It only took a few hours for me to grow bored. On the farm, there was no such thing as 'down time' and now Amarilla was insisting that I relax in my room until dinner. My room was small, compact, and simple, thankfully. The bed, however, was heavenly. Even my bed from before I was sold had nothing on this.

The room had a bed, a chest for clothes at the foot of the bed, and a desk. The wood was all pine, indicative of the tree trade that flourished further north.

A light knock echoed around the room, and I looked up at the door. I quickly jumped up from the bed and pulled open the door.

Ember.

He took a step back and gestured for me to join him in the hallway. I tentatively did so, avoiding him with my eyes. The last time we spoke, I made an oath I don't think I could keep, and he scolded me for hurting my hand. Two healers stood behind him, attentive, but confident.

"Yes, m'lord?" I said softly.

"I am here to collect you for dinner," he returned. I finally glanced up at his face in shock, trying to determine if he was lying. He wasn't.

"Why?" I asked.

He tilted his head. "Because I highly doubt Amarilla ever made it to the dining room on your tour. I am fairly sure you spent half an hour in Romina's room before Iric made Amarilla take you to your room so you could rest before dinner." He shrugged casually. "If I had to guess based off what Iric told me."

I nodded and looked down at what I was wearing. It was hardly attire for dinner. Lord Strapos noticed my gaze.

"What you're wearing is fine. My family will be in tomorrow to see Romina, but tonight, it will just be us," he said. He lifted a hand and motioned for me to set my hands on his. I hesitated. I didn't know this man—not really. All I knew was that he was Romina's older brother, but he was one of the Three. I was a human. Surely there was more to this. A trick.

"Lord Strapos?" I asked, swallowing suddenly. "I'd prefer if Amarilla took me."

Lord Strapos narrowed his eyes. "I intended this as an honor for you, but I see that I misjudged it. It is a short walk," he said and looked again at his arm. "And I would rather escort you than Romina."

I smiled smally at his jest and took a deep breath. My hand landed softly on his, as if I had just set my hand on a snake's tail. He was almost a foot taller than I was and could easily overpower me if he chose. He moved forward and I lurched to keep up, eyes darting around, wary of any and every obstacle and shadow.

"Naomi, I wanted to thank you again for everything. Without you, Romina would..." he paused, and I sensed that he was choosing his words carefully—for his own sake if not for mine. "She would not be home. Safe. You risked your life for her and for that, I owe you."

I didn't reply at first. The last thing I needed was to worry about someone owing me a debt. "It's fine, Lord Strapos," I said.

He huffed. "Please, call me Ember. Every time you say 'Lord Strapos,' I think my father's returned. And I do owe you. I will find a way to pay you back equally. You almost gave up your life for a girl you didn't know. Amarilla, while I doubt she will ever stop long enough to realize it, also owes you a debt. I know you didn't grow up among overlords, but we pay our debts and keep our oaths. We would be nothing if not for our honor."

I nodded lowly, glancing into an open room, and catching sight of another, larger bedroom. Ember suddenly paused and tensed.

I jumped back, raising my hands up to my face and glanced at what had frightened Ember. If something had startled Ember, I should be sprinting away as fast as I could.

It was Iric. Iric with Romina on his arm, just as I was with Ember.

"Apologies," Ember said. "Whenever I see Romina again, I am astonished and overwhelmed with gratitude that she is home safe," he said. Then he glanced at me. "You are very easily frightened," he muttered.

I bit my lip in embarrassment and set my hand back on Ember's more confident this time. Romina was looking at me in a refreshing amusement, and Iric nodded his greeting to Ember. The fanfare and customs drove me mad.

Ember turned and we walked into a larger room with lanterns alight around the room. There were two huge windows in the back, letting in the dying daylight. A huge table dominated the room, with seats for at least twenty men.

Ember led me to one of the chairs next to the head of the table and pulled it out for me.

I eyed him warily. Did he forget? He was one of the Three and I was a human. Barely released from being a dewlos.

"Sit," he said, expecting a quick response.

"Shouldn't I be pulling out your chair?" I asked quietly.

Ember huffed again. "No. Overlord men always pull out the chairs for women. Given the drastic differences in birthrates, most overlord men are smitten being in the very presence of a woman, let alone being able to pull out their chair." He saw that I was still frozen. "Sit," he said again, more forcefully. "Please allow me to be smitten."

I finally sat down and saw that Iric had already assisted Romina in sitting across from me. I smiled at the little girl, and she beamed back at me. Iric took the seat by her side and Ember sat himself down. We sat in silence, unsure what to talk about.

How about last years carrot harvest, right?

Iric glanced at Ember, but Ember was looking down at his empty plate. Romina's eyes locked onto my arm and her chin dipped down to her chest.

Suddenly, a loud voice burst into the room.

"Praise peace," Iric muttered under his breath. "Never thought I'd be grateful to see her."

One of the guards led Amarilla to her seat. She had dolled herself up, wearing a bright purple dress and makeup coating her face.

"Hello, everyone," she twitted. "How are you all doing?"

No one said I word. I returned to staring at my hands in my lap. I couldn't figure out where I fit in. Seeing Romina, Ember, Iric, and Amarilla together made me realize just how much I didn't belong to this word.

Amarilla and Romina were safe. I needed to find Anthony.

"Well, you all are the worst," Amarilla said. "Did something tragic happen while I was gone?" she asked sarcastically. She rolled her eyes and turned to the little girl at her left. "Romina, you had discovered that your dolls were mysteriously moved. Any leads?" she asked, placing her face in her hands, and staring at the little girl in genuine, but exaggerated interest.

Romina just shook her head lowly. "Iric told me the maids did it," she admitted. "We did go outside to see the pretty leaves," she said, voice raising an inch in delight.

Ember suddenly shot a glance at Iric. "You took her outside?" Romina scrunched up her face in regret as if she had forgotten that was a secret.

Iric raised his hand sin mock defeat. "Yes, but we were safe."

"I told you not to take her outside," he all but growled.

Amarilla butt in. "He brought so many guards, they blotted out the sun. You could hardly tell you were outside."

Ember sat back and glanced at Romina. "Did you enjoy it?" he asked gently. She nodded lowly. "Next time," he said, "please let me join. At least to see the guards blotting out the sun." Romina's gaze fell back down. and Ember noticed, doing a double take at her strange behavior. He slid his chair out and leaned on his knees, grabbing Romina's hands. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"You promised Cricket would be okay, but her arm is...hurt," she sniffled, looking at me with wobbly lips.

I glanced down at my arms in shock. Was I bleeding?

"Naomi, can you take off your spinne?" Ember asked me.

I glanced down at my arm and looked at the spinne on my arm. Oh. The strip of fabric wound from under my tunic at the shoulder down to my wrist—it was a common clothing piece from my town. I never thought about whether it was local.

Romina thought it was a bandage. I slowly began to unwrap the fabric from my arm, revealing my healthy skin underneath.

"Ro, I'm okay," I said softly. "This is a spinne. Us human wear one on our carrying arm to help protect it from scratches and stuff. It's like how we would wear tunic with long sleeves when we were cutting carrots, remember?"

She nodded but was still confused.

"Naomi is from the south of Emory. Have you seen the leather bracers that healers wear?" Ember asked. She nodded. "It's like that, but her people only do it on one arm."

She nodded and started perking up.

"I'll admit—I thought spinnes were common across all Emory," I commented. I hadn't given it any thought. I found a spinne cloth and donned it like I did as a kid. Dewloi didn't get the privilege. It never occurred to me that it was anything but expected.

Ember shrugged. "I've only seen humans in the southern providences wear only one."

I nodded.

Then it hit me like a foreman's fist.

Amarilla beat me to it. "You swore an oath to keep Cr—Naomi safe?" she said, eyes bugging out of her head.

Ember glanced down at his plate again. "Yes," he said, looking at Romina. Romina looked down then at me sheepishly.

"You took care of me, but I'm not big enough to take care of you yet," she said.

"Romina," I cut in. "Romina, I took care of you because you're like a little sister. You don't owe me anything. I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself."

"Then why did you get hurt?" Romina asked, eyes wide. "You protected Amarilla, but you got hurt. Why didn't you stop them?"

I opened my mouth, shocked at Romina's words.

Then, the answer hit me. I didn't stop them because I couldn't. All I could do was stop them from hitting Beetle. I promised that Romina would be safe not because I was powerful enough to stop them but because I knew I could take the brunt of the damage. I wasn't strong enough.

I glanced up at Romina, who had a tear streaking down her face. Her tiny lip quivered and I pushed back from my chair and walked behind Ember, who had leaned back.

"Come here," I told Romina, kneeling next to her chair. She slid out and latched onto me, burying her head in the crook of my neck.

"I just want you to be okay," she whimpered. "And I can't do that. But Emmy can."

My heart plummeted.

"Emmy?" Amarilla asked, clearly trying to set a more lighthearted tone. "I quite like that, Romina. Emmy," Amarilla teased Ember. Servants entered with bowls of soup and set them on our plates. Romina quickly pulled back and used her sleeve to wipe tears from her eyes.

Now I know why Ember promise I would be okay. I wanted to promise Romina the same thing—the problem was that I didn't have that power. I was a Slate; I could only protect others.

I stood up as Romina sat down again and made my way back to my seat. Ember was staring into his soup as if it was withholding critical information. Iric was chewing on his lip, enjoying that more than soup. Amarilla had already started eating and was slurping away.

My hands lay clasped tightly in my lap. No one needed to see how disturbed I was. I didn't want Romina to care about me. If she did, how would I leave her to find Anthony?

I distracted myself by studying the cutlery, remembering a story my mom told me about pretentious overlords and their myriad of utensils. I thought she was joking, but I had so many in front of me. All I was missing was a straw.

Ember wasn't eating. He glanced up at me seriously. The oath, I remembered. He gave an oath that I would be okay.

"I'm okay," I said because I wasn't sure what else to say. "You fulfilled your oath. I'm here, aren't I?" I ended dismissively, picking up a pronged utensil.

Finally, Ember sighed and picked up the largest of the small shovels. "Not yet I haven't," he mumbled. I quickly snatched my largest of the small shovels, setting down the mini pitchfork. Then, he put it down and I discretely put mine down again. Was that the wrong one? "Naomi," he said lowly. "I know that you aren't used to this life, but I swore an oath, and I will keep it."

"What was your oath?" I asked.

"I swore that you would be okay," he said slowly.

I nodded. "And I'm okay. I made it out of there alive and there isn't a scratch on me."

Ember narrowed his eyes at my word choice, and I remembered the cut I had tried to keep. I glanced down at my smooth hand. I just had to remember without the scar. "That's not what I meant when the swore it."

"And what did you mean?" I asked, my voice dipping into a hesitant panic.

"That I would protect you as long as you're under my care."

A sudden chill filled the air. "What if I don't want you to?" I asked quietly.

"Want me to what?" he asked, picking up the same shovel.

"Protect me," I said, picking up the same shovel. "Or be in your care?"

He set his shovel down again. "Why in the world would you not want an overlord, let alone one of the Three, protecting you? Especially when your family has done a horrific job of it so far?" he asked, staring at me.

My heart clenched and I flinched at his words. He had it all wrong. I was the one who didn't protect my family. That's why Anthony was sold. "I can take care of myself."

"Clearly not."

I winced at his words. "I have as well one could in my position," I defended.

"You have. And now you are in a better position. Look around," Ember said. "You are under my care now." He met my eyes and tilted his head, as if finally trying to understand my view.

I bit my lip. The vindictive and offended part of my jumped at a snide remark. Because Romina fared so well under your care.

Iric choked on his soup. My eyes snapped to him—he could do more than discern truth. That Sage could discern thoughts.

I clenched my teeth shut and turned back to Ember. "I'd rather be on my own," I finally said, glancing again at Iric, whose face had turned red at my horrible thought.

"You don't trust me," Ember realized. "That's why," he said, almost to himself. Then, he whirled on me and I leaned back into my seat. "That makes no sense," he said bluntly. "I rescued you from that farm. I made an oath. I owe you for saving my little sister's life." He narrowed his eyes. "I'm in your debt. If anything, I should be wary of you."

"Maybe we are healthily wary of each other," I bit out.

Then, I found Romina's eyes had gone wide and she was staring at Ember and I with a horrified patience. My heart was pounding.

Iric quickly returned to his soup. He was using the large tiny shovel. I picked it up and began eating, ignoring the stares and instead focusing on my meal.

Ember quietly began eating as well.

"Well, that was awkward," Amarilla said. "At least the soup's good."