I stared at the ceiling for a few minutes pondering what just happened. All I did was go down an alley and an unknown assailant jammed a dagger in my neck. My mind immediately went to Lisa, which I discarded since it made no sense. Lisa knew I’d just loop and wouldn’t waste effort sending an assassin. She also had Hespeth and her crew watching me, meaning she had some other plan.

  I nudged Void awake and she rocketed up in bed, hyperventilating. Her gaze shifted to me and to my neck, which she gingerly touched where I was stabbed.

  Relief washed over her features when she realized I wasn’t dead and she fell against my chest, holding me tight. I thought for a moment to tell her it’s not a big deal, but I knew better. I had centuries of practice dying and it didn’t faze me much. She had just seen me get killed twice in the course of a couple of hours.

  After a few minutes of me rubbing the back of her head, she spoke. “I don’t know if I can get used to that.”

  “I never got used to seeing you die, either. Did you happen to see who stabbed me?” I asked.

  Void shook her head. “It was someone in a cloak. He hit you from behind and drove the dagger in before I could react. What do you think happened? Was it Lisa?”

  “I don’t think so,” I replied. “We were next to a protest against slavery. I’m a newly minted noble. Maybe someone saw an opportunity to lash out.”

  “Sounds plausible. The Low Council always votes down abolition,” Void said.

  I groaned. “Now the fun part. Going through the motions again.”

  I helped Void up and, this time, I explained we’re going to leave immediately to change things. After going upstairs and informing the kids of what happened, and telling Tizek he didn’t have to come along, I told Void my plan. Going earlier and changing our route should keep me out of sight of the zealous protester.

  Before leaving, I went to my old room and moved the Coastal Ratcatcher outside. I didn’t want the poor girl languishing in a bad environment just because I forgot. Then we left the Teeth and headed on our way.

  The streets this time of the morning were quieter than they were the last time we left. Including the break for Void to work through her bout of nausea, it took us less time to get to the apothecary and, after the same rigamarole to buy the medication, I turned the opposite direction from last time. Void and I decided to swing around a wider path down a different route to get to the other apothecary.

  The entire time, Void’s head was on a swivel. We passed down a quiet street leading to Jumpvine Way when Void called out. “You! Stop!”

  I turned and saw a cloaked figure following us. He panicked when Void rushed in his direction and he threw his dagger at me. I wasn’t fast enough and took the dagger right to my eye socket.

  As much as I liked having Void’s naked body pressed against mine, I usually preferred it a result of mutual action. I woke her up once more and, after dressing, we went upstairs. I roused Tizek and Lia and, after vacating my old room of the Coastal Ratcatcher again, we all entered.

  “It seems someone is out to get me. We need to figure out who and why,” I said.

  “My lord? I will join you,” Tizek said with an angry hiss. “I am ashamed. I am your knight and you fell twice under my care.”

  I waved him off. “Buddy? I said you can accompany Lia, it’s not your fault.”

  “I’ll come, too,” Lia squeaked. I could see she was fighting her desire to avoid being seen to help out.

  “Are you sure?” I asked.

  Lia nodded. “I’ll put something over my face.”

  “I appreciate it,” I said.

  “Tizek? Come with me out the back,” Void ordered, her voice hard edged.

  “Why?” I asked, wondering what was back there.

  She turned to me. “We need to box Hespeth in. We need to find out if Lisa has anything to do with this.”

  I didn’t fully believe Hespeth had anything to do with this, but the thing about time loops is you really had to try everything. It was good to get this out of the way now. “I agree. That means Lia and I are up front?”

  “Right. Lia has the Stalwart ability. She can block them in by herself,” Void replied.

  “Then we have a plan. Come on, time to find out who wants me dead,” I said.

  Out front, Lia and I crept toward the side of the pub. Once more, I remarked at how quietly I was moving. Even Lia was far more silent than usual. Lia paused at the corner and she adjusted the towel she was using as a mask. “I’ll wait here and jump out if they run,” Lia whispered.

  I nodded and walked around the corner. Once more, I startled the four. I nodded to each of them in turn. “Hespeth, Bayle, Ivy, Quinn. We need to talk.”

  “How did you know our names?” Ivy asked, his eyes wide with surprise.

  “I told you. He’s a time traveler. He’s met you before,” Hespeth responded. She put her hands up and looked at me. “Sorry, Baron, for whatever we did. Please don’t hurt us.”

  “Look, I’ve been sent back here twice in the course of the last couple of hours, by my reckoning anyway, and I figure Lisa’s behind it,” I pressed.

  Bayle’s eyes widened. “We had nothing to do with it! Lisa even ordered us not to touch you, just keep tabs.”

  “Uh, we have two more coming from the other direction,” Quinn squeaked. She panicked and decided to run. Toward me.

  I tried to get out of the way, but Quinn plowed hard into me. Then she bounced off. I barely felt the impact. Once more, I was a little surprised at what was going on.

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  Quinn was lying on the ground, dazed, when Lia shrieked. “Quinn!? You mean that Quinn and Ivy?”

  The mood instantly shifted when Ivy rushed past me around the corner. “Lia! Where have you been?” Quinn also quickly recovered from her daze and jumped up to mob Lia.

  The three of them began to chat rapidly and were hugging one another. Hespeth, Bayle and I were left speechless, as were Void and Tizek when they finally arrived.

  “Lia? What’s going on?” I asked.

  Lia pointed to the two rabbit-clan kids. “They’re Quinn and Ivy!”

  I rolled my eyes. “I know that, how do you know them?”

  “We were at the orphanage together,” Quinn said. “Everyone was usually mean to Lia. Ivy and I didn’t like that and became her friends after some kid threw her doll into the furnace.”

  “Where did you go? When we got out, we couldn’t find you anywhere so we joined up with Lillymare’s gang. Then Gully Jack recruited us yesterday,” Ivy said after he finished hugging Lia. “And why are you wearing that rag on your face?”

  Lia’s face dropped. “I didn’t want to get into the gangs. I spent two years trying to work honest jobs. But no one will hire an illiterate orphan and I fell in with Gerry. Ended up getting sent to the castle as a slave and Oliver saved me. And the rag? I got my fur burned off.”

  Everyone present winced when Lia mentioned the castle slaves. Slaves had a lot of protections on them against abuse. Buyers couldn’t order them to harm themselves, commit crimes or use them for sexual activity. If someone broke the rules, the collar informed the Guard of the infraction and the offender usually ended up in a collar themselves for a few months. No one was stupid enough to do that.

  The exception was the penal brothel and the castle. The two didn’t have a restriction on sexual activity, the first for obvious reasons and the second because the king was the king. Getting sent to either was seen as a worst-case scenario.

  Both Ivy and Quinn’s attitude instantly shifted. They had expressions of admiration on their faces. Quinn approached me and pulled me into a hug. “Thank you for saving our Lia.”

  I gave her a brief one-armed pat in response. “Don’t mention it. Now, for my little problem?”

  Quinn backed away. “I promise we aren’t going to do that. We are supposed to just sit here and watch what you’re doing. Nothing else. We aren’t even supposed to follow you around town.”

  “It’s as she says,” Bayle added. “I don’t want to get on your bad side, Baron.”

  I sighed. “Alright, I believe you. We’re gonna head out now. We have to get Lia a tonic for her fur and a few other things.”

  “Thanks for being understanding, Baron,” Hespeth said. She then turned to Lia and bowed. “And you, future Baroninne.”

  Lia’s eyes went wide behind her mask. “I’m not marrying Oliver! He’s more like a brother.”

  Quinn cocked her head to the side. “Oh? That’s a shame. Then why does Lisa think Oliver has a beloved?”

  “Because I turned down her marriage proposal,” I replied.

  “Then that means…” Hespeth trailed off. She then turned to look at Void and her mouth drooped open. “That explains why you’re living here. Sorry, Baroninne.”

  “I’d rather you keep this revelation a secret,” I said.

  “Understood, Baron,” Bayle responded. “Best for Lisa to think Lia is your betrothed. No one to lean on that way.”

  “Glad you understand,” I said.

  After we bid our farewell, the four of us moved onto our next destination.

  After the annoying process of buying the newspaper, hair tonic and stomach medication, we decided to try a different route. I led the group down a few quiet streets in the general direction of the Jumpvine Way apothecary. Here, we could capture and interrogate whoever was out to get me without drawing too much attention.

  There was a particular spot I had in mind. There was an entertainment sector in the middle-class neighborhood. Businesses around here didn’t open until the evening, making it a nice, quiet part of town to ambush an assassin.

  Passing by a cabaret, I paused and looked at the poster outside. It was a song and dance performance where the men were wearing women’s clothing and the women were wearing men’s clothing. I raised an eyebrow at the sight.

  Void chuckled. “One of our regulars owns this place. He was there when you took over for my shift.”

  “You’re a trend setter,” Lia added with a little laugh of her own.

  I also laughed. I was inadvertently enriching the Leoren culture. Maybe I should work with Mira to develop Cubanos and Mojitos from local ingredients. That’ll convince entrepreneurs to recreate South Beach. I could even spend some time researching how to make magical neon.

  Setting aside my ridiculous dreams of plopping Miami in the middle of the temperate Vialina coastline, I turned around a corner into an alley and gestured to Tizek and Lia to hide behind a trash bin.

  It didn’t take long for my attacker to show. Whoever he was, he was good at tailing. None of us noticed him following.

  A rough tussle sprang up behind me and when I turned, I saw Tizek pinning someone in a cloak up against the cabaret wall with his forearm. He had his frills out and was snarling in my would-be assassin’s face.

  The assassin pulled a long wood dagger and tried to bury it into Tizek’s arm. He was faster and slapped it away, sending the dagger clattering to my feet where I picked it up.

  I walked up to the attacker and pulled down his hood. Or should I say her hood. When I pulled the hood away, I saw the attacker was a cougar-clan woman. A familiar one at that.

  “Kelly?” I gaped. My attacker was Kelly, the former compatriot of Hespeth and Bayle. Vark was the fourth of their group, but he was killed in the battle at the cistern. I recalled Kelly and Vark were a couple with a trio of kids.

  Tizek pulled his mace and held it, ready to bash Kelly’s head in. “Stop!” I yelled and grabbed his arm.

  “My lord?” Tizek said, releasing the tension he had in my hand. I let go when he stopped.

  “I’ll kill you!” Kelly hissed at me.

  I sighed. “Kelly? You already killed me twice.”

  For some reason, my words caused her to relax. She stared at me then looked down the alley toward the street. “Then where is he?”

  Now I was confused. “Where is who?”

  “Vark. Why didn’t you save him?” I could see tears welling in her eyes as she went slack in Tizek’s grip.

  It didn’t take me long to realize what was going on. My heart felt heavy when my comprehension hit. Kelly missed Vark and she had it in her head I could go back in time and save him.

  I opened my mouth to speak when a male voice called out. “Is that former Guardsman Void? What are you doing here?”

  Void, who had moved to the end of the alley on the other side to keep a lookout for anyone else, stiffened. I could see her face fill with fear as she stared toward some unknown speaker.

  “It is,” a female voice called out. “Vascular Void. And, would you look at her finger? Someone actually wanted to get engaged with her.”

  Void’s posture tightened. To the uninitiated, it looked like she was getting angry. I knew better. She was trying to hold in her tears. The duo speaking were dragging up some horrible memories for her.

  From around the side of the building at the other end of the alley, a pair of City Guards appeared. One was a jaguar-clan woman and the other a ram-clan man. Their body language was classic bully. Leaning forward, the man was spinning a truncheon in his hand. The woman was eyeing Void up and down, looking for something to pick at.

  “What are you doing out here in the entertainment district, FORMER Guardswoman Void?” the man needled.

  The woman laughed. “Looking to become a dancer? You should try the cabaret. I hear they’re hiring women to dress up as men. You’ll fit the part perfectly.”

  Normally, I’m an easy-going man. You can insult me all day and I’ll just laugh and maybe agree with most of it. But go after someone I care about? The Florida-man you hear about in the news ends up coming out. I was getting ready to dip into the garbage and see if I could find last night’s leftovers to smear all over these two Guards’ faces.

  The man looked down the alley and paused when he saw Tizek pinning Kelly to the wall, who was struggling to speak under Tizek’s pressure. “You! What are you doing to that woman?”

  He began to march down the alley when his eyes passed over me. He instantly paused. “Baron? I’m sorry, am I intruding?”

  Once more, I forgot about my newfound rank in society. As a member of the nobility, I was their boss. Sure, their official employer was the noble who claimed this section of Leoren, Duke Boiland. Still, I was above their league and, short of an official censure from both the Low and High Councils, or a direct order from the King, I was untouchable.

  “Just having a little chat with this woman,” I responded.

  The jaguar-clan guard squinted her eyes. “Say, I recognize her. Troublemaker out of the slums. Baron? We’ll leave it to you. When you’re done, we can come arrest her. Just tell us the charges. Or, if you need, someone from the morgue.”

  I internally shuddered. I was pretty much above the law, save things like sexual abuse of slaves or rape where even nobles would get punishment. If I accused someone of a crime, I could dole out whatever punishment I wanted. “We’ll take care of it.”

  The ram-clan man nodded. “Good. Say, I should warn you about Void back there. She’s a bit of a stickler for the rules. It’s nice you hired her on to your retinue, but she’s going to be more trouble than she’s worth.”

  My annoyance came flooding back. I decided to hold my tongue. Even though I was their boss, I still had my standards. Besides, I had something even better than smushing rotting garbage on their nice uniforms. “You mean my fiancé? I like that about her.”

  That caused them to panic instantly. The jaguar-clan woman peered at Void, who was still holding back her tears, and backed away. “Apologies, Baroninne. It won’t happen again.”

  “See it doesn’t. Say, Void?” I called out. “What’s the penalty for abuse of authority?”

  Void’s face was still showing signs of distress. Instead of answering aloud, she held up three fingers.

  “I see, a three month slave contract,” I hummed. “Maybe I should inform the Captain a pair of their Guards are harassing law abiding citizenry.”

  The jaguar-clan Guard’s eyes widened. “Please! We’d lose our jobs and have a black mark! Forgive us for this transgression!”

  Both of the Guards knelt on the filthy alley ground and bowed their heads, awaiting my answer. I crossed my arms and hummed again. I pretended like I was heavily weighing my options before replying. “I’ll forgive you this time. Don’t let me catch you behaving like this again, or I won’t be lenient next time.”

  I wasn’t going to really send these two to be enslaved; I absolutely abhorred the concept no matter the crime. I just wanted to put the fear of the Grand Creator into them.

  The two gasped in relief and stood. Then the ram-clan man bowed deeply.. “We’ll take our leave. Call us if you need something.” He hurried to the end of the alley and, with his partner, beat a hasty retreat from our view.

  Void remained still at her spot as she watched the guards leave. After a few moments, she composed herself, walked down the alley and buried her head into my shoulder. I pulled her into an embrace and let her take a number of deep breaths to calm her nerves.

  “Bullies?” I asked after she pulled away.

  Void nodded silently. I leaned forward and gently guided her forehead down to mine. “Don’t worry. I know I’m a dud, but you can still trust I have your back, always.”

  She nodded again and wiped away a tear. I knew she didn’t feel like talking right now.

  With that done, I returned my attention to Tizek and Kelly. “Tizek, buddy? You can let her go.”

  Tizek hesitated before dropping her to her feet. She coughed and looked at me, then her dagger in my hand. I saw a defeated look cross her face when she realized her plan failed.

  “Alright,” I said. “Now, I think it’s time I cleared up a few things.”