The pain of the renewed Bond was a throbbing misfortune. It was sort of like the agony of frozen hands when all the blood flowed back into them and all the nerves came alive again.

And somehow I was the SableFur Luna. Sitting in a puddle of my own blood on an ugly bathroom floor, and so weak even trying to talk to myself resulted in a dry-heave.

Kiery returned with a phone.

I caught Hix's scent. My heart spasmed.

"Who do we call?" Kiery asked, fingers over the screen. "Who do we call to say do not come here? Not yet, anyway."

Did Flint have a phone? I couldn't remember. I was pretty sure he didn't. Flint wasn't much for talking. "Does Flint have a number in there?"

Kiery scrolled through all of Hix's contacts. "I don't see a Flint."

Hix was dead. Tears pooled in my eyes. Eroth, maybe? But Eroth wasn't with IronMoon. Gabel had sent him to RedWater, hadn't he? I couldn't remember. It was hard to think. "Gabel," I said, gorge trying to rise again.

Kiery dialed the number and held the phone to my ear. I tried to take it. She smacked my hand away. "I'll hold it. You just tell him not to come here. Keep it short."

"I don't understand. He is going to come." And I wanted him to, didn't I?

"I'll explain when you're coherent. Do what you're told and tell him he needs to be patient."

"If he thinks I'm sick he's not going to listen," I tried to tell her.

"Convince him, Gianna. It's important. Trust me." Kiery pressed her cheek to my forehead and muttered something about how I was burning up.

The phone rang. And rang.

Then.

"Gabel is convinced you are dead, Hix."

Not Gabel. Flint's voice instead. Brittle, terse, undercut with relief. I sobbed and babbled the bad news, "Hix is dead."

"Luna?" Flint's voice rose half a note in shock. Fabric rustled. I imagined his kilt swishing around his knees as he moved through the hallways of the IronMoon heart.

"He's dead. They killed him and stabbed him in the back—" I sobbed uncontrollably.

"Are you coming back?"

"Gabel." Kiery prodded me in her best teacher-voice that could have probably summoned me from death itself. "Come on, focus. There's a lot of blood, but you can get this out."

I tried to paw at my tears. Kiery hissed hold it together another sixty seconds. I gathered up my fragmented mind and rasped, "Where's Gabel?"

"He is not here," Flint said. "He is in the field. I am in IronMoon's heart. Where are you?"

I took a deep breath. "SableFur. Flint, you have to find him. You have to stop him from coming here."

"Why?"

"Magnes is dead. My Mark has re-appeared. The Bond is open again." I tried to grab a handful of my hair to steady myself. Kiery smacked my hands away.

When he spoke, his voice was warm. "You succeeded. This is excellent news."

"Is it? I don't see how. I'm the SableFur Luna now. Adrianna's dead—"

"Yes, I imagine she is. How did you become Luna?"

"It would take too long to explain."

"I see. I'll go to Gabel," Flint said as if that course of action made perfect sense to him.

Kiery took the phone away from me and put it to her own ear. "Master of Arms."

"Oracle Kiery," I heard him say. How had Flint known it was Kiery?

Kiery grabbed both of the towels from the rack. She dropped one towel on the ground and started to kick it around with her foot mopping up the blood puddle. "Fuck, this is a mess. There's too much blood. Gianna's in bad shape and needs medical care. SableFur doesn't know she's still mated to Gabel, and I can't trust any of the doctors here to keep their mouths shut about the Mark on her arm. Is there anyone in IronMoon you can send, or do I have to call Aaron? Because I'd rather not involve IceMaw. The situation is explosive enough."

She knelt down on the bloody mess of towel and looped the other towel around my arm. She mouthed don't scream and then lashed the towel closed over my bleeding arm. I managed to not scream, but I blacked out for a few seconds. She wrestled the ends of the towel tighter.

A surprisingly dark chuckle. "As it happens, we have a human. She's in the field with Gabel now. She isn't an IronMoon. She's for sale to the highest bidder."

"Can she get here quickly? We'll pay double what you're paying her." She lashed the towel into a thick knot while I tried to stay conscious.

"I will call her after this. Expect her in approximately eight to twelve hours. I suggest you have her money upon arrival."

Kiery hung up on Flint.

I dropped my head and surrendered to everything.