None of the women with Hesi remembered going out of the demon prince's palace bloody and half-dead with eyes rolled to the back of their heads, their guts gathering dust from being out in the open, and their blood staining the stone floors that would all be scrubbed clean of any traces by the next morning.

Something was happening inside that palace and Hesi had burned out all her wits trying to figure out what.

Moreover, none of them became pregnant.

And the only one not yet called was Hesi.

"It's bound to come soon," Kharta said, flicking the side of a vial while holding it up to the light. Did he read her mind or what? "You should be ready when it does."

Hesi clicked her tongue and scrunched her face in his direction. "Then hurry it up, genius," she said.

Kharta lowered the vial and faced her. "I'm not a genius so stop calling me that."

"Yeah, you sure are not," she waved her hands in the air and turned her back on him, perusing the notes scribbled on yellowing parchment strewn all over the table she perched on instead. Behind her, the sound of scuffling and the stool being pulled back and sat upon rang. "Do you think the Mayaware are into us?"

A cough. "Trust me, they think they're going to reign forever and have the humans under control," Kharta said. "I've heard of plans to attack Ser-Methon through the mountains of Ser-Tehra as well."

Hesi slammed her hands on the table and stalked to Kharta's side. "When was this happening?"

He looked up from his work which involved a steaming purple muck and the faint smell of lavender. "Soon?" He must have thought that word was useful.

"Yeah, you're not a genius, alright," she gave him a pat on the back and strode back to the table opposite his from the other side of the room. "Do I need to be here all the time? Can't you just have one of your servants drop the poison in the bridal palace?"

"And risk unwanted discovery?" Kharta asked, letting his tools clink and clank with whatever it was he was attempting to do.

Hesi crossed her arms and leaned all her weight against the table. "Me being here could also risk unwanted discovery."

He rolled his shoulders and turned his neck this way and that, cracking noises ringing across the room. "You're a gamble I'm willing to take," he said, peering closer to the vial on his hands. He went back to his parchment and scribbled a few things in his chicken scrawl script. "I could just say you're here for an emergency fitting or something as mundane."

He thought this through—that much was obvious with how relaxed he was upon going in and out of the palace infested with creatures who tear humans and eat them for survival. What she didn't like was how he thought of her as a gamble too.

"What really happens every night when the prince calls the women? Why does blood paint the walls and make pools on the floor? What's wrong with the prince's palace?" Hesi blurted when the silence between them became too horrible. "You must know something since you're here for a long time. He must have brought in a lot of women over the years. Didn't he? It's either that or you're holding back information which would force me to assume you're not thoroughly on my side."

Kharta laid his tweezers atop the table and pushed his stool back. "Hesi," he said, her name sounding gentle yet ominous with his tone. "I'm not telling you anything because I don't know either."

"Stop bluffing," she hissed. "You know something."

He gave out an amused laugh, setting his vial down completely to turn to her. His eyes had never looked so dark even in the dim light of the moon. "Sure, I do," he said. "The Demon King is tight about what information comes in and out of the prince's quarters. If not for the mating season drawing close, he wouldn't have allowed humans inside Berheqt."

Hesi scratched her neck and smacked her lips. "He shouldn't have let those traders in, then," she narrowed her eyes at him. "Or you."

He didn't react and just blinked at her. "But he knew he needed humans," he said. "We're all under his watch and he could kill all of us if he wants to."

"But you're helping me and I'm helping you."

Kharta smiled and went back to his table. "That's why you're a gamble."

She gritted her teeth, watching the steward retake his seat and continued with his experiment. The sound of metal hitting glass in a sharp clink sent Hesi's nerves on edge more than it already was. How many more nights would she have to live through seeing her friends hurt and on their way to paradise? She needed to hurry. She came here to end the demons' reign. It's been months now and she hasn't gotten anywhere closer.

Larqet's underpants, she couldn't even figure out what's going on behind the demon prince's closed doors.

"There must be something I could do," Hesi told no one, jamming her teeth over her knuckles. It's a habit she hasn't been able to erase even if she wanted to. "Something..."

"Well, if I were you, I'd ask the demon prince directly," Kharta's voice interjected into her thoughts. She looked up to find a glass vial shoved close to her face.

"What the darpeh is that?" she scowled at the flimsy cork stopping the vial.

He gave the vial a little shake. The translucent violent liquid sloshed inside. "This is something you can do," he said, a goofy smile painting his lips and showing Hesi his crooked teeth. "When you get there, ask him why there's blood on the walls. I'd like to know as well since it's a hell to scrub them before daylight."

Hesi peeled off the table and matched Kharta's stance. They had never stood this close before since she first encountered him in the bathing chambers. "What does that mean?" she asked, her voice was barely a whisper.

Kharta took her hand, sending warm sparks climbing up her arms and making the blood in her face rise. "Your time has come, Hesi," he said. A stone dropped in Hesi's gut as he stepped back and inclined his head to the side. "The timing is impeccable, right?"

"When?" she asked, bile replacing the taste maatsek tea at the back of her tongue.

He went back to his table and continued writing a paragraph. "Tomorrow."