My blush deepened. If it were up to me, I would not have been smart enough.
We came to the end of our alley, and two men stepped out of doors on either side. Messy, pastel hair of yellow and pink covered their heads, respectively. The shorter of the two, standing a few inches above me still, had a massive sword resting on his shoulders.
“Two ladies out for a stroll, I see,” the taller of the two said. A few leather straps crossed his worn tunic, and a series of dark dots covered his knuckles. He gave us a long once-over. “You’re entering Westwater lands, pay up.”
Ravana narrowed her eyes. “Ya sure we need to pay?”
The speaker ran a hand down his stomach and grabbed his junk. “Yeah. One way or another. Give me five minutes with your little friend there. She looks breakable, and I like to break things, and you both can be on your way.”
Ravana took a breath and held it. This time, she wasn’t touching me. In a blink, his throat split, blood pouring in thick streams as he gurgled and collapsed. Ravana’s dagger gleamed in her folded arms as if it had always been there. My stomach lurched.
The man next to him trembled and stepped back with his eyes wide.
I wasn’t much better.
Another man rushed out of the side door, pulling my attention away from the body. His tan hair was more the color of buttermilk than oat, and he was stocky, whereas Ravana was tall, but they had the same flat nose.
“Ravana, I—I didn’t know.” He fell to his knees.
“Find better men. This one attempted to force my friend.” Ravana wiped the blood off her knife on the frozen guy’s shirt, making the color drain out of his face. The smell of pee wafted.
“Yes, whatever you need,” the groveling man said. “Do you need an escort?”
I side-eyed Ravana, trying to figure out if she was someone important or if controlling time made her that powerful, and concluded it was probably both.
“Brit will be on my tail, with one of the Architect’s enforcers in tow.” Ravana waved her mostly clean dagger. “Let them pass. They know where to find me.” She turned, forcing me to move with her, and linked our arms. “Welcome to the Westwater lands. We’re like the Architect.” She let out a barking laugh. “In that, our lands are full of people we aren’t related to. But everyone needs toys, right?”
I swallowed. She wasn’t anything like the Architect, trying to build an accepting world for all. She hadn’t even viewed that man as a person. However, he hadn’t viewed me as a person either.
“Might is the true ruler of all,” Ravana grinned. “The only way to stay mighty is to prove it. Not baby the weak.” She sheathed her dagger. “If you don’t surround yourself with your enemies, how do you continue to grow stronger?”
I swallowed, and Ravana burst into a sharp belly laugh.
Maybe I hadn’t quite thought this through.
The Westwater territory made Xan’s castle feel unreal by comparison.
Heat cones burned in metal barrels outside tents. Armed guards loitered around the few buildings still standing. We walked through the remains of civilization, the kind that survived by shedding anything that resembled order.
Every family ruled differently.
Xan, who had only had his for seven years, ran his like a college campus. The Prophet ruled his like a cult, because that’s exactly what it was.
Everly’s family ran like a monarchy: grandparents at the top, everyone else scrambling beneath.
The Westwaters thrived on chaos, pulling me into my darkest memories.
Gandalf—scenario one—had been the most empowering man I’d ever met… until he wasn’t.
The druid and his followers spent weeks making sure I was a picture of health.
So they could sacrifice me to their fertility god.
Teivel had found me starving and wandering. Like a new pet, he’d collared me and pulled me into his world.
He was real. Not a lingering dream or a drunken flash, but flesh and blood, once again trying to control my life.
I squeezed my eyes shut. If he was real, so were the other two. Gandalf’s cool-blue gaze perfectly matched his twin boys. His voice—directing them as they clinically held me down and pulled at my clothes—made sweat break out along my spine.
