Page 197 of Starside

The bathroom is almost as big as the main room. A white claw-foot tub sits in the center of it.

Another attendant must have been in here, I think, as the tub is already full of steaming water. It doesn’t have flower petals like the one in the Traveling City, but there is a sparkling dust like crushed diamonds swirling on the water’s surface.

I turn and am almost shocked by my reflection in a mirror. Wow. I look awful. I almost want to go to dinner like this, reeking of dirt and blood, but I take a bath because Raker is dying, and it would be in my best interest for that to stop.

When I’m done with my bath, I look inside the wardrobe and frown. It’s clear a woman hasn’t lived in these quarters for a long while. There are only two dresses, and they’re made from thick, scratchy fabrics.

I open the drawers instead, and find them mostly empty, save for corsets. I search them once, then again, desperate to find anything more wearable.

Pants. I must have missed them on the first pass. They’re made of a soft material, and are tight against my body, far more so than the ones I’ve been wearing throughout the quest. I must be losing my mind, because next to the pants I find a tight long-sleeved shirt of the same material. It goes all the way up my neck, and the sleeves are long enough to cover my hands.

“Perfect,” I say to myself, hardly questioning the outfit that was not there the first time but then was, before taking my sword and slipping out into the hall.

Vander is sitting at the head of a table so long, it starts on the other end of the room. The moment I enter, his blue eyes click up. I feel his gaze slide down me. “You don’t like dresses?”

“No, I love dresses,” I tell him. “Your dresses are hideous.”

He frowns. “Are they?”

I nod helpfully.

He scowls. “Is that all you do, human? Complain?”

“I have a name,” I say, walking toward the end of the table. The place on the opposite side of his has been set. I linger by the chair but don’t sit.

“Yes, and careful who you tell it to. Names have power. Sword names, most of all.”

I lift a brow at him. “Are you telling me I should be afraid of you?”

At this, he grins, revealing teeth that look particularly sharp. “You should be running for the gates, human.”

He’s not completely kidding. I can see some vestige of a beast of prey in his eyes, the way they sparkle like I have something he wants. All those warnings echo through my mind, before I silence them.

I lift my chin. “Stellan trusted you. He would have never told me to seek you out if he didn’t.”

At the mention of Stellan, his gaze softens just the slightest bit. I take my opportunity.

“The medicine,” I say, my thoughts annoyingly crawling with worry about Raker in the stables. I haven’t seen him. What if he’s dead? What if he’s thirsty? What if Vander didn’t get him the tea?

Panic squeezes my insides.

The hardness in his eyes is back. “Eat,” he says firmly. “Then we’ll talk about the demon you’re traveling with.”

I bristle. “You don’t order me.”

He doesn’t even look up from his food as he stabs a piece of his meat and eats it. “I just did.”

Battles. I have to choose them. Without medicine, Raker will definitely die. If Vander has it …

I sit down slowly. He looks far too pleased that I listened.

“How did you get that sword?” he asks, as I set it down next to me, within reach.

I steal Raker’s line. “How do you think?”

He gives me a look that says he doesn’t believe me for a second.

I glance at his own sword, leaning against the wall feet away, as if he doesn’t fear at all that anyone will try to claim it. “How did you get yours?”