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I winced at the shrill sound of her voice. “All that bickering must get tiring, eh?” I asked in a low voice.

Jin shrugged, still smiling. “You get used to it, yeah?” Her gaze swept over the gentle creek to our right. “Though it does kill the romanticism of it all. Our peaceful walk disrupted by a shrieking banshee.”

“What would two humans like us be without our vampiric watchers?” I asked cheerily, winking at her.

“Better than having no protection in Nuhav, yeah?” she quipped.

I mulled that over, kicking a rock and pursing my lips. “That’s a debate worth having.”

She smiled again and we kept walking. The night was cool, the breeze soft against my hair and skin. If nothing else, having Jinneth near me was consoling—a remembrance of my past life before everything went to shit and I ended up as the prize of my bloodsucker trio.

“Bit stupefying ol’ gargoyle Vall stopped tending to Ly’s bedchamber,” Jinneth said, still caught up in thinking about the arguing couple behind us.

Her words made me pause. I came up short to stand on the bank of the shallow creek. “How long had Vallan been, erm, treating with Lyroan before he stopped?”

Her bony shoulders lifted. “A year, mayhaps? Vall’s a liaison with a bunch’a groups in Olhav, particularly the Military Ward.

Had his urges, y’see? Would come in for relief and Ly was more than happy to oblige that tall skyrise.

Bloodsucker stallion probably had a whole stable of mares ‘round the city. Ol’ Vall may seem dumb but I think that stoic bastard has more going on inside his head than he lets on. ”

My arms crossed. “When did he stop seeing her?”

“Recent.” Jinneth tapped her chin, staring at a point in the creek where a rock jutted up, creating a diversion of two streams. “Few days after you first showed up, now I think on it.”

I felt her gaze on me from the side. Blinking down at the river, I noticed the concerned tilt to my brow in the water’s reflection. “No.”

“Yeah. Yeah? Why would I make that up, Sephy?”

“I don’t think you’re making it up. I just think what your tone is insinuating is false, friend.”

“Insinu-assing my ass, girl. I’m just telling it like it is.” There was a hint of a smile on her face when I looked over.

“It has nothing to do with me,” I said firmly. “Vallan Stellos hates me.”

“Reckon what I just said about there being more going on up there than we think?” She tapped the side of her head.

With a heavy sigh, I turned away from the river.

At that moment, I caught Vallan glancing at me from a distance, with Lyroan berating him.

It almost looked like he was begging for assistance, for a moment there.

Or maybe that was just the tint of the pale moonlight on his stoic face, with his beard getting swished by the wind.

“It’s getting chilly,” I said, though it really wasn’t. “Let’s get back to the house.”

She snickered but didn’t resist when I began walking in that direction. “Someone’s feeling squirrelly.”

“Shut it, Jin.”

Her snicker turned into a laugh and she clapped me on the shoulder. “You’re a tough nut to smack, Sephy. I reckon once you do break, it’ll all come pouring out.”

My brow threaded in confusion. She winked at me.

Jinneth had her own language at times. I only vaguely understood what she was trying to say.

I was also trying to ignore it.

Despite all the bickering going on behind us, I appreciated these trivial times with my friend, walking freely through a rocky countryside. We talked about nothing, and that was perfect.

We returned to the Hall of the Chained Sisters an hour after Jinneth and I had departed. It was sad, spending so few hours together, but at least I got some time with her.

When we sauntered through the front hall, the complaints of Lyroan carried in behind us. Vallan remained quiet, taking the verbal and sometimes physical beating like a well-versed brick wall.

We reached the main room on the lower floor where Keffa and Skar were speaking underneath the leisurely rotund naked woman painted on the wall. A few other girls were awake, speaking around the tables and studying. What they were studying for, I had no idea.

Iron Sister Keffa and Lord Ashfen glanced over at me and Jin as we entered the room.

Keffa smiled kindly. “How was your walk, Sister Jinneth, Lady Lock?”

“Too short,” Jinneth answered, wrapping an arm around the back of my neck and draping it over my shoulder. She had to go on her tiptoes to strike the pose. “This one got cold. She’s thick but sensitive, this lass.”

My cheeks warmed when I noticed Skartovius scrutinizing me from over Keffa’s shoulder. Lyroan kept yelling at Vallan near the entrance of the room.

Keffa lifted her palm, walking past me. “Sister Lyroan, that’s enough. Please. There are others sleeping and your wailing gives me a headache.”

“Praise the chains,” muttered a girl from the table.

“Quiet yourself, Aleth!” Lyroan viciously snapped back.

Keffa turned to me and Jinneth.

Lyroan squealed. “Ah! Rat!”

Flaring her nostrils with barely restrained irritation, the Iron Sister spun around to reprimand her. “Lyroan, that’s enough name-calling for Master Vall—”

“No,” Lyroan interrupted, pointing down at the ground behind Vallan. “It’s a rat!”

Vallan stepped aside as the furry little critter skittered into the room. Two of the girls from the table squealed and stood, one of them hopping onto the bench.

I blinked over at them, then the floor, confused. A rat? What’s the big deal? In Nuhav, rats and trash-eating rodents were everywhere because the city was littered in filth.

. . . Not in Olhav, though.

My brow furrowed. Vallan lifted his foot to stomp on the scurrying creature.

“Hold!” Skartovius shouted, rushing forward.

Vallan looked at Skar, leg bent at the knee and lifted comically in the air. “Brother?”

The rat made no move to escape the shadow of Vallan’s large boot.

Skartovius stood over it, hands on his hips. Then he barked a laugh. “I’ll be damned.”

“What is it?” I asked.

For the first time in days, Skartovius broke into a smile—a genuine one, which alarmed me because of how honest it looked on his wickedly handsome face.

He pointed down at the rat. “Garroway just spoke to me through the critter.”

Keffa huffed. “Interesting. Beast-charming?”

“A conduit, I suppose,” Skartovius said.

“Could that be an aspect of Lady Lock’s blood?”

The nobleblood simply shrugged.

I scratched my head, even as hope swelled inside me. “Well, uh, what does Garro want? Is he trapped . . . in the rat? Or has he returned?”

Skar crouched. I wrinkled my nose with disgust when he bent down and picked the rodent up, letting it scutter up his arm.

“He has.” His smile disappeared, abruptly, and he lifted his head. “Says he has a gift for you, little temptress.”