Ren climbed onto the bed, her knees leaving muddy smudges on the pristine black furs. She felt like a swamp monster infiltrating a silk factory.
She was naked. She was covered in soot and snake-slime. And she was clutching the stolen Jade Key in her right hand, hiding it behind her back like a guilty toddler.
"You are shivering," Syris murmured, his eyes tracking a droplet of mud as it slid down her collarbone. "The 'mud mask' is cold?"
"Freezing," Ren lied, her teeth chattering. "I need... warm wine. To heat the blood."
She reached for the goblet on the obsidian table with her left hand.
"Here," she said, her heart pounding. "You drink first. To... toast my grief."
As she passed the goblet to him, she used the cover of her body to slip thesedative powder she had raided from the vault into the wine. It dissolved instantly.
'Please work,' Ren prayed. 'Please be strong enough to knock out a dinosaur.'
