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“She attacked me,” Lian booms, standing over Corvin’s aide, poking at the tear in his shirt where it’s bleeding through the fabric. “And I did you all a favor. Why else would she be lying there with a goddamn knife, if not to jump out and kill Dawn?”

“Do you need some help?” I offer, lifting my chin toward his chest.

To which he smiles too sweetly. “Thanks, my little dragonfly, but I’ve survived worse.”

Corvin pinches the bridge of his nose, approaches the bed, stares down at the girl, and breaks into a long-winded explanation of how he hired her as his assistant. Along with how she was a reincarnation of someone already dead and that he had left her in my room in case anyone checked up on me.

“All right,” Lian says. “You still haven’t explained to me why she had a knife with her in bed.”

Corvin pauses, then exhales loudly. “She may have misinterpreted when I told her to keep the room protected until we returned.”

Lian raises an eyebrow. “You think? What if it had been Dawn who found her first?”

“The aide was protecting Dawn, and you were the stranger barging in here,” Corvin barks.

I stand in the doorway, staring at the body in my bed with the knife deep in her chest. Once, I visited a neighbor back in the village, and the old man must have passed in his sleep. I remember how pasty his skin had turned. How eerie it felt to stare down at him, just as it is now with Corvin’s assistant.

“Anyway, it isn’t a big deal,” Lian snaps, then heads into the bathroom and flicks on a light. He’s at the sink, lifting his shirt to inspect his injury. It’s an ugly cut sitting across his chest that keeps bubbling up with cherry-red blood.

“So what are we going to do with her?” I ask as I follow Lian and grab the spare towels from the shelves behind him. I prop them up on the edge of the sink. “Are you sure I can’t help?”

“Thanks, love, but I’m fine.” He wets part of a towel and begins to wipe at the wound, which instantly weeps more blood.

“It looks deep.”

“I love how much you care for me,” he says, blowing me a kiss, and I face Corvin, who’s still by the bed, hands gripping his waist.

“We need to get rid of her,” he finally says. “We don’t need a reason for that Gamemaster prick to throw us all into the dungeon.”

“I mean, technically, she’s already dead,” I say. “We can just hand her back and⁠—”

“With a hole in her heart from a blade wound?” Lian calls out behind me. “I hate to admit it, but I’m with Corvin on this one. Besides, it’s not a big deal. We actually have bigger issues to worry about.”

“Really?” Corvin snaps his head up, tilting it sideways. “Worse than you murdering my aide, regardless of whether she was dead or not? It doesn’t paint a good image for us.”

I twist to find Lian lifting his gaze, and the tightness on his face tells me I don’t want to know what he’s talking about. Red blood is splattered all over the wall and mirror in front of him, more of it running down the sink.

“What the fuck aren’t you telling us?” Corvin demands.

I’m at Lian’s side. I grab a clean cloth, fold it into a pad, and hand it to him. “Apply this to the wound and put pressure on it to help stop the bleeding.”

He does as I say and holds the towel in place with one hand as he meanders from the bathroom and right into the main living quarters. We both follow him as he flops down onto the couch, groans as he adjusts himself, then lounges there, holding his injury.

“You sure you don’t want a medic? You may need to be stitched up,” I say, trying not to freak out over this whole situation.

“Unfortunately, he’ll survive,” Corvin murmurs, burning up with fury. “Now, spill it, Lian.”

“You want to know the truth? I should be asking you the same question.” He lays his head back against the top of the couch. “You constantly brag about being some fucking warrior⁠—”

Corvin’s face scrunches up. “No, I don’t!”

“And instead of noticing there was an assassin following you both tonight, you were too occupied fucking Dawn.”

I gasp, instantly taken aback. “Wait, what?” My mind tries to unpack everything he just said.

“What the hell are you talking about? You followed us, didn’t you, you maniac?” Corvin snaps, his shoulders rising.

My cheeks burn. Lian had seen us in that room at Glimhall. Had he watched us the whole time? Then my brain catches up… He said assassin.