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T he humiliation felt like a hammer, smashing Daisy straight in her hot, sweaty face.

They had seen — everything. Everything .

And gods damn it, they were still seeing it. Daisy here on her knees in a latrine, with Filak’s wetness still smeared all over her lips — and Filak’s half-hard cock still hovering before her face, and seeping a glossy string of white toward the floor.

For a horrible, crushing moment, no one moved, and Daisy fought back the sudden, overwhelming urge to weep — when Filak lurched to stand before her, half-blocking her from Rosa and Julian’s view. “ Hvae er tetta ?” he snarled at them. “ Af hverju ertu hér ?”

Rosa’s mouth opened and closed, while Julian shot a reproachful look sideways toward her. “ I could have told you, Rosa !” he hissed, before switching into Aelakesh , and speaking rapidly to Filak . Whose mouth pursed as he listened, his eyes narrowing on Rosa’s face.

“Look, I’m sorry!” Rosa cut in, as her hands swiftly signed toward Filak . “ I was just worried about Daisy , and wanted to make sure she was all right! And ” — she shifted her glare to Julian — “ I did ask you, and you were too busy mooning over Rurik’s letters to hear me!”

Julian’s face instantly flushed, but he glared back at Rosa , his bottom lip jutting out. While Filak began snarling something back toward both of them, not even seeming to notice that his trousers were still sagging around his hips, and his marked, softened wet cock was still fully on display, still dangling a long string of white toward the floor.

Too late, Daisy dragged her gaze away, and shoved herself up onto her shaky feet, wiping both hands at her hot, sweaty face. The shame still felt like a boiling, bubbling thing, festering in her belly, but at least none of them were looking at her now, witnessing her weakness, her stupidity. And instead, Rosa and Filak had escalated to shouting at each other in Aelakesh , their hands wildly flailing in the air, while Julian blinked unhappily between them.

Daisy watched for another endless, dangling moment, caught in the sheer fury blazing in Filak’s eyes, the way his long talons seemed to lengthen, stabbing toward Rosa’s slim, gold-encircled throat. Making him look like just the kind of orc who would kill someone, anyone, even his closest kin — and then trap them all underground, and leave. Run off somewhere else, where he could amass a fortune, and then try to start it all over again, deep in some isolated tunnel, with the first woman stupid enough to agree…

The fear had begun shimmering with the shame, and Daisy swallowed hard, edging toward the door — when all three of them whirled around to look at her. Julian’s eyes shifting with concern, Rosa’s with regret, and Filak’s with something Daisy couldn’t at all read. And she stared at him as she sidled away further, clutching at the wall behind her. Foolish , dangerous…

“Gods, Daisy , I’m so sorry about all this,” Rosa said in a rush, rubbing her hand at her eyes. “ I shouldn’t have barged in on you like that. And I certainly shouldn’t be losing my temper like this, either. I should know better by now than to let Filak —”

She snapped her mouth shut, wincing, and took a deep breath. “ Would you prefer we leave you and Filak for now, then?” she asked, searching Daisy’s eyes. “ Or would you rather be alone for a while? Or we could continue our tour, or go for a meal? Whatever you like.”

She looked genuinely contrite, and behind her Julian nodded, the regret twisting on his mouth, too. “ Aught you wish for, sister,” he added. “ I ken Filak should wish for this, too.”

But Daisy’s glance at Filak still found him staring at her, his eyes blank hollows in his shadowed face. The sight enough to send the fear simmering again, and suddenly she couldn’t bear the thought of being alone with him, or alone by herself, either. Because he was sure to reappear at any moment, ready to draw her into his thrall, to put her on her knees, to refuse to answer any of her questions…

Daisy took a ragged breath, and shook her head. “ Um ,” she began. “ Maybe we could continue — the tour? Just — with you two?”

She bobbed her head at Rosa and Julian , and after a brief exchanged glance, they both nodded. “ Of course,” Rosa said firmly. “ We’d be very happy to, wouldn’t we, Julian ?”

Julian nodded again, even as his hands swiftly signed something toward Filak . Something that had Filak’s head tilting sideways, his eyes glittering and intent on Daisy’s face. And she couldn’t look away, couldn’t, even when he came a step closer, and the fear spiked sharper into her throat.

“Daisy,” he murmured, hushed, maybe even hurt — but she shook her head, and clutched tighter at the cold wall behind her. No . No . Foolish and immature behaviour, appallingly unscientific, stupid…

Julian murmured something under his breath toward Filak , and finally Filak grimaced, jerked a sharp nod, and tucked himself back into his trousers. “ Fyrirgefeu mér, sólin mín ,” he told Daisy , his voice hoarse. “ Takk fyrir .”

Takk fyrir . That was another phrase from the book, and it meant — thank you . Right ? He was — thanking her?

But he’d already spun and strode out the latrine’s door, leaving the curtain fluttering behind him. While Daisy dragged in deep breaths, and Rosa flashed her a smile that didn’t at all reach her eyes.

“Well, then,” Rosa said, a little too brightly. “ Let’s keep going, shall we? You haven’t seen the Ash - Kai wing yet, have you? And the schoolroom? Or the Bautul garden?”

Despite the miserable mess still coiling in her gut, Daisy slightly straightened at the word garden , and blinked at Rosa’s face. “ There’s a garden?” she echoed dully. “ Here ?”

Rosa eagerly nodded, and beamed back with palpable relief. “ Yes , and it’s lovely!” she said, as she excitedly waved Daisy toward the curtain. “ I’m sure you’ll find plenty to draw there, and in the Ash - Kai wing too, and —”

“ Wait ,” cut in Julian’s voice, sharp and urgent — and when Daisy and Rosa both twisted to look at him, he was gesturing toward — Daisy’s face? “ But first, mayhap, Daisy might wish to…”

His mouth contorted, and he flapped his hand toward the small looking-glass over the latrine’s washbasin. Clearly wanting Daisy to… go toward it. To look into it.

Daisy’s alarm spiked again, but she nodded, and lurched over toward the looking-glass. And blinking at her familiar face in the lamplight, she found…

Oh. Oh , gods . It was Filak’s ink . Filak’s black ink, now painted dark and brazen across her lips. Announcing to all the world what she’d just done with him.

Daisy stared at it for a long, dreadful moment, her heartbeat kicking ominously against her ribs — and with a sudden desperate movement, she plunged her hand into the washbasin, and began scrubbing at her mouth. But it was only slightly working, oh gods, fading the darkest black ink into a deep pinkish-grey, oh gods, oh gods, no —

“Er, perhaps a washcloth?” came Rosa’s bracing voice, as she pressed something into Daisy’s hand. “ And some soap?”

Daisy frantically obliged, almost clawing at the soap Rosa handed over, too. But even her harshest scrubbing only faded the ink a little more, while also flooding her mouth with the awful bitter taste of soap, made all the worse against the distinct flavour of Filak’s lingering sweetness.

“You know, I really rather like it,” came Rosa’s voice, finally, into the ongoing sounds of Daisy’s scrubbing. “ It looks dramatic, don’t you think? And very neatly applied, too. Almost as if you did it on purpose.”

On purpose . Daisy froze in place, staring at her stained mouth in the looking-glass, as her thoughts ripped backwards to Filak rubbing himself against her lips. Painting her with him, slow and deliberate, while the triumph flashed through his eyes.

Daisy didn’t miss Julian’s grimace in the looking-glass, or the quelling look he shot toward Rosa . And oh fuck, it meant Filak had done it on purpose, he had — because that ink all over him had been fresh, hadn’t it? And why hadn’t Daisy considered that, why hadn’t it even slightly occurred to her?

Rosa cursed under her breath, her eyes widening on Daisy’s face. “ Gods damn him, again,” she hissed. “ He didn’t warn you it was fresh?”

But Daisy froze again, and her face visibly blanched in the looking-glass. Because curse it, Filak had warned her, hadn’t he? He’d touched that new sun on his shaft, and then he’d shown her the ink on his fingers. And then…

Daisy groaned aloud, squeezing her eyes shut, and she braced herself for Rosa and Julian’s judgement, or maybe even their mockery. How had she been so stupid, so foolish, again…

“Well,” came Rosa’s bracing voice, along with a gentle squeeze to Daisy’s arm. “ If it helps, sister, I really don’t think anyone will wonder at it. Orcs can always smell such things anyway, so in truth, they’d probably wonder more if you didn’t smell like Filak , or carry some remnants of his ink on you.”

Really? Daisy darted a dubious glance toward Rosa in the looking-glass, but she looked surprisingly sincere, her eyes kind and reassuring. “ Orcs love showing off their conquests,” she continued. “ It’s very typical behaviour around here. I mean, just this morning I saw Gary — Gareth , you know — piercing his lover’s nose, and dragging him by a chain down the corridor! And ” — her smile went impish in the looking-glass — “ I could spend weeks telling you the shocking things John - Ka does to me down in our clan’s pleasure-room. A bit of ink on my mouth would be a very quiet evening, I assure you.”

It was enough that Daisy turned to fully stare toward Rosa — Gareth was that friendly smith who’d helped free her from Filak’s dungeon, right? And wasn’t Rosa’s stern mate John - Ka the leader of the whole Ka -esh clan? The one who went by the title of Priest ?

“You have… a pleasure-room?” Daisy echoed, in the apparent absence of anything else to say. “ And you… use it?”

She shot a brief, accusing look at Julian , because wait, yes, Filak had apparently chained him up too, right? But Julian’s smile back was rather sheepish, and he absently rubbed his hand at his neck. At what looked like… fresh marks? From a whip , perhaps? And those certainly hadn’t been there on him yesterday, had they?

“Yes, of course,” Rosa replied, in a surprisingly matter-of-fact voice. “ Many Ka -esh enjoy such pleasures, and our pleasure-room — our dyflissa — offers a safe, supportive place to explore them. Seeking knowledge and self-awareness is a fundamental principle of our clan, and we want to encourage that as much as possible. Knowledge is just so powerful, don’t you think?”

Oh. It tugged at something in Daisy’s chest, and her gaze again flicked toward Julian , because it was just like what he’d told her before, wasn’t it? You must… see. You must learn, and know, for yourself.

“Also, there’s nothing like it for releasing tension, right, Julian ?” Rosa blithely continued, with a teasing glance toward him. “ I’m sure we’ll see you down there tonight, huffing Rurik’s letters, and begging the tallest, meanest orc you can find to pummel you senseless.”

Julian scoffed and blushed, and elbowed Rosa in the side — but she only let out a peal of cheerful laughter in return, and soon he was chuckling, too. As if this really was something they did, something that was… normal for them. For the Ka -esh. For exploring. For … learning.

“So are you ready, then, sister?” Rosa asked, with an encouraging smile. “ Come be a Ka -esh, and explore with us?”

Be a Ka -esh, and explore with us . It was enough to make Daisy raise her chin, and take a deep, bracing breath. She could do this. She would explore with them. She would keep seeing, and learning, for herself.

“Yes,” she said, with only a slight quiver in her voice. “ Let’s go.”