Page 72 of Bound

Glenda’s knees hit the damaged cobblestones. She wasn’t the only one—everyone who was in sight dropped to their knees, some of them in sheer terror and others in reverent admiration. The latter shook Ruby more than the first; fear and distrust, she was used to. She had no idea what to do with all that admiration.

“We will do whatever you wish,” Glenda babbled. “The Bygone is right; we would be dead without you. You don’t think you could…”

Her panicked gaze darted toward the broken ward in the middle of the square.

Ruby sighed and stepped up to it. It was riddled with cracks, stone crumbling into the cobblestones below. The ward rune was unrecognizable.

“I will renew your ward,” she said. “But first, I should explain how things are going to work from here on.”

Glenda nodded, dazed. She bent down and dropped her head onto the cobblestones. “Whatever you say, my lady!”

Slate stepped up beside her again. He gave her another questioning look, and the wonder in his eyes made her want to kiss him all over again.

She resisted the urge, turning back to the townsfolk.

“So,” she said. “To begin?—”

A friendly bark cut her off.

Ruby tried to hold back a smile. “I’m sorry. Wereyousaying something?”

All eyes turned to the dog spirit, who trotted up to Ruby and sat down heavily on top of a dead demon.

Slate frowned. “Dog. What are you doing here? What happened to your head?”

The spirit looked up at the goat horns that had sprouted from its skull.

“I will give you two guesses, old friend,” said the dog spirit formerly known as Paimon, in a voice that Ruby sometimes heard in dreams. “And the first one doesn’t count.”

Slate rocked back in surprise. Then he sighed. “I should have known. Nobody else is that annoying.”

The dog spirit chuckled. There was a short bleat somewhere in the middle and a growl at the end.

“Apologies,” he said. “I have been so many things by now. I sometimes get them confused. Ruby, maybe youshouldbe the one to explain.”

“I would be happy to,” Ruby said.

She took Slate’s dripping hand. Then she turned to the gaping townsfolk. Some of them had obviously caught onto what was happening since they started clasping their hands together and praying in shocked whispers that echoed over the square while everyone else looked around in confusion.

“Our goat deity, Paimon,” she began, letting the oblivious ones gasp in realization. “Tired of his godly existence. He had been human, and then a god, and now he wanted to experience something new.”

“Something carefree,” the dog spirit interjected, tail thumping happily. “Something small and simple. Hence: dog spirit!”

“Good choice,” Slate said faintly. “You might have told me, old friend.”

“I tried. You would not wake until after I made the change.” The dog spirit licked Slate’s bloody hand. “It is good to see you awake.”

Then the dog spirit turned to Ruby, its gaze light and unbothered. “Ruby! Thank you for taking my power from the ward. I think I still have some to spare. Would you like it?”

Ruby considered. Shedidlike this power. It lit her up in ways she didn’t know were possible. But if she accepted the full power of a god, she would lose things in return. She liked her humanity. She wanted some of it to stay, at the very least.

“Not yet,” she decided.

The dog spirit bowed his head. “As you wish. I will see you back in the void. Mortals, goodbye!”

Several townsfolk stuttered a stunned goodbye, including several of Glenda’s children who looked delighted to see a talking dog, never mind that he was the former god of the town.

The dog spirit vanished.

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