“It is a serious break,” he said, clearly watching for my reaction. “I will assess it to see what action will be taken.”

I did my damnedest to keep my expression even, but I didn’t think I could completely hide the deep fear that took up residence in my gut. “Can’t you do some healing now? Or just send me home. Let me go to a hospital. They can fix it back home.” I locked eyes with him. “Don’t you let me end up a cripple.”

His gaze remained steady on me. “I have already done some healing,” he stated. “No, I will not send you home or to a hospital. And you will end up as you will end up.”

The wash of fury that swept through me helped to drive back some of the pain, but I kept silent and refused to look away. I fucking hated how completely I was at his mercy, and I wanted him to know it.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Idris come back in. He stopped dead, likely feeling the level of tension in the room, and began to slowly back out, grimacing as the pill bottle rattled. I snapped my gaze to him and held out my hand for the bottle with a give-me-the-goddamn-pills-now expression on my face. He gulped and looked up at Mzatal. He must have received the okay, because he continued to my side.

“Here you go,” he said with a wary flick of the eyes at Mzatal before he set the pill bottle in my hand. “Two hundred milligrams.”

“Thank you,” I managed, fumbling with the top. My hands shook, and I ended up dropping pills on the bed before I managed to get four in my hand. That would bring it up to prescription strength and hopefully put a dent in this pain. “Could I have some water, please?”

“You will not be able to take the draught as well,” Mzatal said, calm and conversational, “and the pain relief will be far less with the Earth medication.” He lifted one shoulder in a graceful shrug. “It is, however, your choice.”

I went still, clutching the pills in one hand. He could have said that before I spent a couple of shaking minutes trying to get the damn pills out of the bottle. He’s fucking with me, I realized. Pushing my buttons. I didn’t know if it was to test me or to torment me, but either way, now that I recognized it, I knew how to deal with it. Buttons got pushed all the time when you were a cop, especially as a female.

Sweat trickled down the side of my face from the pain, but I smiled, replaced the pills in the bottle, and snapped the cap back on. This good lord/bad lord game sucked. Wasn’t it just a few hours ago he was healing me and telling me about how the zrila made his ties? “That’s very kind of you to share that information,” I said, voice dripping with honey and false gratitude. “It warms the very cockles of my heart to know that you hold such a deep concern for my well-being.”

The lord’s face darkened. “You will remember your place, Kara Gillian.”

I gave him my best wide-eyed innocent look. “Oh, I know my place, Lord Mzatal,” I said, and tapped the collar with my middle finger. A crash to my right told me that Idris had dropped the water glass he was holding, but I kept my smile in place and my finger extended.

He narrowed his eyes but then turned and departed without blasting me into several squishy bits. I exhaled as the door closed behind him and dropped my head back to the pillows. Maybe, possibly, I won this round?

“Holy shit,” Idris breathed. “Holy shit!”

“First off, try saying ‘fuckballs’ every now and then for variety,” I said, breathing a bit raggedly as the brief adrenaline surge wore off. “Second, could I please have some water?”

“Oh, water.” He looked down with dismay at the broken glass at his feet, then swung back to the table. A near-comic sigh of relief escaped him as he found an intact glass. He poured water and brought it back to me. “Fuckballs,” he said, trying out the new word. “Fuckballs, Kara, but you’re insane.”

My hands shook as I took the water, but I managed to drink some before handing it back to him. “Idris, at this point, what do I have to lose? If I roll over, I’m dead. Might as well let him believe I have a spine.” I met his eyes. “Remember, fake bravery is better than none at all.”

“Yeah, but…” He shook his head. “I mean, that’s Mzatal!”

I let out a breathless laugh. “And I’m Kara. And you’re Idris.”

He rolled his eyes. “Whatever. I just don’t want to see you get hurt.” He glanced at my leg, grimaced. “I mean, more than you already are.”

“I’m at his mercy, Idris,” I said quietly. “He doesn’t need a reason to hurt me. I might as well show that I won’t go down without at least the semblance of a fight.”

“Yeah. Shit.” He sighed. “I don’t think I could be like you.”

I snorted. “Of course not. You should be like you, but the best you you can be.” I frowned. “Not sure that made any sense, but hopefully you get the idea.”

“It kinda made sense. I guess,” he said, though his forehead puckered in mild confusion.

Gestamar returned carrying a mug. He moved to my side and held it out for me. I took it warily and sniffed the watery green contents. It reminded me of freshly mowed grass but didn’t smell vile or anything, which surprised me. I was certain Mzatal would find a way to make any meds he gave me utterly nasty.

“Thanks,” I said, taking the mug. “I should drink all of this?”

“As much as you can,” he rumbled. “Mzatal requested this amount.”

I took a deep breath and began to chug it down, then had to stop, nearly gagging. Smell was definitely no way to judge. “Holy…gah! That’s like drinking a diaper.”

The reyza crouched. “If you do not drink it, it will not help with the pain.”

I didn’t even bother scowling. This was another test or torment, depending on point of view. Steeling myself, I managed to chug the rest of it down. The nasty shit had better kick the pain’s ass. Shuddering, I handed the empty mug back to Gestamar. “Idris, water, please.”

He pressed a glass into my hand. I drank, but it didn’t seem to do much good. Fuck Mzatal, I thought sourly. What the hell was Idris doing with this asshole?

“If you’re here fostering with this lord, then doesn’t that mean you’re pretty hot shit in some way?” I asked Idris,

He shrugged. “Yeah, I guess I do okay with the summoning stuff.”

I took another drink of water in a futile attempt to clear the slimy vile taste from my mouth, then gave Idris a sharp look. “Wait. You do ‘okay’? Do you really believe that?” I narrowed my eyes at him. “You summoned me, damn it. You’re more than ‘okay’ if you managed that.” I sighed, shook my head. “Idris, it’s okay to be proud of the shit you can do well. Trust me, there are plenty of people more than ready to tear you down. Why give them a headstart?”

He stared at me, then flushed. “Yeah, I did good with that,” he said, smiling with—at last—a touch of pride. “It was hard.”

“Yeah, well, I wasn’t going down without a fight.”

Movement in the doorway caught my eye, and I did a double take as an ilius coiled into the room. The waist-high demon curled and spiraled within a haze of confusing multicolored smoke. Flashes of teeth, or an eye, or sinuous body appeared and disappeared seemingly at random. I’d summoned an ilius a few times before, finding them very useful as trackers in my police work, kind of like a demon version of a bloodhound. I didn’t know much about them except that they consumed essence as their sustenance and, according to Rhyzkahl, didn’t have a taste for humans. I’d always sated them on nutria as payment for their services, and they seemed content enough. Though the thing didn’t appear to touch the floor at all, it was definitely more substantial and colorful than the ones I’d summoned to Earth.

“Um…Idris? Why is there an ilius in here?” I asked as the demon drift-coiled its way to the balcony.

Idris glanced over at the creature then back to me. “That’s just Dakdak looking for Mzatal. Well, not actually looking for him,” he said. “Since the ilius is here, it means Mzatal will most likely arrive within a minute or two. I don’t mind. It’s kinda like an early warning system.” He grinned.