“According to your story, you never did escape from them, you were just… separated.” She remembered something. “If Tyler was one of these monsters, wouldn’t he have been able to control you?”

The wind gusted and Galbaric turned to look back at the pair of them. “Must you be so slow? Do you wish to return home, or engage in courtship in the wastes?”

Ainsel’s face burned and she ducked her head. Remy said, “We’re planning our revenge on an enemy. Really, Gal, is that any way to talk to your liege lady?”

“Hah!” shouted Galbaric, but nothing else.

Ainsel walked along, studying the ground furiously. He was a werewolf, he’d stalked her, he knew secrets about her she didn’t, and she could not forget the sensation of kissing him. It was so wrong. Even if they were now on the same side, more kissing seemed pretty unlikely. If they could solve the problem of Tyler, he’d probably go back to his own world… and if they couldn’t, it wouldn’t be issue. Because maybe Remy no longer wanted to hurt and terrify her, but Tyler certainly did.

She’d run from him. She’d jumped into a hole in space without having any idea of where it led, just to get away from Tyler, and now she’d let Remy talk her into going back with him. What if Remy had been lying about everything in order to get her to go back willingly?

What if his story of Night Masters was true and he wasn’t resistant to Tyler’s control? What if he was luring her back to Tyler and he couldn’t control himself?

“Why did you stop?” asked Remy softly and Ainsel realized she’d come to a halt.

“Tyler told you to bring me back,” she whispered. “And you’re doing it. I’m not even fighting back.”

Remy’s mouth hardened and the boy who’d hiked alongside her, who’d protected her from nightmares was gone. Instead, the half-mad hunter, always poised on the brink of attacking, was back again. Ainsel felt sick to her stomach. She’d wanted so much to trust him.

He stepped backward. “Oh,” he said. His fists clenched at his side, and then he bent over and swept his fingers across the rocky ground. As he did, a black hole opened as space tore open. A fray. When it was as wide as he was tall, he straightened up.

“Tell me to jump in and I will,” he rasped.

Ainsel stared at him uncomprehending. “Where will you go?”

He shrugged. “Away from you.” His eyes glinted the red of the wasteland, and a shudder ran down Ainsel’s spine.

No, it wasn’t her spine. Once again, the land itself shook. But Remy kept looking at her, like her response mattered more than any guardians’ attack.

Ainsel’s nerve snapped. She didn’t know what to do, didn’t know how to react, couldn’t sort out her own emotions, more monsters were coming for them and she didn’t even know why. She backed up three steps, then turned and ran to Galbaric.

“What did you do?!” roared Galbaric, turning around. “You idiot!” He flowed toward Ainsel with giant strides unaffected by the earthquake. She stopped, trembling, suddenly just as afraid of him and the lightning in his eyes. “Not you,” he snapped. “Keep running.”

She obeyed. The ground continued shaking. She could see the ruins in the farthest distance. Sarge and Nabi had stopped, carefully keeping their balance and turned back to watch Galbaric, their grip on their guns notably less relaxed. Jim stood a little beyond them, the whites of his eyes showing. Ainsel slowed as she approached them, remembering how Galbaric had said he’d be required to navigate the ruins safely.

Sarge held up a hand as if to stop her, but it was Jim’s fear that made Ainsel stumble to a halt. She’d dedicated herself to keeping him safe until she could return him to Zoë. He had no chance of keeping up with her. She had to stop, or abandon him to whatever was coming.

She grabbed at Jim’s arm as the shaking stopped. A wild laugh rose behind her, and she just barely recognized Remy’s voice. “Afraid, Gal? I’m not. Your little pets are just what I like.”

“Mad,” muttered Sarge. “A good boy, too.”

“What’s wrong with him, lady?” Nabi demanded of Ainsel. “What happened?”

Her chest heaving with the effort to control herself, Ainsel slowly turned around. On the far side of the shrinking fray, Remy smacked Galbaric’s hand as the Thunder King reached for him. Then both boy and man moved so fast no human eye could keep up, as Remy lunged for Galbaric even as he partially shifted. One clawed hand moved low while he slashed at the other’s chest. But Galbaric knocked a fist against Remy’s shoulder as he caught his lower hand, twisted, did something with a leg—

—and then he had Remy pinned on his stomach, one knee on his back and his hands twisted behind his back.

Sarge clicked his tongue in disappointment. “Over fast. Would have lost scrip in arena.”

Nabi shook his head. “No. Something is wrong. What happened, lady?” he repeated.

Ainsel stared at the fray as it vanished, and then at the pair just beyond. Galbaric was speaking quietly to Remy, whose transformation was fluctating wildly. The bigger man had a fierce grin, but it didn’t match the angry slash of his brows.

“It’s the curse,” she said as she realized what was going on. She should have realized—but it didn’t change her fear that Remy was under Tyler’s sway, and it didn’t change the fact that something was coming, something that worried even Galbaric.

And— “Who closed the fray?”