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were things I knew from experience I could endure, at least for a short time.
    But nature’s call cannot be ignored forever, and eventually I found myself screaming once again for Anazian to let me out.
    At last, desperate for relief and unable to hold it any longer, I took my best guess as to which corner of the cage was lowest and did my business in it, hoping I hadn’t misjudged and wouldn’t be crawling around in my own mess before long.
    The hours crept by. I must’ve dozed at some point, because the stirring of the horses woke me up. They must be getting hungry, too. What on earth was Anazian playing at, leaving me trapped in this cage and even letting his own livestock go hungry?
    The stable walls had gone completely black again, and it was growing more difficult to ignore my hunger and thirst. To judge by the stamping and whinnying of the horses, they felt much the same.
    When, then, I heard the sound of a door slamming, I thought it must be my imagination, which, between the fear, the discomfort, and the renewed darkness, had already begun overreacting.
    But a moment later, the stable door opened and Anazian strode in carrying a lantern. He was clean-shaven and had combed his hair. Back before I knew he was a traitor, his vanity had amused me. Now it made my anger smolder deep in my breast. Here I was, starving, thirsty, and almost literally sitting in my own stink while he’d spent the day pampering himself. I bit back the words I wanted to spit at him and satisfied myself with staring insolently at him.
    He set the lantern on a table and walked past the cage as if it didn’t exist. He put hay in the manger and poured oats into a bin. Soon the horses were munching contentedly while Anazian spoke to them in a comforting tone, his voice so low I couldn’t hear the words.
    When he passed the cage again, he wrinkled his nose and made a face as, presumably, he caught scent of my mess. Next instant he was at the side of the cage, running his hands along the bars, which again grew pliant and flexed at his apparent command. This time, they left a larger opening. He leaned through and grabbed me by the collar of my shirt, dragging me out and tumbling me to the ground.
    “Fah!” he exclaimed. “How dare you?” He reached down and pulled me to my feet, where I struggled to keep my balance after spending most of a night and day cramped and unable to stretch out, standing or lying down, to my full length. “How dare you do such a thing?”
    I glared at him for a moment. “How dare you leave me in there so long?”
    He slapped my face so hard I pitched to the ground again. Whatever weakness had overcome him last night, he was over it now.
    “You will keep a civil tongue in that mouth or I will tear it out.”
    Another jailer had used that same threat against me once, and now, like then, I believed it. I struggled to my feet, wiping a trickle of blood from my mouth.
    “Now, sit there.” Anazian pointed to a stool next to the small table on which the lantern sat. I did as he said. He picked up a thick stick from the table and began rolling it between his hands. “Let us arrive at an understanding,” he continued. “I am in charge, and you will do as I say. You have had displays of some of my power, but believe me when I say that there is much you don’t know and can’t even imagine. I am itching to show off, so I suggest you not tempt me. Have I made myself clear?”
    I nodded. A lump had risen in my throat, and tendrils of fear began to snag at my heart. My breath came in ragged shudders.
    He breathed on the stick. “I daresay you remember the rapport I have with trees?”
    As if I could forget. What seemed like a lifetime ago, he’d embedded my hands in the trunks of two of them, leaving me to die from exposure to the elements. Except that Grey had found me, thanks to Chase, and rescued me. An image of Grey lying blood-soaked on the ground at my feet filled my mind.
    Anazian had paused, obviously expecting