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Frexin would not tolerate that.Nor would I. For both our sakes.

I felt the wolf stalk around the back of my mind,eyeing Kaiya — noticing a faded scar through her brow, a small mole on her neck, how wonderful she smelled, and …

And Japhire was right, at least in part. The wolf was smitten with the Witch.

But not me.Not fucking me.

The bond was getting stronger by the minute, though, and I was running out of options if I wanted to avoid the future Japhire had described.

"Who have you chosen?" I whisper-growled.

She spared me a glare and ashushbefore spooning a heaping bite of stew into her mouth.

"Talk. We don't have time to wait until this story is over."

Mouth still full, she looked at me, then to the bowl, then back, as if to sayI can't eat and talk at the same time, can I?Then she turned back to listen to the story.

The old man was saying something about how the great serpent's mere words brought the dragon rider down painfully to his knees, and Kaiya was absorbed.

"Stop stalling!" I yelled.

The spoon froze halfway to her lips, those hazel eyes wide with surprise as she looked, cheeks red, from me to the people around us.

Forsaken mages —My cheeks heated to match hers as I noticed that the entire audience was now looking at us …

Damnit.

The old man shot me a nasty glare before clearing histhroat. "If those needing to converse would please relocate to the other side of the tent, I would greatly appreciate it."

He waited for something, and not knowing what to do, I nodded.

"Good," he cleared his throat. "Now, as I was saying, despite the great serpent's magic, the rider would not stay down, and with great effort, the weary warrior …"

The audience returned their attention to the man, and I released a tight breath.

Kaiya glared at me, then gestured towards the other side of the large tent with her spoon. Most tables over there were empty —

"Maybe this will be far enough," she whispered as we approached a wooden table along the far wall. "You really need to work on your indoor voice. I was enjoying the story!"

I grunted. "My volume wasn't a problem before I met you, Witch. Now." I leaned forward, bracing my elbows on the table. "No more stalling. Who have you chosen?"

"I was not stalling," she hissed, stabbing at her food. "I was just … thinking."

"Thinking?" I leaned closer. "What is there to thinkabout? You saw who was corrupted. The next step is totellme their names, and I will tell Frexin. Then, in a few days, everyone will be free,includingthem. So — tell me, dear Witch … what in the forsaken hells has you thinking so hard?"

"I know who's corrupted," she said, putting down herspoon. "But it's not as simple as just handing over a list to you. First of all, none of the corrupted wanted to volunteer to be bait."

My hackles rose. "Volunteer?! What the fuck do you mean,volunteer?"

She paled. "I'm not going to force them," she hissed. "At least not if I don't have to. So, I started by asking for volunteers out of those who are corrupted. But out of the dozen I asked, none were willing. Most don't trust me. Others wanted to know how dangerous it would be, but of course I didn't know — and I told them as much." Her shoulders slumped. "Everyone's seen how dangerous the creature is. I don't blame them for being wary."

I stared at her, stunned. "You weren't supposed to ask for volunteers! Hells!! Of course they didn't fucking volunteer. It's a potential suicide mission!"

She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "You make it sound like forcing them should be easy, but it's not. Frexin wanted six people." She looked up at me, expression earnest. "And out of the two-dozen people who have some corruption on their korras,exactlysix people have enough corruption to attract the monster." Her gaze slid to the door behind us, then fell to her lap. "I don't think that's a coincidence. I think Frexin already knew who was corrupted. Or worse, I think she might have done something to them. Knowing her, she just sent me here so I had to look each of them in the eyes andknowwhat she'd done. I think" — she bit her cheek — "I think she's testing me … or just trying to hurt me. I don't know. But I needed some fuckingtimeto consider my options."

I winced. So Frexin was toying with Kaiya like she was toying with me. I wanted to ask more, but — I glanced around the tent, wondering how close Japhire was, and if he could hear us.

"There has to be another way to get Frexin what she wants without forcing these people," she said, pursing her lips. "There has to be.I just —" She looked over at the people listening to the elder speak. "I've already done enough to them. I can't add this."