It made sense, Corabelle supposed. She was already the monster in their home. They didn’t need to see her feed. She’d even been given dark clothes to better hide the stains.

  It was a disturbing sight to see a Faedemon eat. She could still remember the first time she saw Zaramir feed on the animals in his home. All the things she’d seen, that one still sent chills down her spine, even this many years later.

  Maybe it was because it was him.

  There was still some part of her that couldn’t connect that monster to her gentle friend.

  The needle pierced her inner arm with little care. She flinched, the prick pulling her from her thoughts.

  The Dewsilver wasn’t so bad this time, now that she knew what to expect.

  Her muscles still shuttered, her tongue still tasted of metal, but she didn’t fall, her legs already braced for the uncomfortable imbalance as she took shallow breaths to curb the aching of her lungs.

  “There,” The bitter voice of the alchemist said as she pulled the needle from Corabelle’s arm.

  “Are you alright?” The voice of the kind man who led her here inquired. “Yout seem… unwell.”

  “This happened last time,” Corabelle answered. “Dewsilver is inherently toxic, but I can repair the damage faster than it can cause it.”

  “Is there a way to neutralize it?”

  Corabelle’s voice collided with the alchemist’s as they both tried to answer.

  Corabelle held her tongue, allowing the alchemist to respond first, “Not with what we have here,” She said coldly. “She’ll just have to deal with what we have if she wants to go out.”

  If the man acknowledged her in any way, it was silent, before his words turned toward herself, “Cora, that’s the name you gave my superior, right?”

  She nodded.

  “I’m going to take your arm again to lead you out, Cora. I’ll remove your blindfold and bind when we’re far enough from here,” His voice lowered further, barely audible as though he were trying to hide his words from his companions. “Thank you for keeping your word.”

  A hand grabbed her arm gently above the elbow, leading her farther than she’d been allowed to walk in days. The steps of the guards followed them, keeping close.

  She was grateful that Ella allowed her to leave to hunt, but she despised the whispers as she was led from the compounds. Their words hadn’t gotten any kinder. If anything they were harsher, bolder as though they knew they could say anything without repercussions.

  Fortunately there didn’t seem to be as many people milling about the halls at whatever time of day this was compared to when she had been brought here. While the insults were worse, there were at least fewer venomous words.

  She knew they were out of the base when the sound of ambient magic dulled to the whisper of the four around her.

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  Without the guards around and so many judging eyes, she felt safer using her voice as they journeyed.

  She reached up carefully and tapped the fingers of the man holding her arm.

  “What’s wrong?” His response was quick, concerned, his grip firming on her arm

  “Nothing,” She answered hurriedly. “I just wanted to say thank you as well. For talking to Ella. I have a feeling things might not have gone as well for me without your confidence in me. So, thank you.”

  His grip loosened, “You never gave me a reason not to trust you.” His words were nice but there was a strange harshness to the way he said it. “But you’re welcome. I wasn’t told much, but you seem to be useful to ‘Ella’.” There was an air of humor to the way he said her name.

  Though Corabelle knew that wasn’t her real name, clearly this man found something humorous about the pseudonym.

  “I’ve been trying to be,” Corabelle replied before taking as deep a breath as she could. “But, If I can ask, can you give me something to call you? All of you if it’s alright. It doesn’t have to be your name of course, just… something to call you.” The words came out quickly, before she could lose the nerve to ask.

  He stopped, squeezing her arm to stop her, “We’re far enough, I think.” The ropes loosened from her wrists and she reached up to pull the cloth from her eyes.

  She didn’t realize how uncomfortable the stale fabric was until her face was free, “If you’re not comfortable letting me call you anything… that’s alright of course.” She said quickly, as her eyes met his.

  “My name is Sterling,” He told her. “That is the only name anyone calls me. I’m not going to give you a false name, when you’ve been honest about everything else. I know you’ll never tell us your true name, but I hope in good faith that is the only secret you’ll keep from us.”

  The Aldiran appeared from darkness, “River,” She said. “That is the false name I was given for use on missions. I’m sorry, but even if Sterling is confident. I can not be.”

  “I understand,” Corabelle replied. “Thank you.”

  The large man spoke next, “Val is a nickname. You can use that, but River is right. I’m sorry.”

  The alchemist rolled her eyes, clearly finding their words trite, “You’re not getting any name from me,” She hissed. “Real or false.”

  “Okay,” Corabelle conceded, not daring to try to push the matter.

  “We’ll wait here for an hour while you hunt, if that’s enough time,” Sterling told her, returning to business. “After we all must go get food for our people.

  “It will be enough time,” Corabelle answered. “But did Ella tell you that It’s not the meat I need?”

  Sterling's brow furrowed in confusion, “No, I…” He hesitated for a moment before speaking forthright. “I assumed all this time that Faedemons were just carnivores. We haven’t had enough meat for a good meal in a long while.”

  “It's not about meat,” She informed him. “Meat is just most efficient. Anything alive will theoretically work as long as we could consume enough of it. We feed on the energy of a Spark. Which is why… why you know us as the monsters you do.”

  His jaw tightened, understanding her meaning.

  “But every living thing has a Spark, just generally the more intelligent the creature the more Spark compared to the volume needed to be consumed. When I was first created, fresh plant material worked to a small degree, but I could never eat the volume needed. It’s worse now that I have these Runebinds.” She pushed up her sleeve, revealing the circles around her upper arms. “I’m telling you this, because if I can hunt something large, like a deer or even wild horse if I'm lucky. There will be far more meat leftover than I need by the time the residual Spark dissipates and you can take the rest back to your people.”

  He was silent for a moment before speaking, “That is a kind offer,” He sighed. “I appreciate you thinking of us, but…. and I promise I’m not trying to offend you, I don’t think our people would be comfortable with food you touched,” He didn’t meet hers as he spoke. “And I’m afraid it might be fairly obvious it wasn’t killed by an arrow.”

  She wished his thoughtfulness didn’t sting so badly, but she knew he was right as she tried to keep the hurt from her voice, “I understand. I’ll hunt small game to avoid the waste and I’ll be back within the hour.”