I fly over the palace grounds, shutting out all that Maybelle's words inflicted on me. As I pass the palace, I notice what appears to be a parade of people entering the gates.

Princess Sylvia and her entourage.

Just as well that I don't meet her yet.

There's just too much happening right now. I can't even process it.

My beast yearns for flesh and blood to devour, and I decide the best place to land and hunt is in the place that the rogue--I won't name, but am certain is bad news--lives. I park myself near the waterfall and decide to use my heightened senses to do a bit of detective work. I might as well since I never had a chance to examine the area properly.

I close my eyes and breathe in the scents surrounding me. The musky smell of a boar is picked up, and it isn't long before I've found my meal. After I'm finished eating, I continue my inspection.

I can smell where Rift was, where the elafont was, and also Loper and Dundin.

I lower my head to the ground and decide to track where the elafont originally came. Soon my beast has picked up a trail that leads past the waterfall into the thick of the jungle. My beast form is immense but strangely stealthy as I snake along the ground. Voices are coming from a clearing where a few huts and storage buildings stand.

"Hassan, I shall gut you like a fish!" Rift's sharp voice greets my ears. "You think you can go behind my back for my mother?"

"She offered to pay incredible coin," a man's voice answers. There is fear in it, though. "I needed the money."

"I thought you and I had a bond?" Rift says, but I can tell he's toying with the man. "We were friends, remember?"

"Don't put this on me. I'm just making a living for myself," the man pleads, and sudden disturbing cries of agony ring shrill and painfully through the clearing.

What the—? I try to see what is happening, but as I come upon them, I see Rift standing over the man, his amber eyes aflame, and his expression determined on a brawny man. Compared to Rift's wiry frame, the man is enormous. Of course, Rift isn't frail by any means, but this man is definitely no weakling. The man convulses on the ground in pain before Rift, twisting himself terribly as if being attacked by an invisible enemy.

I cringe inwardly. The appearance of the spectacle horrifies me.

"Please," Hassan groans, "It was just some arlite and a little bit of royal blood. Your mother said you wouldn't do it for her."

"Why do you go against my will, Hassan?" Rift says; he's eerily calm. "You and I both know out of the two of us, my mother is much less likely to show mercy. You should have sided with me. You will greatly regret siding with her. I chose to defy her orders, and if you help her get what she wants, it won't be just you who will suffer."

Rift closes his eyes, and the man stops writhing. Rift inhales sharply as if the dark magic he'd just performed was a hit of an incredibly exhilarating drug.

"You're insane! You're just like her, so stop trying to play the white knight," Hassan growls, clutching his sides as he regains his composure. "If you viewed me as a brother, you would never have inflicted the Scourge on me."

"Stop playing the victim," Rift says coldly and kneels to Hassan's level. "I'm a monster, but I'm not proud of what I am. Still, I must know... what are her plans?"

Hassan starts laughing. "Are you serious? You said it yourself. Of the two of you, you're definitely more merciful, so why would I betray your mother now that I'm in this deep?"

"Wrong answer," Rift states, and rises and turns from Hassan, throwing the man into another fit of pain while doing so. "Good luck in your endeavors. I hope they are worth it."

Hassan's body shakes for a few more moments, and then he lays there panting and cussing while Rift approaches the elafont I let him have and mounts it.

My blood chills. What was that? What kind of magic does Rift possess?

I can't believe I'm attracted to this person.

I back away, trying to get as far as possible from the scene. I need to report him, but what if I was right in assuming he's the mage conspiring against me? He could actually be a real danger to me.

Rift is soon out of sight on the elafont, and Hassan takes that moment to stand and glance around before smiling to himself.

"Compassionate idiot," I hear the man mutter.