it anyway. Reyne had been the one to take the risk. It had been his plan. He had ridden hard all day while we had sat on our asses. I could take care of his horse.

She only tried to bite me twice.

#

It was Leeroy's watch that he called out in alarm. A vision of violence and blood assaulted me upon waking and I leaped out of my bedroll, grabbing weapons before I grabbed my boots. I threw my belt to the side and snatched up my rapier when I saw why Leeroy had yelled.

Aela fell out of her tent, not in her armor but with a shield on one arm, her holy symbol around her neck. Reyne was out of his tent in a heartbeat, half-naked, his greatsword raised—a sight that would have been a fitting advertisement for some romantic stage production. It was a cruel trick of the gods that evil things were often so pleasing to the eye.

The giant stood, swinging a big tree like a club at Leeroy as he wove around its legs, trying to stall for time as we came out of the tents. The horses were in a panic, save Reyne's mare, who leaped the paddock to join the fray, probably at some silent command.

Reyne charged into the melee. Aela hung back, lobbing spells. My bow lay where I had tossed it beside my belt. I didn't have time to string it. I moved in with the other two. If we kept it focused on us, it wouldn't be picking up rocks or uprooting trees to throw at Aela. Rain drizzled and churned the earth to sticky mud.

The giant stepped right in the firepit with its eyes fixed upon us instead of where it put its feet. It howled in pain and hopped back on one foot. Aela's magic hit it in the chest and for a moment, it lit up like a beacon. Seeing an opening, I rushed in and stabbed the tender underside of its enormous foot. My blade pierced right through the tissue, then I dove aside as the foot came down to crush me.

Bark and pine needles flew as it tried to smash Leeroy with the tree. It clipped him in the side as he moved out of the way and knocked him sprawling. Reyne's sword cleaved into the backside of its other leg. The giant reached out to grab me. I rolled and ducked under it. One great finger slapped against my back as I ducked and I had to roll with the blow to keep my balance. It swung its makeshift club about in an arc. Reyne couldn't get out of the way in time and was knocked right off his horse. He lost the greatsword.

The giant turned around. Its injured foot smashed into my tent. A pole snapped. Something must have pressed right into the wound on its foot, for it sprang back, hopping like a clumsy toddler and just as angry. Radiant fire blazed around its feet. Leeroy ran at it. I stabbed into its tendon. Reyne rolled to his feet. The giant reached out toward him, trying to block him from his sword. He dove past, inches from its grip. As its slow, clumsy hands shifted to snatch him, he slashed at its grasping fingers. Blood showered him and coated his sword. Three large fingers lay severed on the ground. The giant screeched.

It stumbled backward, grinding the tent down again. Leeroy slashed into its shin. It hopped, lost its balance, fumbled. One foot slammed down on the side of the cliff face. Then the rock and earth broke under its weight. The giant reached out, all anger and hate mingling with its ever-present hunger. Then fear as it slid.

It reached out for purchase, to find anything that could bear its weight, but as it fell, it gripped only empty earth, tearing deep gauges into the mud, but sliding inextricably backwards. It screamed as it tumbled, smashed against the slope, then bounced, all blubbery fat and decaying furs, then it crashed below.

All was silent for several seconds, and as one, we looked over the side of the cliff, at the unmoving body below.

We moved back. Aela said, "They've got to come investigate that, right?"

Leeroy pointed at the camp. "Doubt it. They went out hunting. Probably still safer to stay here than risk trying to find a new camp in the dark with the rain."

Which left an obvious issue. I fought back a yawn, staring at the wreckage. The tent was a lost cause, but we could dig out most of our stuff. The drake carving had survived only by virtue of it being tossed to one side. Leeroy threw the severed body parts over the cliff.

Reyne said, "One of you can stay in my tent. Fuck impropriety." He mopped blood off of his face with a cloth.

I scowled. "It's not that it's prudish—"

"Isn't it?"
Leeroy said, "Valac, you've been friends with Aela for a while. Why don't you—"

I shook my head. "It's fine." I cleaned off my blade and slid it back in its sheath. Aela helped us sort the wreckage. Reyne stood watch. After a slight redistribution of watch shifts, Leeroy moved his things into Aela's tent. Reyne made space for me.

When we lay there, in the dark, he said, "Trying to keep the peace between myself and Leeroy? Commendable."

"Goodnight, Reyne," I muttered. I rolled onto my side and tried to relax, then rolled back over to glare at him. I could not fight back a snarl, some ancient part of both our ancestries rearing to hatred. I hissed, "You could try not to be so infuriating. You could try to get along with people."

He snorted, but the sparks of my anger caught in him. "Why should I when you are always so accommodating?"

"You don't make it easy. You're causing conflict and I cannot keep smoothing this out."

He sat up, glaring down at me, which made me sit up to avoid being that far down. "By noon tomorrow, we'll have slaughtered the last three. We'll be back in Bryn Shandor soon and we never have to speak to one another again."

Some primal part of my brain screamed at me to stab him in the neck, my immortal devilish ancestor shrieking at me from the Nine Hells to destroy this ancient enemy. I wondered if he was undergoing the same thing. We had to fight with words. I sneered. "I can't wait." My hand inched toward the dagger under my bedroll.

He inhaled sharply, eyes fixed upon me like a predator stalking prey. He pulled himself partway from his bedroll. He leaned closer as he spoke, his tone soft as if he were whispering to a lover. I didn't think he was the kind of person to whisper sweet nothings. I didn't think he was the kind of person who regarded another person enough to do anything but rent their time. "Every instinct I have is to end your blight upon the land, you devil-blooded bastard. I could do it in the fight tomorrow. And no one would ever know the difference."

"Do not think I could not have slit your throat half a dozen times already," I said gently.

He moved quickly and I jerked, frozen. One of his fists were clenched in my wet hair, but the other held a short dagger to my throat. His eyes flicked down, to where my hand poised with the tip of the dagger tickling his chiseled stomach.

He took a breath, tentatively pulling back the knife from my throat. His grip on my hair eased. Slowly, I pulled the knife tip away from him. Neither of us quite willing to put it away, or turn our backs to the other.

I said, "This was a bad idea."

"I agree."

A brief pause. I lifted my head. He let go of my hair, but didn't quite move his hand away.

With both of us staring at one another, close enough to kiss, I went ahead and kissed him. I'm not sure why. Maybe the tension of the past few days. Maybe something else. But he pushed forward and kissed me back, open-mouthed and hot. I dropped the dagger when he gripped my shoulder to shove me down. I did not go willingly and we were nearly matched in strength.

He shifted to pin me. The bedroll was frustratingly between us. I tried to move my head to the side, to avoid his kiss, but he gripped my hair tight enough to hurt in an effort to keep my head still. He pulled back, panting. "I've got twenty minutes until my watch." He took a breath and got off of me. He said, "Get out of that." He shook his head. "And if you want Leeroy and Aela to respect you, we'll have to be damned quiet."

I crawled out of the bedroll. He pounced back on me. I grinned, pushing back, but I was at a bad angle and he wrestled me down. I could have planted both of my feet and rolled, using him as a counterweight—if I wanted to. If it wasn't more fun to let him pin me, and if I wasn't worried about the noise our wrestling would cause.

Pinning my arms, he shoved his thigh between my knees. He knew right where to leverage and he got himself between my legs before I could try to roll to the side, just so his victory was a little harder fought. I jerked in surprise as I felt his weight press down on top of me. My breathing was slow, steady. I was grinning. His length pressed against my groin and I panted with want.

He stared down at me. "Oil, by chance?"

I shook my head. "No. Hells." I put my free hand to his chest and pushed him off me. I reached for his laces, then bent my head down. He leaned back, hand on my head but not forcing me down. He was so big it was bound to hurt my jaw, but we didn't have long and knew it, so we were quick about it. I swallowed it when he came and pulled back. I smiled lazily. "Are you satisfied, sir?" My mouth tasted like salt.

He smiled. His fingertips touched my chest and he gently pushed me onto my back. He kissed my neck, biting a little harder than I liked. I clamped my hand over my mouth to stifle a gasp. I was not remotely expecting him to do any more than stick his hand down my breeches. Instead, he kissed down to my groin. I was absolutely shocked when he put his mouth around me, and more—he very clearly enjoyed doing it. His mouth was hot and wet, and he bobbed up and down on me with an enthusiasm I wasn't expecting.

He was good at it.

He swallowed when I finished, then crawled his way up to kiss me. I felt the blade again at my throat. Reyne pulled back, nibbling on my lower lip. "Don't trust me, Valac."

I lifted my head a little, exposing more of my throat. "You won't kill me, sir." I smiled, a little breathless. "Aela and Leeroy would kill you for it."

He flipped the knife around, blade flat against his wrist. He crushed my lips with his.

I looked up at him. "Why Bane?"

He sighed, tracing my jaw with a finger. "There are more interesting things to talk about." He made a face. "Because when I was born worthless, he gave me power."

My eyebrows pushed together. "You were never worthless, Reyne."

"To the Hells with you." He rolled off me. I was fast, both arms around his shoulders, one of my daggers under his chin. I heard footsteps, and I pulled back. I snatched his breeches and tossed them to him, then yanked mine with me under my bedroll. I rolled over, as if asleep.

Reyne was still lacing his breeches when Leeroy said, "Reyne."

"A moment."

Leeroy stepped away. I listened to Reyne dressing. He didn't say anything to me when he picked up his sword and went outside. I fell asleep content, but he woke me for my watch. I half expected to wake with a knife pointed at my vitals, but it was just a boot to my foot. The sex hadn't made him less of a shithead.

#

Reyne, for his part, treated me exactly the same as before, so by all appearances, nothing had changed. No furtive glances, no smirks.

It was relieving. I hoped he reflected on what I said—that he wasn't worthless.

Leeroy said, "Are you all right?"

I sighed. "It's fine."

"Look, I can deal with Andrews tonight."

"Let's not discuss this now," I said. We had too much to do. I had spent all early morning setting up a series of rope "tripwires" that I hoped would catch up a giant.

To make it appear as if there were more of us, we were spread out. It kept the giants from hitting all of us with one thrown tree or rock too. The palfries wouldn't be of much use. Only Reyne could remain mounted and use a bow. Aela, however, planned to use magic and had a crossbow, which she could use from horseback. It left Leeroy and I as the only ones on the ground, but he was well-armored for this attack, and I was fast. More maneuverable than a horse, we wanted to use my trick of getting them to chase and try to run into one of my tripwires. I laid in wait for the first volley from Leeroy and Reyne's longbows.

The best bit of luck was that, this early and with the drizzling rain, a mist clung to the trees. It might obscure us, small as we were to the giants, for a while at least.

Four arrows, each in quick succession, all four at the single awake target, who seemed sick with the poison. The other two were asleep. It roared to its feet. It broke off an arrow with a flick of a finger, looking one way and the next for us. I jumped out of hiding, pulled back my shortbow. Much closer to the target, it would see me, which was, unfortunately, the idea.

I loosed the arrow. It went right through a raggedy ear, pinning the lobe to the side of its thick head. It bellowed. I scampered back, trying to be loud. It chased. I had some distance on it at the start, but nothing compared to how it could throw. I kited it back. Reyne kept pace in the saddle, but the trees were in the way and his volleys did not always land as it crashed through. The horse drew the creature's attention, but when it started looking more to Reyne than myself, Reyne would have to withdraw. Then Aela, shouting a spell that streak toward it. That drew all its attention, as it lit like a tree on fire, and bowled around toward her, toward me. I ran, leaping over a tripwire. Intent upon us, it ran right to it. Its ankle caught.

Its sheer massive weight worked against it and it crashed to the earth with a rumble, pulling up a pine with it. The tree fell atop the creature. I drew my bow. The arrow pierced into the top of its head and I turned back, muscles straining to keep distance between us.

The other two had gotten up by now. Something crashed into the forest and I jumped as it rumbled the earth.

Leeroy fell in on the fallen giant. Reyne charged at the others. I ducked behind a tree for cover and shot around the tree. I provided support. The giants were so big, it wasn't a matter of missing them half the time, as the trees obscured my view, or an arrow might not pierce the draped hides they wore. Aela had to move from attacking primarily to healing, to keep the other two up. As the frontline, if they fell, Aela could not get away quickly enough. I wasn't about to leave her. I would fall too.

Reyne seemed to be managing against his giant with occasional cover, so I looked in on Leeroy finishing off the injured one. Where was the one with the missing eye?

A rock flew toward me. It smashed right into the tree I ducked behind, taking off half the tree above me. Splinters and pine needles, broken branches, rained all around me. The rock thudded into the ground some feet beyond. I could barely breathe past my lump of fear. I moved to another tree, crouching under the branches. I shot across. Leeroy drove his sword deep into the giant's gut and stepped back to avoid it crushing him when it fell.

I ducked back around, grabbing another arrow. Big meaty fingers wrapped around the tree I crouched behind. My eyes widened in horror.

With a grunt, the giant uprooted the entire damned tree. I threw myself backwards from it. Earth showered down. I turned my head to avoid the spray of pine needles and scrambled from it. The giant swept the big tree toward me like a club. I threw myself flat. Branches raked along my back, snagged in my horns. A branch caught and dragged me about two feet before I yanked myself free. I looked back.

The one-eyed one with the split nose leered down at me, raising the tree again for a downward club, like swatting a fly.

"Valac!" Aela cried. I did not look, but I knew by her voice that she was too far to help. My policy of hanging back to provide supporting volleys meant everyone else was further from me. Ironically, if I had rushed into the melee, they could have helped me.

Something above me screamed. Too high-pitched for a giant. A cry a bit like a raptor's.

A cold burst of ice pummeled the giant from above and at first, I really thought it was somehow a dragon, maybe the silver one I was looking for. I looked up. It was smaller. No larger than a horse, and looked different than a dragon, but similar—as if they were cousins. The giant swung the tree at it. The drake flapped backwards. I aimed. My arrow went through the giant's jaw. It moved the tree to a one-handed stance and scratched at the arrow with its other. Its clumsy fingers made it worse, but it looked like no more than a barb in its big face.

All my attention was on this one. I rolled to my feet. It swung at me, intent, but I was a bit faster that time, ready. I anticipated where it would swing, and put a tree between us. I felt the thud. The drake swooped down, raking the giant from its spine to the back of its neck. Its sinewy neck snaked around. Its fierce jaws clamped over the giant's head, eclipsing its vision. I leaned to the side of the tree. I had no idea why this drake was even here, but I would worry about the drake when I didn't have the giant.

The giant screamed in pain, big mouth dropped open. My arrow flew in to the back of its throat. I pulled back as it fell. It dropped its makeshift club. Branches snapped and the earth shook when the giant hit the ground, big belly first. The impact made me wobble and I nearly fell. I grabbed a branch for support, and the drake pushed off of the body, fighting for altitude. I watched it ascend, awed as I ever was by flight.

Down the hill a short distance, Aela ran toward me. Leeroy and Reyne were intent on the remaining. I waved to her, and she turned back. With all four of us, we put down the last giant. When it was done, despite the horrid stink, I dropped down on an uprooted tree, panting. I swiped at the sweat on my brow.

The others were in similar states, reaching for waterskins, but the air of victory was upon us. Aela said, "Fresh out of spells. I can't heal."

Reyne said, "I can. If anyone would accept."

Leeroy only begrudgingly did. Reyne smiled sweetly while he attended the wounds, healed a couple cuts and a twisted ankle on Aela that had left her limping, looked me over. I had some scrapes, a nasty bruise I would feel tomorrow.

Aela sat down beside me. She said, "Where did that drake come from?"

Reyne said, "The kavainus? I'd wondered the same."

Leeroy shook his head. "They dwell around the Spine, but I've never seen them out here."

I said, "How about we try not to question good fortune?"

Leeroy laughed. "Could drink to that."

We picked our way back to our camp and decided to try to make some time back to Bryn Shandor. We packed the camp. By the road, once we reached it, Leeroy estimated that we would have to camp, but we'd be in Bryn Shandor by noon the next day.

Aela glanced at Reyne. "I think we could stand another six hours of travel after dark."

Leeroy couldn't disagree, with her eyes telling him where her argument came from. For my part, I was more concerned about the passage of time. We had wasted so much time doing this mission. We needed to get back.

We pressed on through the night, stopping only briefly for a quick meal and to rest the horses.

Bryn Shandor's doors closed at nightfall. I had some acclaim, but not enough for them to open the gate at the hour we arrived, especially not in these times. We decided to stay for a few exhausted hours at a cheap inn at the bottom of the hill.

I insisted I would deal with Aela's horse. "You need to get off your ankle for a bit," I told her. "Go lie down." Leeroy was militaristic in the caring of his steed, and was finished before I had done Aela's and Macha. Reyne was slow and methodical with his horse, looking over the saddle, testing straps that might need replacing. Reyne had delayed, and I knew why. I felt like Leeroy had barely closed the barn door when I stepped out of the stall, meeting Reyne in the aisle between the stalls. We stared at one another.

I whispered, "We're not doing that again."

Reyne nodded. "Of course not."

He bent his head to kiss me. I pushed him back against the stall door. He fumbled for the latch. No sooner had it opened than I shoved him into the box.

The horse stayed on the far side. We didn't have an oil, still, and I got on my knees and quite happily devoured Reyne's girthy cock, my fingers digging into his hips and thighs, tongue over his balls. I was satisfied and pleased when he came, and I pulled back, a wisp of a smile on my face. "Did I please you, sir?"

He panted, pushed an errant curl from his face, and lifted me to my feet. He kissed me, explored my mouth with his tongue like he was trying to find some trace of his seed. He unlaced my breeches and stuck his hand down. He drew back, but to flip me around with my back to his chest. He sucked on his fingers, and wormed his other hand in. I had to help him get my trousers low enough to accommodate, pulled my legs apart. Relaxed for him.

He was good at it. Experienced, and I was never uncomfortable or scratched. I leaned my head back, biting back a loud moan. I whispered, "I wish it was your cock, sir."

He smirked. "Keep quiet, Valac."

"Yes, sir," I muttered. My toes curled. When I was near, he stopped to reposition, kneeling down to get me in his mouth, then pushed his wet fingers back in. I was in a state of bliss.

Ironic, considering.

Sometimes, you hated someone, and were simultaneously attracted to them. Sometimes situations are complicated. And sometimes, you just think with your dick.

Post orgasm, he held me, gently, until I recovered and wanted to push away. We didn't talk about it, or say much of anything to each other. I splashed my face with cold water, and, tired, fell into my bedroll when at last I could.

It was infinitely better if we never addressed it, if we never discussed it. If we never even contemplated the circumstances.

#

We were nearly at the gate before they even opened it for the day and went right to the watchhouse to turn in our findings.

Reyne was of course commended, but so were the rest of us. Reyne was granted an office to work out of so he could begin correspondence with his guild. I got the idea it was just a small stepping stone to increasing their presence here, a place people could send letters to when they wanted mercenaries, for now.

I didn't quite feel comfortable accepting money, but I reasoned that I had to shoe and feed my horse. I had to pay for things. Living had expenses. I took the offered sum, the bonus for killing the creatures. And we each made a report that we had found bites on the giants. Reyne had taken measurements of the fang marks and deduced it was likely the same wolf—something I had not even thought to do. I guess he had his rank for a reason.

Since we had several that were still unaccounted for, it was difficult to tell who had done it, if it mattered.

Aela and I walked from the watchhouse, discussing how we should inform Lord Taervelaine as well. She wanted to drop in on her church and see if they had made any progress with the cure, but many of them had gone to Easthaven so that would mean it would be slower making. Surely they wouldn't be so stubborn as to hoard the cure for themselves, if anyone else in the city could help?

I was so jaded that I actually found myself believing that—yes, it was entirely possible for the officials in the church to be handed a miracle cure and refuse to widely distribute the recipe, because they could use it to boost their own acclaim and their tithes.

Was it all the same?