Rhen used a chisel to make a cord notch in the bow-to-be and blew out the wood flakes. The dry, savory smell of black ashenwood filled the shop, as Barrek and Gil worked on making the new doors for the baths. Rhen had requisitioned some of the softer black ashenwood to create the bow he long sought.

He sanded the outside lovingly, giving attention to every inch of it. Nothing was on his mind but the most perfect bow. Strips of leather waited their turn on the workbench while Rhen attached his bowstring. The taut string twanged at his touch, and he smirked.

“Isss it ready yet?” Gwhan asked impatiently.

Rhen had asked her to stop by the inn once a week to do some weapons upgrades and gear repair. It was a good thing, too, because Joseph was notorious for getting his feathers ripped out of his breastplate when going for eggs. The terrocken in the pen just didn’t like him at all.

“Almost.” Rhen unhooked the bowstring and did his last pass over the weapon.

“Okay, Flesh Render is all yours.” He passed the bow to the waiting Sephine.

Gwhan cocked her head. “Flesh Render?”

“That’s what I’ve named it,” Rhen grinned.

Gwhan’s hairless brow quirked in amusement. “But it has yet to rend any flesh.”

“Oh, it will.” Rhen pulled two of the razor whisker cores from his pocket and held them out to her.

“I’ll see what I can manage.” She accepted the bow and the crystal-like cores, then retreated to her workbench.

The clinking of two blades colliding echoed from down the hall and Rhen jumped to investigate. It was coming from the control node chamber. Rhen jogged down the tunnel, pulling his crescent blades free.

“Here, and then here, now duck,” Alex, or perhaps Ulecks, was speaking clearly.

Rhen rounded the corner to see the twins with Eli, practicing with their daggers. Ulecks called out instructions while Alex attacked, dodged, and parried Elli’s motions. Rhen stuffed his blades back in their holsters and pulled back around the corner.

Too late.

“Come to practice?” Ulecks called, not giving Rhen a chance to escape.

“I thought we were being invaded,” Rhen said. “But all is well, you have it in hand.”

“Come practice, Deo!” Elli said, his broad grin irresistible. Rhen wondered if the little bugger had gotten the Too Cute syntial.

“Alright,” he conceded with a chuckle.

Rhen looked around the dreary, hard-floored chamber. There was plenty of space, but not a lot of utility to the room.

“One thing first.” He went to the control node and opened the current chamber. It was still quite low on anima from the baths, but he was hoping his minor adjustments wouldn’t cost too much.

He altered the wall directly beside the opening down to the inn and crafter’s hall to be more textured. Rhen loved to rock climb, and whenever he managed to get a spare moment for recreation, he’d like to pick it back up again. He turned the ground below that wall to soft sand, borrowing a bit of it from the beachhead in the aquatic chamber. He made a few flat, raised steps for dodging and hopping across, then raised a few more of them to create additional challenge.

His imagination went wild as he recalled the training facility back at the delver school, which was one of the more positive memories he had. It was a challenge course, but fun, like a playground. Tricking the children into exercise and dungeon crawl training by making them think they were playing was a good tactic.

He created a few tunnels that looped around through the walls that would force the user to go prone, crawl sideways, roll, pull, and push their way around. Then, he brought up varying height balance beams, and he was able to make a few metal pull-up bars too. All the rest was crafted from stone, so Leslie would have her work cut out for her making some leather attachments to add some comfort—and prevent shattered bones.

Lastly, lowered a big portion of the available area about two feet, creating a sparing ring that would be out of the way of the other activities. Rhen winced when he saw the price tag; seven-hundred anima… well, he could just barely afford it.

He accepted the changes and the floor rumbled. When he opened his eyes, the three boys had retreated to the node for safety while the dungeon reshaped itself. The adjustments morphed into being just as perfect as Rhen had hoped.

“Wow!” Elli gave a running dive for the tunnel in the wall. A few seconds later, his boots disappeared from view.

“You did this for us?” Ulecks asked.

Rhen nodded. “We’re in the business of monster killing. We deserve a nice training area.”

“Mismanaging my dungeon resources?” A foul, blood-boiling voice grated from behind him.

Had it been three days already?

Rhen sighed and spun on his heel to face the fluffer. “Not your dungeon.”

“Not yet,” Welsh said with a smarmy grin.

“Not ever.”

Welsh and his two goons shared a chuckle.

“What the heck?” Elli said from somewhere in the maze of tunnels.

“Lose one of your little dogs?” the stupid goon who’d spit in his own face a few days ago asked.

“Mr. Welsh,” Arannet said with more force than Rhen had ever heard. Everyone turned to look at her and she started to shrink.

She cleared her throat and squared her shoulders back. “I will be giving you the tour and I have limited time, so please follow me.”

Welsh sneered. “Time to see just how much you’ve squandered.”

The invading party pushed past Rhen and the twins.

Ulecks leaned in over Rhen’s shoulder, whispering, “Want me to shank him in the kidney?”

“Maybe cut out his tongue?” Alex whispered back.

Rhen snorted. “If only. But no, I have a feeling he’s going to get what he’s earned.”

He imagined Aki, off in the great-wide wherever, doing who knew what. It chafed Rhen that he didn’t know what this secret plan of Aki and Jakira’s was. But he trusted Aki and Jakira more than anyone else. He trusted that they would do what was best for them. It was one less thing on his plate, and for that he was grateful.

“Hello!” another voice called from farther up in the dungeon, near the exit. It was a woman. “Is Rhen Zephitz here?”

Rhen’s stomach dropped.

It was Tansi.

No.

No.

No, no, no!

This could not have been worse timing.

“I have to go. Have fun, boys.” Rhen turned and ran up the tunnel to the exit.

He rounded the last corner just as Tansi slipped down the last rung of the ladder.

“Disgusting,” she muttered, wiping her gloved hands off on her blue, frilly dress skirt.

Rhen’s mouth turned to sand and he stared, his heart beating a wild anthem of fear and pain.

Tansi turned around and yelped at the sight of him. She put her hand to her chest and sighed. “Couldn’t you have warned me?”

“I… uh…” Rhen stammered. “Welcome to the dungeon.”

“Some welcome,” she murmured and glanced around. “Well, can I come in? Is it safe?”

“Yes, but no! No, we should… go to the Bustling Brood in Yu. You’ll be more comfortable there.”

Tansi crossed her arms over her pristine white blouse. “This won’t take but five minutes.”

She took a step toward him.

Shit.

Then past him.

Shit!

“But there’s an inspection happening now, and we’ll get in the way,” Rhen tried for another excuse.

Tansi turned back and closed the distance between them. “Do not tell me I came all this way to undo the last remaining bond to my dead husband, and you would drag this out a moment longer by forcing me to wait back in town?”

Rhen swallowed hard. “But if they ask questions—”

“Then lie, like you have for years.” There was malice in eyes and acid in her voice. “Say I’m your distant aunt, here to collect a debt I’d loaned you. Perfectly reasonable.”

“Rhen, what’s going on?” Jakira rounded the corner. “Elli said you were panicking—”

Tansi turned to glare at Jakira, who stopped dead in her tracks. She looked between Tansi and Rhen, then gave a knowing gasp.

She looked back down the tunnel, as if to check for anyone listening. “I’ll go make some space for you at the inn and ensure it is private.”

Jakira retreated, but not before giving Rhen one last sympathetic, encouraging smile. “You’ve got this,” her glance said.

Tansi looked at Rhen, something like dark amusement pulling her lip into a smirk. “So, you don’t lie to everyone.”

Rhen didn’t know what to say, didn’t know if there was anything he could say. He opted instead to just lead her into the dungeon. “Watch your step,” he warned as they turned the first switchback.

“Do you always keep it so dark?” she asked, her white-gloved hand tracing the wall for balance.

Rhen took a deep inhale, then lit up the tunnel with his primordial breath. Tansi looked in awe for just a flicker, her eyes filled with wonder. Rhen blinked and she was back to a scowl.

They walked past the boys, squirming and worming their way through the tunnels while laughing joyously.

“Is that even safe?” Tansi asked, disgusted.

“Perfectly, the dungeon reshaping system is very dependable.”

She harumphed.

Rhen lit the way toward the inn, but as they drew nearer, the light from the rainforest chamber outshone his.

“Is that still part of the dungeon?” she asked, puzzled by all the greenery.

Rhen nodded. “It’s called a themed chamber. Many of the dungeon scientists believe that overtime many creatures form an ecosystem in certain areas of the dungeons, but they don’t all agree. Some believe that the ecosystems are created by the dungeon nodes themselves, and that the chambers is a representation of a realm that used to connect to the node there.”

“Incredible,” she breathed.

Rhen smiled. “This was why he loved it so much.”

Tansi sniffed and then cleared her throat. “I’m sure you don’t want me here any longer than I need to be, so…”

“Right, this way.” He pointed her toward the inn where Jakira stood guard.

They moved through the dining area, Arannet’s paperwork stack piled high in the corner. He led her to the stairs and up to his bedroom. With the addition of doors and curtains, the bedrooms had become much more sound resistant… Rhen hoped it was enough.

He held the door for her and she passed him, dipping her head with a mumbled thank you. She was a proper woman to her core, even when she hated someone. Rhen could respect her for showing that kind of restraint. Just practicing his dungeon owner manners with Welsh had been enough to exhaust him, and she lived with this every day.

The door closed with a scrape and Rhen’s stomach did a terrified backflip. He turned to see Tansi unbuttoning her blouse from the bottom up.

“What? Stop,” Rhen whirled around, confused and angry.

“You don’t know how to do this, do you?” She asked, her voice a little kinder than before.

Rhen shook his head. It couldn’t be… couldn’t be that. Please gods.

“You must lay your bare hand on my syntial, and my chest, and I do the same. We pull the anima from one another, and unmake the mark. It takes a few minutes.”

Rhen exhaled a huge sigh of relief. He turned back to her. She’d stopped unbuttoning about half-way up, just enough space for him to reach her syntial. Rhen looked down as he approached her, untucking his shirt. He loosened the leather jerkin at the shoulders and pulled it off, stopping in front of her.

He kept his eyes locked on the ground and allowed Tansi to place his hand over her syntial. She moved his other hand to her sternum, and Rhen kept his gaze firmly on the window. Light seeped in around the edges of the closed drapes, and he counted the flecks of celinom that sparkled back at him.

Tansi’s hand slid across his side, flinching as her finger brushed the scar.

She placed her other hand on his chest. “Now say, a bond forged in life must resolve now before death. I willingly remove myself from… and then you would say Tansi Linphar, and I’ll say Rhen Zephitz. And then,” her voice broke. “And then you’re free.”

Rhen swallowed. “A bond forged in life must resolve now before death, I willingly remove myself from Tansi Linphar.”

She said the reversal oath, and blue light shimmered between Rhen’s fingers and from his chest. Pain needled his side, and Tansi winced, inhaling sharply. He turned his attention back to the window.

“You’re strong, Maddox.”

One purple fleck. Two purple flecks.

“I know you can do this, son.”

Three, four, five flecks.

“Show the realms just how great you are.”

Rhen clenched his jaw, forcing tears away from his eyes. “Why didn’t you help me?”

She looked down.

“You could’ve paid my debt. You had enough… but you hated his passion so much you’d rather watch me suffer.”

Indignant fire made his heart thunder and he glared at her. “I was a child who’d just lost everything…”

“And I was a childless widow from whom you’d taken everything,” she snarled.

“I didn’t take him from you! He was dying!”

“You took his last five years of life from me!”

Rhen bit his tongue. Anger swirled with guilt.

Tears flowed freely from her eyes, and she stared at the wall. “He chose to spend that time with you rather than me.”

This wasn’t about him at all… it was about her. She didn’t think he loved her.

They were quiet for a long beat while the needling continued to prick at Rhen’s side.

“One time, he took me to this dungeon near Halea’Mar, it had a big, blue crystal cavern that had been preserved as a natural wonder. He sat me down at the center of it in the pitch black, and then lit up the whole room with his primordial breath.

“It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, I’d said. He said it was second only to one.”

“Don’t,” she warned, her lower lip quivering.

“He loved you, more than anything.”

“Not more than delving.”

Rhen wanted to tell her why he did it. Yes, at first it was the love of the delve, but then… then it was to get enough money to buy out Rhen’s debt to set him free. By then, Tansi already hated him for how much he’d stolen of Rhen’s life. He wanted to tell her she’d done this to herself, and if she’d just been a little more generous with her precious money, she might’ve had another year with him.

But her reddened eyes, her angry cheeks, the snot drizzling from her left nostril that she kept trying to sniff back up… he couldn’t. She didn’t deserve more scorn. She hadn’t been good to him, and her karma was of her own making. He didn’t need to stab her in the heart while she was already drawn and quartered.

The blue glow faded and Tansi jerked away. She buttoned her shirt, then dabbed her nose with a handkerchief.

Rhen pulled in a deep, calming breath. “I hope you can still live a happy life.”

She looked over her shoulder, face contorted with sadness. “I… I hope you…”

Her shoulders pulled all the way up to her ears and she ran for the door. She jerked it open and fled into the hall.

Rhen just stood there for a moment.

And a moment longer as her fleeing steps receded down the dungeon.

Until he couldn’t hear her anymore.

He dropped to the floor, his throat hot and tight.

The door creaked open and Jakira looked inside. Her curious expression melted to empathy and she rushed inside. She dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around him, pulling his head to her chest. He squeezed her in close, biting back the anguish he’d buried so deep.

It was over now.

He’d never feel that pain again.