I didn't want to think about that either.

Thankfully, Rymar tossed himself down into the chair nearest to me. "So, the house is trashed," he said.

"Saw the blood in the kitchen," I assured him.

"More in the hall," he said. "Looks like a Mole found their hiding spot and she shot him point blank. The one in the kitchen had a bolt through his jaw and into his brain. I don't even want to know how she got that shot off."

Gathering up the mess I'd made, I tossed it on the coffee table, then claimed the other chair. "She saved Tamin."

"Mm." Rymar nodded as if that made sense.

"He got shot in the leg, and I haven't heard the whole story yet, but she got him into the forest to hide, then came back with a gun. I know Tamin stung a man for her, but when I saw Ayla running at me with a gun raised?"

"About shit yourself?" Rymar teased.

"I certainly did not expect her to shoot one of the men attacking me and then use the end of the thing to beat another unconscious."

"Nice," he purred just as the bedroom door clicked closed.

A moment later, Kanik walked around the corner and sighed heavily. The man's eyes landed on the dirty bandages. Sighing again, he scooped those up and turned for the kitchen without pausing. And yet, his return had made Rymar and me fall silent.

"Is she sleeping?" Rymar finally asked.

"She will soon," Kanik promised. "I had to talk her down. She was worried about Tamin's toy."

"Fuck," I breathed, remembering the carving his father had made.

Pushing to my feet, I headed for the storage area, hoping it would be that easy. Sure enough, the palm-sized carving was tucked carefully on a shelf in the back corner. To me, it was one more sign that Ayla had protected the boy, because he'd been in the back. That meant she'd been in front, shielding him with her life.

Cradling the carving, I headed back into the living room to find Kanik on the couch where Ayla had been lying. Both he and Rymar had a beer, and there was another bottle sitting in front of the chair I'd left. I placed the carving beside it, deciding I'd give it to Saveah tomorrow, then picked up the bottle and had a long drink. Hopefully, it would wash the adrenaline from my system so I could start to relax too.

"She helped," I finally said into the silence.

"Sounds like she did more than that," Rymar said.

"No," I groaned. "I don't mean she put in the minimal effort or anything. I mean that timid little waif of a woman became a fucking Dragon tonight."

That made Kanik look at me. "How so?"

I told them about the supposed antidote. About how she'd lied to a Mole man with the straightest - and sweetest - face I'd ever seen. How she said she knew when they were coming back, then realized our calendars weren't the same. I told them about her getting the bullet out of Tamin, and everything else she'd done with the wounded in the street.

Then Rymar explained the bodies of the men again. Kanik mentioned that carrying a wounded child up the hill so they could get to the forest wouldn't have been easy either. No, we didn't have the whole story, but together we had enough to see one important thing: Ayla was on our side.

"She stabbed a man to get out of that place," Kanik reminded me. "Why wouldn't she be?"

"Because killing people you know isn't easy," I countered. "It's why I didn't want to be too nice to her. I didn't want to like her."

Rymar just chuckled. "And sitting on the porch, having long talks while watching the sun set is... Distant? C'mon, Zasen. Admit it. You haven't had the balls to kill that girl since she slapped you across the face."

Since I'd realized she'd been scared of getting raped, he meant. The shitty part was how right he was. Then seeing her dive into learning our language? I'd tried to tell myself she was getting information, which proved she could still be a spy. I hadn't believed it then, and even less now.

"We need to make her immune to venom," I said, ignoring Rymar's comment. "If a tailless woman was willing to cut her with a kitchen knife, what will happen if a tailed one wants to kill her?"

"Teach her defense," Kanik said. "She used that crossbow well - "

"And a gun," I reminded him.

Kanik just lifted a hand, begging for me to listen. "She used the bow well enough. She was strong enough to pull it. A child's recurve bow? Maybe even a small hunting bow? Zasen, it's going to take time to teach her how to aim."

"Time you two can keep talking to her," Rymar added. "Time you can use to also teach Tamin how to use his weapons." He smiled. "And if you ask her what you want, she might even spill it all."

"Yeah," I breathed, knowing he was right. "But one problem still remains. Jerlis isn't going to like it."

"I said I'll handle the mayor," Rymar promised. "And while I'm at work, I'll even start convincing people she's no longer a Mole. I'll plant the idea in their heads and make it clear how hard she worked to get away from them. You two simply have to handle the girl."

"Easy enough," Kanik said. "She loves reading, and she's doing well enough with Vestrian that I think she can handle more than books for kids."

"So what will you give her instead?" I asked.

"History," he said. "I mean, since I'm assuming we no longer need to hide anything from her?"

I took another long drink of my beer, because there was still one major problem with our idea. "Jerlis is really going to be pissed. You two do realize he could banish her from Lorsa, right? Before we start any of this, we need to get him on our side."

"Don't worry about that," Rymar insisted. "I'll handle the mayor. You two worry about what you're going to share with our little refugee."

"And I trust her," Kanik told me. "Zasen, I've talked to her enough - in both languages - to have caught her if she was lying. Besides, what assassin kills their own people to spare ours?"

"What spy has no idea where her meat came from?" I added, showing I agreed.

"No..." Rymar said as my words made sense to him. "She didn't know?"

"Not a fucking clue," I assured him. "She wanted to know why they were attacking us. Us, guys. I may have snapped that they were hunting, and I told her how they take our dead and leave their own." I reached up to rub that spot between my brows. "I screamed it at her, and do you know what she did?"

"Puked?" Kanik guessed.

I shook my head. "She ran back to protect Tamin."

"So when does she get to be a Dragon?" Rymar asked.

All I could do was shrug. "I have no idea, because that's one thing that's not up to me. Jerlis is the one who signs off on that."

"So should we stop treating her like the enemy and more like a Dragon in training?" Rymar suggested. "Because I, for one, am not worried about Jerlis at all."

"And you're the only one," Kanik countered. "That man hates Moles."

"So make sure she's safe in the meantime," Rymar said. "We brought her here. That means we have to take care of her now."

"She's not a fucking pet," Kanik grumbled.