"Dear child," she said. "You brought him. Thank you."
Selina moved.
She didn't make a sound. One moment she was in the doorway, and the next the golden spear was across the room with its X a finger's width from Lena's throat.
Lena didn't even look at it.
"Please don't, Guild Master," she said pleasantly. "This body is very soft. It breaks so easily. I would hate for you to be the one who broke it."
The spear stopped.
Selina's knuckles were white on the shaft. Her face was white too. She didn't move it closer, and she didn't take it away.
"Get out of her," she said.
"In time." Lena patted the blanket beside her. "Do sit down, Alex. You've come such a long way."
Behind Alex, in the doorway, something made a noise he had never heard before. It was low, and it went on and on, like a growl that had started a long way down in a mountain.
Kanos was staring at the girl on the bed. His lips had pulled back off every single tooth.
