She’d been feeling the next best thing to confident, but Katie’s brain filed when Fox left—just—left. How he’d acted stunned her, but at breakfast he’d been the same way, making sure Frixm’s anger fell on him. What had he been like before this nonsense? He’d made it sound like he had a painstaking experiment going when he’d been kidnapped.

  Several aliens lifted the Elfish knight onto a stretcher. They wouldn’t have bothered with that if he was dead. A hit like Frixm had given him could easily kill a man. She’d seen it happen before. Frixm was almost as fast as Katie herself should’ve been. Without this damn bracelet.

  Liminus and Nadira sat equally stunned for one instant before the polite blond Sasquatch rocketed up from his too-small seat. “A thousand pardons, Katie. Nadira. I find I must—” He let out a slow breath, shutting his eyes and gesturing with his hands. Calmly, he said, “I must think.” He followed the stretcher bearers into the men’s hall, the same way Fox had gone, but past Fox’s door.

  He gave it a fleeting gnce as he passed, impossible for Katie to read. Her heart screamed a protest.

  The aliens cleared away the aftermath of Sir Ren—Sir Rengallon—dammit. Sir Renny, she thought. They were doing the same thing to him they’d done to her, weren’t they? But what were they doing? What do they want from us?

  Nadira climbed to her feet with the help of her cane. Katie’s pulse rushed in her ears.

  The old witch shook down her pants suit where it had wrinkled beneath her arms. “And I must speak. I’m sure we’ll see you at dinner, my dear.”

  Slowly, Katie nodded. The jar of All-Heal bit her back when she pulled her feet beneath her. Her shoes y on the white carpet in front, but she shifted again and slipped them on over her stockings. What now?

  She’d wait for Frixm to come out. As soon as he did, she’d go right in to see Fox. He wouldn’t do anything to stop her. Fox would probably come out too. No reason to freak out yet.

  Someone cleaned a big red smear from the back wall. Someone else swept a pile of teeth together on the floor. Neither person talked to her.

  The doors to Fox’s room slid apart, showing Frixm’s bck figure in the shadow of the overhang. Fox was saying something—Katie went still. “…have me in a prison cell?”

  “Because I want you to shut your mouth,” Frixm said clearly.

  Fox must’ve said something else, but Frixm didn’t answer back. The doors flicked closed in front of his face.

  Katie could see him well from her spot frozen on the couch. His spotless white hanky wasn’t so spotless anymore; instead, it was mottled with flowers of fresh blood. He blotted more blood off his hand. Had he honestly hit Fox?

  Of course he had. There were the trappings of a resort, and then there were the people running it. She couldn’t put anything past them. Frixm turned on his heel and went on up the hall, the same way Liminus had gone, without even looking at her. Good luck hitting him, Katie thought.

  Why had Fox done that? He hadn’t needed to antagonize Frixm. Frixm had picked his own target anyway, from the looks of things—and Sir Renny could take a punch, for fuck’s sake! Much better than Fox, with his pampered skin and perfect eyebrows—but he’d been the one to take it after Sir Renny anyway.

  She reached behind her and grabbed the jar, then shoved it in the stupid little handbag they’d given her with her clothes this morning. The stupid little hat, she left on the sofa. Who cares? If they’re the kind of people who lock Fox up for protesting, I hope they love picking up after me. Besides, the hatpins poked her. Funny how little she felt that iron when her wrist was so horrible. She got up and moved as fast as she could for Fox’s door, before one of the other asshole aliens showed up.

  She pressed the ovoid button for the chime, trying to conceal her body within the narrow frame. There was no answer. Sighing, she waited a few seconds more before she tried again. After that, she tried once more to be sure, but Fox wasn’t coming out.

  Fox couldn’t come out. He was in a prison cell because Frixm wanted him to shut his mouth. The aliens had beaten someone else in front of her eyes and plenty of others. She reeled and put her back against the doors, no trace of a seam between them, csping a hand to her forehead.

  “Shit,” she said, out loud. It encapsuted so many things about the situation. “A shituation. Shit!” It didn’t even ring in the desote hallway. He’d left her, and on purpose, too. Had he thought she’d somehow be better off?

  Stupid! I’m safe with you! With his looks and his unfamiliar title, he was definitely something other than a Tylwyth Teg—but so what if he was? On her list of important things, race didn’t even feature. The only things on her list were gentle hands and a sparking, sudden wit, a Disney Princess singing voice and a sharp mind.

  She levered off Fox’s doors and stormed back into the empty common room. She wouldn’t just leave him to Frixm, even if he’d rather she did, but what could she do about this?

  Despairing, she sat on the couch, at Fox’s end this time, and curled her legs up. Propping her burned, burning arm along the back provided some temporary relief. People drifted through the room—everyone she’d seen st night, plus a few others, including a green pile of slime held together by a white suit. How many of them were volunteers?

  Most of them didn’t look nearly as scared as they should. The cluster of girls from brunch tripped by, minus the pixie; the two had thick white bathrobes on. Four men came after that, carrying gym bags and white handball gloves. She didn’t talk to any of them, only watched. Fox didn’t come out of his rooms, but then, he couldn’t. The stars set up a cruel glitter in her vision when the bracelet ate through the salve Fox had put on her wrist.

  She wished viciously for Geordie and Dave. They’d call her Mac and they’d fight their way through this—but that wasn’t fair. She couldn’t put this pce on anyone.

  Instead, she wanted to fence again, push her body through her forms, feel honest sweat on her skin—but she couldn’t do that either, not with the iron bracelet. She rubbed the bridge of her nose just as Ensign Jatus came into sight down the men’s hall. Her hair looked damp, but there was no way to know for sure with all the styling product these fuckers obviously used.

  The Ensign passed into the common room. By now, there was no sign of what had happened to Sir Renny. For a second, Katie thought the other woman was going to ignore her, but: “Good morning, Your Glory.”

  “Oh, look here, it’s the feedback dy,” Katie spat. She’d been waiting for this bitch to come at her. “This pce sucks!”

  Jatus had a snake’s pale eyes, but when she blinked hard she looked more ordinary—more touchable, maybe. “I imagine you think it does, Your Glory,” she said slowly. “I imagine you’re—from your perspective, that is—”

  “It sucks!” Katie bellowed, letting the force of it carry her to her feet. Her arm jiggled—that was why she was crying. It must have been why. “You can’t imagine and you haven’t even tried! Look at us! We’re getting locked up and tortured, and it hasn’t even been a whole day! How stupid do you think we are?”

  “Wait a moment,” Jatus said, frowning. “Locked up? No one is—”

  “Tell that to Frixm!” Katie threw it to the ground like a gauntlet, triumphant that at least once she’d found something the aliens didn’t know. “He sure as hell locked up Fox! And hit him, too!” Katie forged forward, forged on. “How can you people be confused about why we’re fucking hostile?” And that didn’t begin to cover what Liminus had been told—let alone Sir Renny! “If your goddess needs help, maybe you could try asking more people first!”

  Jatus paled a little bit. A forked tongue flicked out past her teeth once—nervous, Katie realized with a bolt of pleasure past her pain—and again. “I don’t understand. Slow down for me, please. Where is Bearach?”

  “I told you,” Katie said, hot and proud. “Frixm locked him up. He’s in his room—after Sir Renny got the beat-down! So much for rexation. Fuck you guys, honestly. Fuck you all so very much.”

  Jatus shook her head, turning back up the hallway to Fox’s room. She pressed the little ovoid by the door three or four times, but nothing happened. With a face more controlled than Katie could’ve pulled off, she turned away again. “Irregur. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.”

  Before Katie could come up with a suitable retort, Jatus turned on her heel and walked swiftly back up the men’s hall, disappearing as she retraced her steps—but it sounded like Frixm might see a little backsh for what he’d done to Fox.

  That might be all Katie could hope for. She seized her purse and tottered back up the women’s hall to her own room, all her energy nearly spent—just enough left for immense bitterness. Liam should’ve been here with The Hunt by now. She didn’t want to use the All-Heal in front of everyone, even if there was no one around.