Eris felt pathetic in how much he relied upon Marion in the coming days. Between inn rooms and campsites, he felt weak. Weaker then he’d been when Marion found him in the ruins of the Queen’s Palace. He knew he wasn’t getting better. He knew Marion couldn’t possibly understand the true nature of his situation. He hated to live in fear, cowering behind the knight if someone so much as looked at him odd.

They had yet to think twice, though some secret worry had filled Eris’ ...