I knew I wasn’t going to like his answer.

  The sharkman stopped digging out the trapped corpse and looked at Starna. Even on his nonhuman face, I could see the embarrassment and guilt eating at him. For a moment I thought he wasn’t going to answer my repeated question.

  He swallowed before he spoke. “The Camadt are going to be able to smell this on them…” Psider gestured at the pool of blood, then tugged on the crude armor of the dead man. The beige landshark finally turned to look at me. “There’s only one punishment for this, as backwards as it sounds. Those soldiers will tear those two apart and they’ll do it in as public of fashion as they can.”

  Starna covered her mouth to stifle a gasp.

  “I thought as much…” I shook my head as I picked up the crossbow and started making a pile out of the gear they had on them. “They’re not going to let us question them before they kill them, will they?”

  Psider shook his head as he pulled off the last stone, then began stripping the body. “At this point, they’ll only care about their desecrated kin.”

  “So are you going to question them, or am I? I stopped taking off the first man’s armor when I realized that Starna was staring at me with horror etched on her face.

  I swallowed. “On second thought, can you do this yourself?”

  Psider looked up, then followed my eyes to the tanned Elf. “Oh, yeah, um…” He stood up. “My lady, if you would-”

  “I’m not some doll that the two of you have to shield!” Starna clenched her fists as she screamed.

  “It’s not that we don’t think you can handle this.” I stood up, walked over to her, and took her hands. I pulled her close, hating how much her body was trembling. “There are things that we’ve seen that can’t be unseen.” I turned to look at the dead man in only his underclothes. “These people did terrible things. We can’t let them go because if we do, they’re going to keep hurting and killing people.”

  “You don’t need to watch this.” Psider moved in between her and the body. “I’ll handle it if you would…” He nodded at the unconscious men. “Wake them up, please.” The sharkman swallowed. “I can make you handholds to climb out so you-”

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  “What if we keep looking?” I could tell by the look on her face that Starna wasn’t about to walk away. “Starna will know if there are people in the next room and-”

  “Absolutely not!” Psider sliced his hands through the air for emphasis. “I would never be able to face-”

  “I AM NOT A LITTLE GIRL!” Starna pulled out of my arms and straightened up as much as she could. She wasn’t much taller than the Kharm, but she strained for every part of that inch. “I am the Ambassador, which outranks even a Wayfinder!” She eyed the other man, daring him to interrupt her. “And if something happens, then you’ll tell my father that I didn’t shirk from my duties. That I fought against the monsters and didn’t run. You’ll tell him…” She wiped a tear from her eye and steadied her voice. “That I love him.” The beautiful Elf looked from the Kharm to me, then back again. “Can you both do that?”

  I smirked. “Don’t I get bonus points since I was already going to take you into danger?”

  Starna leaned over and kissed me. It didn’t last long, but I was surprised that she went for a full kiss instead of on the cheek. “There.” Her cheeks flushed bluer as she fixed her hair.

  Psider’s jaw hung open. “Bu… Lady… How…?” He struggled to form a complete sentence as he watched her lean against me.

  “This is my news, so I trust you’ll let me tell my father this on my own?” She left no doubt that her question was an order.

  Psider blinked, then slammed his fist against his chest, then bowed his head. “As you command.”

  “Okay then…” I untangled myself from her embrace and walked over to the two men. It took a few minutes to finish stripping their gear and tying them up, but once I was certain that they weren’t going to get free, I gave them back enough energy that they could wake up. They’d be very weak, but Psider would be able to interrogate them.

  “You won’t be able to close off the room, but you can still map it out, so later I can close it off.” Psider picked up the crossbow. “Do you know how to use this?”

  I wiggled my fingers. “I’m more of an up-close kind of guy.”

  The sharkman sighed and put the weapon back on the pile. He took another dagger and offered it to me. “You seem to be decent with these.” He gripped the sheath when I tried to take it. “Don’t let anything happen to the Lady.”

  “She’ll be safe with me.”

  The beige landshark nodded and released the dagger. He turned to my companion. “If you find an exit, meet back at the tower. Otherwise, I’ll make handholds so you can climb back out the way we came.”

  “Thank you, Wayfinder Psider.” Starna smiled, then spun on her heel and headed for the exit to the right of where we’d entered. “Come on Sectum, there’s something this way!”

  The sound of the Kharm gritting his teeth echoed in the stone room as I followed her towards the danger.

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