My aunt and uncle guarded us for nine months. To me, in the dream, four years had passed.

My grandmother dedicated that time to educating me. I lived as a princess of Shinar, the way Shinar used to be. I had lessons in magic, combat, politics, and history. I learned to speak the old language, and by the time I woke up, English was a memory and I’d picked up a slight trace of an accent. I studied, I improved, I learned the ancient magic skills I required to survive. I had dedicated myself to becoming worthy of my grandmother’s sacrifice. She believed in me.

The Eye had picked up on my determination and once again decided to help me against my will. Even as my body assimilated its magic, it changed my appearance one more time. I wanted to be like Erra and like Kate. I wanted to belong to their family. I wanted to be strong like them.

The Eye had found Kate’s blood in me and used it. It made me into the princess of Shinar I had imagined. When I woke up, I looked like Kate’s daughter.

Nobody would confuse us. Our faces were too different. But if you put my grandmother, Kate, and me together, you would see the three generations of Shinar. You would see the same eye shape, the same eyebrows, and the same jawline. I was paler, blonder, with green eyes that matched Moloch’s, and sharper features, but the progression of the bloodline was plain for all to see.

When I saw my face for the first time, I thought I’d gone mad and screamed. When my grandfather saw the new me, he stared at me in silence for several minutes while his magic pierced me until he finally said, “Well, you are truly your mother’s scion.”

I had been examined by the best experts my grandmother could find. They concluded that the changes were permanent. If I had children, they would look like the new me. The Eye could no longer change me back. It had become a part of me and lost that power.

The old me had been erased forever. Derek would never recognize me. He would never know why my heart was trying to jump out of my chest.

My heart. Right. I had to find calm. If he focused, he could hear my heartbeat.

We’d been looking at each other in silence for five minutes. One of us had to say something.

“It’s you,” I said. Brilliant opening.

“It’s me,” he said.

“You found my house.” I kept my voice casual and calm. No loud noises. No quick movements.

He nodded. He seemed comfortable, wrapped in a kind of casual arrogance that came from killing a lot of scary shit. His presence filled the room. He was impossible to ignore.

“I tried to talk to you before, but you left in a hurry.” His voice still sounded the same, a kind of gravely rasp, the result of permanent damage to the vocal cords not even Lyc-V managed to fully heal. It made him sound like a wolf in the flesh.

“I’m a busy woman.”

“That’s why I decided to visit you at home.”

“Very prudent of you.”

“I like to plan ahead.”

His shoulders were broader than I remembered. His body bigger, harder. His clothes weren’t skintight, but I could see definition on the arm he rested on his knee and a hard contour of muscle on his thigh. With magic down, my arsenal had shrunk, while he still had the benefit of superior speed, strength, and regeneration. The old Derek would never attack a human woman without provocation. This new Derek was an unknown commodity. If he decided to fight me, my odds were crap.

But shapeshifters were still human, and their regeneration wasn’t instant. I knew where to strike and how to cut to incapacitate a shapeshifter. The real question was, could I bring myself to cut Derek’s throat if he forced me?

I had to avoid this fight at all cost.

“So you tracked me down and let yourself into my home. How can I help you?” I asked.

“Do you need a medic?”

My mind tried to make a ninety-degree turn with him and failed. “What?”

“Last night someone set the old VA hospital on fire. It’s still burning. Metal melted. Concrete walls cracked from thermal shock. Your scent is all over the street leading to it, and your yard reeks of charred human flesh. So I’ll ask again, do you need a medic? I know a good one.”

“No.”

We stared at each other.

“Stop wasting our time and tell me what you want,” I said.

“I’d like you to tell me about Pastor Haywood’s murder.”

“Why do you want to know?”

“I have a personal interest in the matter.”

“And that personal interest caused you to break into my house and intimidate me while I sit naked in my bathtub? Do you think Pastor Haywood would approve?”

He hit me with his alpha stare. “I broke into your house because you hold crucial information and I thought you might be dying. If I were you, I’d focus on answering my questions.”

His gaze pressed on me like a physical weight. I wanted to either explode out of the bath, slicing at him, or jump out and run for my life.

So that’s how it is? Okay, buddy. I’ll play.

I stared back at him with disdain, the way I looked at those who threatened the New Kingdom when I wanted them to back away with tail between their legs. I am Shinar reborn, shapeshifter. I do not submit.

Silence filled the chamber, cold and oppressive. Why did I keep goading him? If he was anybody else, I would’ve maneuvered the conversation where I wanted it to go by now. Instead I turned it into a standoff.