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“My own reasons.”
     
    Vivienne slowed, lagging behind him gradually. That answer didn’t exactly bode well. His own reasons could be anything.
     
    “There’s a crowd around the corner,” Hel called to her.
     
    “Come this way.” He nodded his head down a side street.
     
    Vivienne ground to a halt. She couldn’t hear a crowd. She could only hear a few people. Hel was lying, and on this world where even honesty was typically unpleasant, lying was even worse.
     
    When she didn’t start moving again, Hel jogged back to her.
     
    “Come on ,” he repeated more insistently, and he grabbed her wrist.
     
    When Vivienne began to back away, Hel sighed in aggravation and pulled on her wrist with enough force that he nearly yanked Vivienne off of her feet. When she was stumbling and off balance, he shoved her down the side street and pinned her to the wall.
     
    Vivienne opened her mouth and screamed as loud as she possibly could, until Hel slapped her across the face so hard that her ears rang from the blow.
     
    “Shhh,” he crooned quietly, one finger pressed to Vivienne’s lips.
     
    With her head still ringing and the world doing its best to turn sideways, Vivienne didn’t put up much of a fight at first as he yanked her makeshift belt off and used it to tie her wrists together.
     
    He spun her around and pinned her to the wall, her cheek pressed to the wall. She squirmed and thrashed, her oversized pants sliding farther and farther down her hips with each movement until they eventually slid down her legs entirely.
     
    “Well, that makes this easier,” Hel remarked wryly, as if he found the entire situation funny .
     
    It was then that Vivienne distantly realized that she could hear some sort of commotion, quickly getting closer. Men shouting and swearing in surprise, as if they were being bowled out of the way. And then she heard a familiar barking noise and nearly sobbed in relief.
     
    “ Bai! ” she screamed at the top of her lungs, causing Hel to withdraw slightly. The sound of rapid-fire footsteps soon became audible.
     
    “What are you shouting about?” Hel groused, confusion thick around his words.
    The crawler slammed into him at full speed, ripping Hel away from Vivienne and sending him skidding across the ground. Mouth open wide, Bai screamed in Hel’s face like a vengeful banshee.
     
    As Bai began tearing into Hel with teeth and claws, Vivienne haphazardly pulled up her pants as best she could with her hands still bound, and she slid down the wall until she was seated on the ground.
     
    With her arms and legs pulled in close to her chest, she dropped her head down to hide her face against her knees and sobbed.
     
    “Bai. Enough.”
     
    She knew it was Que’s voice, but she didn’t look up.
     
    Bai grumbled reluctantly, but the sounds of carnage ceased and she heard him rustle his feathers and click his claws together as he fidgeted restlessly.
     
    Vivienne opened her eyes in alarm when she heard someone walking towards her, and when she saw Que reaching for her, she flailed her hands out to slap his arm away, and she huddled into as small of a ball as she could. Que recoiled in surprise.
     
    Slowly, Bai stepped over and hunkered down in front of her, his legs folded under him like a massive, roosting bird. He trilled and crooned quietly, and prodded at Vivienne with the end of his nose. He nudged at her hands and nibbled at the cloth around her wrists, until he caught it with one tooth and tore it.
     
    Hands free, Vivienne laid one against the crawler’s cheek, fingers idly running through the short, fuzzy facial feathers. She stared into the four, jewel-like gold eyes and brought her other hand up to stroke both sides of Bai’s face.
     
    As if she was lulling herself into some sort of trance, her breathing evened out. Eventually, her hands still cupped around Bai’s face, she looked up at Que and informed him evenly, “I’m ready to go back to Mallimae.”
     
    Que