Rosalyn stuffed her stomach to bursting, relishing in the discomfort of having eaten so much damn food. She didn’t know what all of the different vegetables and meats were that she’d consumed, but each was more delicious than the last, and her body finally felt like it wasn’t in desperation mode anymore.

She slid from the log to the ground so she could lean against the wood, stretching back to ease the stiffness in her muscles.

“Let me see your hands,” Hex offered.

As if on cue, her palms began to burn, as if they’d chilled out from enjoying the nutrients as much as she had.

“Am I that transparent?” she asked, picking at one of her silken bandages. “These look decorative and match my outfit so I didn’t think anyone would notice.”

He smirked and tapped his nose.

“Right, super-smell.” Rosalyn turned her hand over, trying to find some kind of seam so she could unwrap the fabric.

“May I?” he asked, and waited for her nod before he took her hand in his.

Her breath caught at the absolute warmth of his skin. She flicked her gaze up to his eyes to make sure he wasn’t fixing her with an all-knowing expression, catching her being so affected by him. For fuck’s sake, he could probably smell her attraction, along with every other damn demon around.

She swallowed her anxieties and focused on his touch, refusing to feel embarrassed about being turned on by the demon. Fuck it, if he knows or they all know, whatever, I can’t control it. It’s his fault for being so damn hot. Might as well enjoy myself while I’m here.

He slowly unraveled the fabric, which somehow seemed like it was miles long despite having felt barely there on her hands. The inner layers were a tiny bit stained with her blood, but she gasped at the sight of her palms. She’d expected nasty, sticky, an infected wounds.

“Jeez you guys have healing powers too or what?”

He shook his head as he inspected the thin red lines marring her skin. “Whoever cleaned these had a witch salve of some kind.” He gently set her hand down and took the other, working the fabric free.

“She was a witch too?” Rosalyn snorted. “Unsurprising.” She imagined Rhizaid stirring a cauldron and cackling maniacally, and stifled a hysterical laugh. She shoved away the gratefulness that her captor had healed her wounds, reminding herself that if she hadn’t have been locked in that wagon then she wouldn’t have been doing handstands on broken glass in the first place.

“They should stop hurting by the morning,” Hex continued as he inspected her second hand for longer than seemed necessary. His thumb brushed up along the side of her palm, and when he set her hand down he lingered, reluctant.

Or maybe she was just projecting, because she liked his touch. Her gut twisted, as if to remind her that she’d been forced to swallow a message for this guy—or she assumed it was for him. Maybe he wasn’t even the heir. Maybe the cover art thing was a red herring or the artist just put his face there because it was pretty. Maybe—

“This a recruit or did you bring her back here to cuddle?” The voice made Rosalyn startle, and she fought off a blush, let alone stifling the argument that they hadn’t been cuddling. She felt like she was back in grade school, caught holding hands with a boy.

Jian chuckled, and Rosalyn’s head snapped around—she hadn’t even heard him return. How long had he been standing behind them?

“Klari, this here’s Rose,” Hex said, and didn’t stand. “We found her alone in the forest.”

Rosalyn faced the approaching demon, and her eyes widened. Klari was very clearly a demon, with dark violet skin and onyx curled horns, but it was her height and stature that made her jump to her feet.

“You’re me-sized!” Rosalyn blurted, before realizing that getting up in a demon’s face, no matter the size, was a stupid idea.

Before she could take it back or run away, however, Klari’s face split into a toothy grin, and she reached out, placing firm hands on Rosalyn’s shoulders.

“Ain’t it nice to not have to look up all the time.” She side-glanced down at Hex, still sitting, a smirk on his face. “This here’s my camp. Didja get some eats?”

Rosalyn nodded. “I have no idea what any of it was, but it was delicious, thank you.”

Klari let go of her, brushing a shoulder-length ebony braid over her shoulder. “What brought you to the forest, all alone? Shit’s dangerous out there.”

Fear clutched Rosalyn’s chest. She still wasn’t sure how much she should tell. These people were being nice for the moment, but she knew how quickly that could change based on her circumstances.

“I’m just trying to get home,” she said, and it was the truth, in its barest form. “I don’t know how I got to this land…and I don’t know which way to go. Nobody I’ve met so far has ever seen a human before.”

Klari regarded her for a moment with a contemplative gaze. “Sadly, I don’t have the resources to help you. We’re in the middle of a war. Yer fuckin’ lucky you didn’t get skewered.”

“I can’t say I’ve been too lucky…until I got here, anyway.” Rosalyn chewed the inside of her cheek. Her skin danced with nerves. She hadn’t had any hope that these people would know how to get her out of here, but they weren’t tossing her out on her ass, so if she could lay low for a little bit then that could help her regroup.

It’ll be handy to have friends if I’m stuck here. The thought thundered through her head like a battering ram, taking her breath away. She didn’t want to think about that. About how the chat disappearing could mean she was trapped here forever. But it would be stupid not to try to plan for that, just in case, despite how horrifying it was.

“Is there any…could I, like, work for room and board or whatever?” She linked her fingers together nervously in front of her. “Just until I figure out where I’m going?” And so I can figure out if Hex is the heir…

Klari plonked herself down on the log opposite Hex. Her hooves were far apart in the dirt, and the rested her elbows on her knees before motioning for Rosalyn to sit. “Do you know much about what’s going on in these lands?”

Rosalyn shook her head, taking her seat once again.

“Though demons are a free sort, we had a royal family. They made sure the capitol was organized and productive, which meant trade routes with us bumpkins in the woods and shit.” Klari grinned and pointed at herself. “They were good at what they did, and fair about it.”

Hex shifted a little, and Rosalyn peeked at him in her periphery. He still wore that relaxed pose, but on his face it felt like a mask. There was something tenser about him than before.

“Then, fuckin’ Drakach swooped in with an army, and slaughtered them.” Klari’s lips curled back from her teeth in a snarl. “No parlay, no warning, just out of nowhere murdered the royal family, guard, and half of the damn civilians.”

The mention of Drakach sent fear zipping up Rosalyn’s spine. The memory of his gleefully sadistic gaze on her made her skin crawl. She wasn’t sure if she should admit to having met him or not. She wasn’t sure if she should play dumb and give these people nothing—especially if they were keeping Hex’s identity a secret. She didn’t think they’d like it if she knew things.

“I sent scouts back the way he’d come, hoping to find some kind of answer to his madness, or some kind of weakness…but there was just nothing.” Klari shook her head. “He left a fucking wasteland behind. And I don’t know if those lands were his to begin with, or if he did the same there that he did here. But I ain’t letting him do the same to these lands. We’re going to take him out.”

Rosalyn was at a loss. This was a bona-fide resistance. This had to be the main quest line of the game. She’d thrown a wrench in that by her unfortunate meeting with Zalrimith, because she didn’t think that was supposed to be part of all of this. But based on storyline, helping the heir and the resistance defeat the evil King had to be the object of this thing.

If beating the game could get her out…then she’d have to help. And helping meant giving what little information she had. She just had to be careful about it.

“How…are you going to do that?” she asked, the question coming out far less smoothly than she’d wanted it to.

Klari shook her head. “That ain’t your concern right now. I don’t trust you, yet. But if you’re true, it’ll show soon enough.” She drummed on her knees. “If you wanna work for me, you help until we reach our goals, then we’ll see about getting you home. If you can’t help our cause, well, we can give you some supplies but you’d best be on your way.”

Rosalyn blinked. “Just like that? You’d cut me loose? Even though I’ve seen this place?”

Klari chuckled. “This camp is not our base of operations,” she said. “But yes, just like that. I have ways of knowing things.”

The implication settled over Rosalyn, that even if she did leave, these demons would know where she was going and what she was up to. She shuddered at the thought of what kinds of horrific little spies—bugs—Rhizaid had in her collection for that purpose, and didn’t want to know how these resistance people would do it. Hopefully not by screwing wings into living creatures.

Hemlock shuffled his way out from behind the log, skittering his way up and into Rosalyn’s lap. Hex smiled.

A Kranok. My mother had one, when I was young. His words had tickled something in her brain back when they’d had that conversation, and suddenly that something clicked into place.

I’m able to make a show of humiliating his mother whenever I need to remind the people who this kingdom belongs to, and it would just be nice to have the son, too. Drakach had said that to Rhizi, back when they’d met. The heir’s mother. Klari had just said that the royal family had all been wiped out. It made sense for them to want to keep the heir a secret, if Hex was the heir, but why not the Queen? Wouldn’t that lend even more passion to the fighting resistance to know that she was being held captive?

“Did you say…nobody survived the initial attack?” she asked hesitantly, unsure of how to word it without sounding suspicious. In the corner of her eye, Hex’s smile evaporated.

Klari shook her head. “No. There were some rumours in the beginning that one of the sons survived. Some of the people that fled the capitol swore that the head of the youngest son was a fake. But upon being questioned later, they admitted that the faces were too gnarled to tell, really.” She shrugged. “We haven’t had any spies in the city in a very long time, just those initial reports, but rumours stick. If any of them were still out there, they would have turned up by now, one way or the other.”

Rosalyn swallowed hard, a lump forming in her throat. She made a decision. She wasn’t sure if it was a smart one or not.

“I just…ah.” She took a deep breath. She half expected Hemlock to smother her or something, keep her from saying anything, but instead he rubbed against her hand. It felt like support, felt like he understood what she thought she should say. “I briefly met this Drakach.”

At this, the three demons surrounding her froze, staring at her. It was the eeriest thing, not even a breath or twitch or blink.

She plowed on. “He mentioned that he had a woman, to remind the people who’s in charge.” She didn’t think she should out the heir, but if they didn’t know about the Queen… “It sounded like…it sounded like he had a prisoner that was really important.”

“A woman.” Hex’s voice sounded like a taut elastic, ready to snap.

“He called her the mother,” Rosalyn said, hoping that would clarify without giving away that she’d overheard of the heir’s existence.

Klari leaned forward. “How did you come by this information?” Her tone left no room for argument—she wanted clear, concise answers.

Rosalyn let the dam burst. She told them about Rhizaid coercing her to come with her. The wagon. The glass. The cage. The King. And her disgusting escape. She didn’t tell them about Zal or the heir or the missive. The look on Klari’s face said she was starving for information, and Rosalyn wasn’t certain she wouldn’t just cut open her gut to get it out.

When she was finally done, Klari sat in contemplative silence, but Hex scrambled to his feet.

“I’m going to go find the device,” he said, but his voice was strained, breathy. Gone was the good-natured drawl, the smirks, the hesitant touches.

Klari shot him a look, but didn’t open her mouth.

He didn’t meet her gaze. “I’ll be back soon.” He hopped the log and walked away so fast it was nearly a jog.

Rosalyn turned just in time to see Jian nod and take off after Hex, and though she wasn’t sure because his white eyes never seemed to be quite looking at anyone, she assumed the nod was for the resistance leader.

Whom she was now alone with.

One thing was for sure, though, with Hex’s discomfort and hasty departure. He hadn’t known his mother was alive. And Rosalyn was certain now that she was, in fact, his mother.

Which meant that he was, in fact, the heir.