Dinah spoke in a threatening low growl. “I want to make one thing clear: I do not trust you, Traveler.” She spat out the name like it was a slur. “But for whatever reason, Ari does. So, I need your word. I want you to swear by the Great Mother that you will do everything you can to keep my brother safe from harm, even if that means risking yourself.”
Ari started from behind them. “Dinah . . .”
“No,” Dinah said firmly. “She must swear it to me.” Her dark coal eyes bored into Pax.
Pax’s heart stuttered. She swallowed the lump in her throat, returned Dinah’s intense gaze, and nodded. “I swear it . . . by the Great Mother,” she added. Though she felt no connection to the belief in whatever god she had sworn by, she felt the gravity of her declaration in her bones. And it was true. For whate
