I tipped my head to the side. “Sorry?”

His eyes pointedly went to my cheekbone, now, I would suspect, without any discoloration and then back to me. “You and tahna Dax, I have the hope that all is well in your cham.”

A tingle slid up my spine before I said, “Everything is fine.”

Then, because I wanted Bain in on this conversation, I said in Korwahk, hoping I got it right, “Jak lapay yahka.” All is well.

“Jak lapay yahka? Zut tela?” Bain asked and I looked up at him.

“Kay loot kah Dax,” I answered his question of, All is well? With what? then I looked at The Eunuch. “Kah Lahn lapay uh… busy gahn we are, um, coping well, uh, ta lapay yahka. Fahnahsan.”**

The obsequious bow from The Eunuch again then, “Dohno, kah Dahksahna, very dohno,” he was obviously avoiding Bain’s eyes and, perhaps, the unhappy vibe Bain was emanating and it was clear he wanted to seriously avoid it and I knew this when he said with another mini-head-bow, “I will leave you to your… wanderings.

Goyah, kah Dahksahna,” a bow without any eye contact to Bain and a muttered, “Goyah, Tunakan.”***

Then he hurried away.

It could be said I didn’t like how that went and when Bain touched my arm to move us forward again I knew by his continued unhappy vibe he didn’t either.

Then he spoke in Korwahk and used easy words so I could understand. “I do not like that man.”

Uh-oh.

Then he went on to warn, “Be cautious, Dahksahna Circe.”

I pretty much got that.

“Okay,” I whispered.

At that point, an almighty scream pierced the air, so hideous it sent ice shards tearing through my veins.

Instantly, one of Bain’s arms lifted high, his hand going behind his neck where he smoothly and swiftly unsheathed his sword while the other arm went around my waist and he pulled me to him,

inching back even as people all around were running to a cham three tents down.

Bain barked a question at someone who was running the other direction, got an answer and the man spoke so fast, the only words I could make out where “Dortak” and “zak bahsah”, his wife.

Oh shit.

Then another scream split the air.

Oh shit!

Bain’s body went solid at the answer and then he tried to pull me back but I planted my feet and twisted my neck to look up at him.

In Korwahk, I did my best to shout, “We need to go to her!”

“Me, kah rahna Dahksahna,” he denied.

“Bain! We need to go to her! ” He kept pulling me back so I screeched, “Nahna Dahksahna tahnoo tee!” Your Queen commands it!

He stared me in the eyes for a heartbeat, clearly read something then muttered, “Tooyay kay.”

Diandra had told me what “tooyo” meant and it didn’t have a literal translation but the description made it sound like it meant

“fuck” which meant Bain just muttered, “fuck me” which would have been funny any other time but obviously not then.

Then he let me go but took my hand, kept his sword unsheathed and we jogged to the tent. He shouted orders at the people surrounding it, they turned, saw me, parted and then we got to the front of the cham and I beheld a nightmare.

Dortak had his wife on her knees in front of him, his hand fisted in her hair, he was bent to her, the blade of a knife at her throat and blood dripping from a huge, gaping gash at his shoulder. His face was red and twisted with rage, she had clearly been recently beaten about the face and we weren’t talking a little slapping around, which would be bad enough, but fists, her cheeks were awash in a river of tears and I knew he was about to slit her throat.

So without a single thought, I whirled, gripped the hilt of one of the knives in Bain’s belt, pulled it out of its sheath, whirled back and advanced like a shot until I had the knifepoint at Dortak’s jugular.

“Stop,” I commanded in Korwahk.

He glared hatred up at me and then the blade sliced her flesh, blood immediately dripping from the shallow slash but she screamed her terror in a way it crawled along my skin.

I pressed the point of my blade in his neck. “Stop! ”

“Kah rahna Dahksahna,” Bain said softly, he was close.

“Your queen commands it!” I shouted in Korwahk at Dortak, ignoring Bain, my eyes glued to the dark, cruel ones of a monster.

He slid his blade in deeper and another scream rent the air, she twisted in his arms (not the smartest thing to do, I thought vaguely, considering his blade had opened her skin) and tears dropped off her chin.

“Your queen commands it! ” I shrieked, pushing my knifepoint in deeper and a bead of blood surrounded the point.

He stilled and glared at me and I held his eyes. We were in a stare down. I was breathing heavily, my chest expanding deep and falling so hard I could feel every breath.

“Your queen commands it, Dortak, drop your blade,” Bain said in Korwahk from behind me and Dortak’s eyes slid to him.

“Your queen commands it, drop… your… blade. ” Another voice came from a little further away, one that was familiar but I was concentrating on not shoving my blade in his throat and/or passing out so I didn’t have the capacity to place it.

Dortak’s gaze came back to me and I held it.

“Drop your blade! ” Bain thundered.

Dortak’s eyes moved over my shoulder and up again then slid across me to take in something else then his lip curled in a sneer and he dropped his blade but shoved his wife so she fell face first in the dirt in front of their cham.

I started to move to her but I didn’t even get a step. Bain’s hand curled around mine and he took off, dragging me with him. When he pulled me through the crowd of people I caught a glimpse of several warriors including Zahnin who was the voice I couldn’t put my finger on (mostly because he’d never said much to me, most of what he said was monosyllabic and all of that was grunted).

I was surprised he took my back.

I was also running through the Daxshee to keep up with Bain’s quick, determined, urgent strides and I was shaking like a leaf.

When we got to my cham, he shoved me inside, snatched his blade out of my hand, sheathed it then bent, put a finger in my face and growled in Korwahk, “Do not leave.”

His face was scary but there was also something else there.