Hex felt a little bit bad about Rose’s wide-eyed panic.

But only a little.

The scent of her trepidation and fear was sickly sweet, like overripe fruit. Despite knowing she was a part of this for the long term, she was hiding things, and he had to make sure that he could trust her going forward.

Jian bristled, and Hex held up a hand. He didn’t think they needed to threaten her or hurt her to get her to talk. She’d trusted them to take care of her this far, and she seemed to have a healthy understanding of how fragile she was compared to the demons.

“I was in a vision?” Her voice had an edge, curiosity laced in the quiver of worry.

He started with something simple. “Who gave you the message stick?”

Rose gritted her teeth, staring down at her knees. Her heartbeat elevated, and he could hear the little flutters of her lungs as she tried to steady her breathing.

“I left that part out of what I told you earlier,” she finally said, without looking up. “Rhizaid’s servant that freed me and Hemlock forced the thing down my throat. It seemed that was the only reason she was letting me go.”

Hex pursed his lips. That was why she’d vomited. She’d thrown up the stick.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner,” she said, tugging the blanket tighter around her. “I was afraid…of how you’d have to get it out.”

He couldn’t tell her that her fears were unfounded, because he wasn’t a lying man. His knee-jerk reaction wouldn’t have been to gut her for the message stick, but there definitely were demons out there that would have, even within Klari’s camp.

“If you knew who I was, why didn’t you get it out sooner?” He supposed she hadn’t had any alone time to do so, but he was curious how early she’d figured out it was him, and how.

“I wasn’t sure until…I talked about your mother.” Still she didn’t meet his gaze, and Hex’s chest constricted painfully.

“There are too many holes in your story,” Jian cut in. “I want to know where you come from. Tell us everything.”

She withered beneath his commanding tone, and Hex reached out, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder. He silently prayed that she would just talk. He didn’t want to have to force her to tell them. He didn’t have a taste for interrogation.

But Jian was right, she needed to spill. Especially if, someday, she was going to be keeping secrets from him with his closest companion. They needed to start building that relationship sooner rather than later.

“Fuck, fuck,” Rose muttered, closing her eyes for a beat, shaking her head before opening them again. “I don’t know how well I can explain, but I’ll try.”

She began to talk, and the demons didn’t know what hit them.

* * *

When Rose got through her tale, Hex felt near-drunk on the wealth of information presented to him. He and Jian had managed to stay silent as they listened, the latter having sat down at some point during the story.

Hex didn’t know what to do with it all. It was so much to unpack, and not just because of the realization that other worlds existed that were so different from his own. He had no doubt in his mind that she was telling the truth on this, because aside from the fact that it was a hell of a thing to fabricate—especially at a time like this—he could scent her truth.

Either it was all true, or she was hopelessly insane and believed what she was saying.

But it rang true.

What was most concerning, though, was not so much her inter-world travel, but the fact that Zalrimith knew about her. He, like many, didn’t have a good history with the ancient wizard.

“Can you break the curse?” Hex asked the most important of all of the questions swirling in his mind, this one directed at the demon behind him.

“No,” Jian admitted, and his clipped voice betrayed his frustration. “I am intensely bothered that I didn’t realize it was there.”

“Can you see it now?” Hex studied Rose’s pale face, her eyes darting between them both in a staccato rhythm.

“In a way.” Jian didn’t offer anything else, but the confirmation that it existed was both good and bad—it backed up her tale, but her having a magical link to Zalrimith at all times was terrifying and concerning.

“Can he track her with it?” The second-most important question.

“Logically, it wouldn’t appear so, with the instructions he’s given her,” Jian replied slowly. “But I’d have to spend some time examining it properly.”

Rose finally turned away from the water to face them, still buried in the blanket, a little tuft of Hemlock’s fur poking out near her chin. “You guys actually believe all of this?” She winced. “Not that I want to discourage you, I just…” She trailed off helplessly with a shrug.

“The only way to know for sure would be to kill you,” Hex pointed out, and her body turned to ice. “But then I’d have to hang out in Zal’s woods to see you come back, and that is not on the list of things I want to do.”

Jian growled under his breath. He hated the ancient wizard even more than Hex did—there was no way he would let them anywhere near those woods.

“I’m more interested in finding out what these people are saying in your eyeballs.” Hex extended his pointer finger, swirling it in a circle to motion to her face.

She closed her eyes, shaking her head. “KC still hasn’t said anything since we were in the pool. I don’t know what that means, if he’s still there, if there’s still a link between worlds, I don’t know.”

“It concerns me that Zal thinks he can get her back there, if he was being truthful,” Jian said softly. “If he really intends to try to open a portal of some kind, that could be for other purposes entirely and cause other problems for Rol’Guul.”

Hex let out a deep breath, puffing out his cheeks. “I don’t have time to worry about that right now, but if he is, that could work to our advantage if he’s distracted.”

“What, um, what is his role in all this?” Rose’s words came out slow and tentative. “He seems like he was around before Drakach rolled into town but…supportive. He said he put the guy on the throne because they have the same goals or whatever.”

Jian ground his teeth so hard his jaw groaned.

“He’s somewhat supportive,” Hex explained. “Zal definitely would prefer anarchy and no royal claim to the throne, so he didn’t step in to help Rol’Guul when Drakach attacked. But from what we hear, it’s not something he wants long term, either. I don’t know the specifics, but it seems whatever they have is tentative. Convenient for the moment.”

“You’d think he wouldn’t want you dead, then.” She shrugged, the thick mossy cover slipping down one of her shoulders with the motion. She pulled it back up, and the Kranok skittered out of her grasp, taking up residence around the back of her neck.

Hex was so fascinated by how close the creature was with her. They didn’t often bond with demons that weren’t of Galrithian blood, let alone other species. But he’d never met a human before, so maybe there was something in their essence that drew them together.

Or, maybe it was just Rose herself. Maybe Hemlock saw in her whatever the oracle had, or whoever had sent him the visions.

“He didn’t say he wanted him dead,” Jian said suddenly. “Only out in the open.”

Hex glanced at him, raising a finger. “That’s right. Right?” He looked at Rose to confirm, and she nodded.

“Yeah, he said to get you out in the open, and once you’re ‘dealt with’ I’m free…I was pretty fucking panicked at the time but I was pretty sure that meant I’m not supposed to kill you myself.” She shrunk into her blanket a little. “Not like I would. Or even could.”

The fear-scent doubled, and Hex’s more animalistic side purred. He stamped that down before it could become anything else—this wasn’t the time, nor would it likely ever be, for he and Rose. Despite the insane circumstances of their meeting, he didn’t often let his darker side out to play, and certainly not with a creature as breakable as her, death-defying or not.

The respawning, as she’d called it, was a fascinating power to have, but that didn’t mean she was invulnerable to the pain and horror of the death.

Not to mention it would transport her all the way across to Zalrimith’s woods.

“And he didn’t give you a time limit?” Jian asked. “On how long before he pulls you back to him?”

Rose shook her head. She’d already said that, specifically, he hadn’t, but Hex understood why Jian wanted to confirm. Those under a curse had limited time, constantly ticking over their heads, but without the clock, without knowing…that must be torture.

“Can you examine the curse?” Hex turned to his companion. “Without alerting Zal?” He didn’t want Jian to tinker with it at all, lest the ancient wizard feel their probing, but maybe he could at least figure out the parameters or if it could be broken. Breaking it before he had any idea what they were doing would be ideal. He wasn’t sure if Jian’s prowess with such things could do it.

An oracle could, though. Dammit, I need to find that oracle.

“Yes.” Jian inclined his head. “We’ll need total darkness.”

Hex got to his feet, and held out his hand to Rose.

This time, she hesitated. She showed no signs of surprise like she had back at the camp. This time, she could calculate the risks better, because they were on equal footing, now.

When she put her hand in his this time, the trust wasn’t blind.