SUNLIGHT SHONE THROUGH the single, small window on the wall opposite the door of the small bedroom. Doom sat on the floor facing the bed, staring at Tiwaz. Wearily, he rubbed the side of his face, closing his eyes to try to get some rest.

The tiny, agonized sound of her voice brought him abruptly awake some hours later. He nearly fell over himself getting to her side, taking her hand in both of his. “Ti?” he called softly.

Green eyes opened, unfocused and dark with pain. “Doom?” she whispered in a roughened voice.

“I am here, Ti,” he assured quietly. Keeping her hand in one of his, he reached up to caress her hair soothingly. The action relaxed her minutely, her eyes closing again. “I am here. You are safe.”

“I thought…” She swallowed tightly. “You looked for me?” The surprise and guilt in her tones made his heart lurch. “You saved me?”

“Of course I did. No matter what comes between us, I would never turn my back on you. You are my friend.” He closed his eyes, shaking with emotion. “You scared me to death. When I saw you lying there, I thought… You weren’t moving. I made sure those who hurt you would never, ever hurt anyone ever again.” He chuckled weakly. “I’ll need to replace my staff again.” He opened his eyes at a tortured sound and quickly moved to reassure her. “Shhh. Don’t cry. You’ll hurt yourself worse. You had been shape-shifting in your sleep, but it has not been healing your wounds.”

“I’m so sorry, Doom,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry. I hurt you. All I have done is hurt you. I didn’t want to hurt you but I keep—.” He touched her lips with one finger, stopping the flood of guilt-soaked words. Curling their clasped hands over her heart, she took a shuddering breath. “I feel so lost. I’m so afraid. I am ashamed for being so weak. You deserve better.”

“Shhh. Stop that, Ti,” he admonished gently. “You do not need to apologize. We are both new to this freedom thing. It is a lot to adjust to. And you have so much more to adjust to than I do.” He pressed his lips against her scarred wrist. “I should have been more patient with you. And more trusting of your instincts. They are not lesser to mine just because you were trained a gladiator and I was a woodsman.” He brushed his hand over her hair. “Go back to sleep and heal. I will be here to keep you safe.”

“Like you always have,” she whispered, closing her eyes again.

The door opened after several minutes, Gareth looking in. “How is she?” he asked in hushed, worried tones.

“Recovering,” Doom replied as he released her hand and covered her with the blanket. “That is all I can say. If there is still this much damage after two nights of shape shifting in her sleep, it makes me sick to imagine what it was before.”

Gareth winced, taking the chair by the door, turning it around and sitting in it backwards, his arms crossed over the back. “Look, Doom. I’m really sorry for what happened. I didn’t mean to cause any problems between the two of you. I had no idea—”

Doom sighed, shaking his head as he turned to sit with his back against the side of the bed. “It wasn’t your fault entirely. I think things had been building for a while. I wasn’t patient with her. She was too ashamed to admit to things she considered weakness. And frankly, she doesn’t trust anyone.”

“I’ve noticed that,” Gareth said drolly. “Except for you. You’re probably the only one she does, from the looks of it.”

Doom sighed. “Yes. She has always trusted me. Sometimes, I recognize how much she does and it’s unsettling. And could hardly think when I thought I lost it.” He closed his eyes. “But so long as she is still willing to trust me, I won’t risk losing it. Not again.”

Gareth looked at her pale, bruised countenance. “Does she have a real name? Tiwaz is fine for an arena name, but surely she’s something more…feminine.”

The gromek shook his head. “When Alimar captured us, she had lost her memories of her entire life. Including her name. If she has ever remembered anything, she has not told me. She refuses to acknowledge anything as a name. She accepts me calling her Tiwaz because of its meaning to me.”

The bard blinked aghast. “So she had no idea she was a shape-shifter until recently?” Doom shook his head. “Gods, poor thing. I cannot imagine how traumatic her first change was for her.” He considered the gromek. “For you both.”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Doom stated in clipped tones.

Holding both hands up defensively, Gareth assured, “It is fine. I don’t need to know the details. I can extrapolate from others’ experiences with sudden discoveries of their own natures they were unaware of possessing.” Resting his chin on his arms, he studied her. “Her spirit must be as strong as she is beautiful,” he observed wistfully.

“You really do think she’s beautiful?”

Gareth blinked. “Of course I do. Granted, she is not a beauty in the traditional sense. But then again, I have never liked traditional women. Soft bodies are nice once in a while, but soft minds I can do without and the two seem to go hand in hand.” He wrinkled his nose. “Or at least, that’s the façade they put forward, though some actually are that vapid, gods take pity on us all.”

Doom looked at her, brushing his hand across her hair. “She believes men prefer those kind of women. The soft, timid sorts.”

Gareth snorted softly. “It does seem to be the case. But they rarely respect them. The men use and abuse them, because they can’t or won’t fight back. I have been to lands where the females of the race are held equal to their male folk. You would be surprised how much more vital the society is when all are considered equal.” He rested his cheek in one palm, watching her. “I prefer women capable of thinking and doing for themselves. And attractive to boot?” He sighed wistfully. “She is a rare treasure.”

“Well, then her poor reaction to you was probably your own fault, Gareth Tavarius.”

He sat up. “What? My fault?! I didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Nothing wrong, no. But you told her the truth of what you thought of her, and it conflicted with what she believed to be the absolute truth. You are probably the first man who was a stranger to her to tell her something kind and be honest about it. Even her fellow gladiators never called her beautiful. They admired her for her skill and determination to abide by every arena law as her honor dictated, but they never considered her a beauty. It is not something she is accustomed to. She doesn’t even believe me when I say she is beautiful.” When the bard arched an eyebrow, he explained, “She believes because I am gromek, I can’t possibly consider her beautiful because I should consider my own kind attractive and all others ugly. Physically.”

Gareth looked over at the sleeping woman, his face inscrutable. “That is a crime in itself.”

“Just don’t do it again,” Doom suggested. “Not until she trusts you more.” He sighed, caressing her hair gently. “She will not be pleased when she finds out this is your home.”

“My family’s home, thank you. I usually sleep in this guest room when I return to Crossroads, but I’m happy with the couch in the sun room. And don’t worry if anyone sees you for what you are. They’re rather used to it.”

“'Used to it’? Used to what? My people? I thought no gromeks ever came to Crossroads.”

Gareth laughed loudly, and quickly hushed when Tiwaz stirred in her sleep. She quieted when Doom put his hand on her bare shoulder. “Not exactly. No gromeks have ever been to Crossroads. Before you, anyway. But denizens of three of the four lands that border Crossroads frequent this city. You are not as strange as some.” Doom pressed, but received no clearer explanation.

Gareth stood and stretched. “Well, I will leave you to get some sleep, too, friend Doom, and I’ll see to it there is plenty of food that she can handle when she wakes up. My cousins, nieces and nephews are the curious sort. Extremely curious. If they discover you awake, you’ll be forever answering questions and telling stories. Nothing scares those imps. They’d crawl all over a dragon if one would sit still long enough to allow it.” Doom chuckled and nodded. As the bard shut the door, he rested his head on one arm, keeping a hand resting on Tiwaz’s shoulder protectively.