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“I’ll have that as well,” Hisser said, hissing at me as his long, forked tongue extended out.

I followed in the direction it flicked, trying to judge how much a danger that wicked, forked tongue posed to me. But what I saw were Conn and Mulan lying in the dirt. They were covered in green slime. The slime’s color reminded me of mucous and I quickly pushed that thought away. A woman couldn’t fight when she was grossed out and retching.

Poison,a voice whispered in my head.

I straightened at the word. Who sent that to me? I squinted at Conn and Mulan. They lay motionless but I could hear their heartbeats—slow and steady.

Conn? Is that ya talking to me?

We were never, in any form, a demon.

I wanted to smirk and accuse the voice of being ‘Captain Obvious’. I was beyond feeling snarky. I’d entered a zone for the insanely stressed. But somehow I knew the being owning that voice wasn’t with me in person.

Adrenalin had ramped up my intuition from a five to a ten because the answer came easily.Are ya the sentience of the Dagda stone?

We are.

We?I waited for more of an explanation.

No more questions. Pay attention.

To what?I demanded, but all I got was silence.

“Stop feeling so proud of yerself and do what ya promised,” a familiar voice ordered.

At first, I thought the stone was now talking aloud and meant me. I thought it right up to the moment I noticed Ezra glaring up at Hisser.

“Ezra? What are ya doing here? I sent Dylan out so he could contact ya.”

The fairy’s gaze switched to me. “Yes, I ran into yer far darrig outside. Snake scales are not a good look for ya. I love yer new dagger, though. Ya need a thigh holster for it. I’m sure it would look dead sexy on ya.”

The rest of the puzzle pieces fell into place as I stared at him. Ezra had been the tall, black-robed witch from my vision. My grip tightened on my dagger. “Ya’re the one behind Hisser’s transformation. Ya let him out of prison, didn’t ya?”

Ezra chuckled. “No, of course not. I influenced a guard and made him help Hisser escape.”

“Did ya leave Dylan alive?” I asked.

“Yes. I had no choice. The damn relic was still in his pocket. Even in its death throes, it has enough energy to protect him. A death blow would mean I’d soon face one myself. Relics of that sort are set up with tit-for-tat consequences. I outsmarted it once but I can’t risk doing that a second time.”

Ezra looked away from me and back to Hisser. “Stop stalling, or I’ll call the other witches. Well, I’ll call the ones ya haven’t eaten already. Yer name should be Glutton instead of Hisser.”

“I was hungry,” Hisser exclaimed.

Ezra chanted something and gripped his fist. Hisser curled into a ball and put human hands over his snake ears, which were now only holes in the side of his mostly human head.

I stared at my life-long friend who now wanted to kill me. “What game are ya playing, fairy? What is it ya want?”

Ezra turned to me and snorted. “This is no game, Aran. If ya weren’t so besotted with yer ancient one, I would have bedded ya and then made yer death painless. Ya forced me into doingthis.”

He pointed up at Hisser who was standing upright on his coils again. “He’s as insane now as he ever was but I had no choice except use him. It would take too much power from me to kill ya in a fight. I had to create a customized killer for the job.”

“What makes ya think Hisser will beat me in a fight?”

Ezra grinned and pointed at my dagger. “I couldn’t kill yer demon without risking the wrath of the gods, but Hisser’s venom is powerful enough to keep Connlander of the Fir Bolg unconscious. I bet ya don’t remember telling me that ya couldn’t call yer demon weapons without Conn knowing about it. That got me wondering if ya could call them at all if Conn’s power was suddenly unavailable to ya. And look at ya now—all panicked and sweaty. That spell ya put on yerself isn’t going to matter.”

“Ya can’t kill Conn, Ezra. It simply isn’t possible. And when Conn comes out of this he will remember what ya did to him.”

Ezra shook his head. “The poison will eventually rot yer demon, which will make him have to regenerate. His shaman girlfriend was the perfect bait. She was so easy to influence. Do ya seriously think it was her idea to split up yer search for Hisser?”