They went to a stall that had a long table where they could come and sit down. Behind were kettles filled with boiling water, and from the water, the goblin cooks pulled out long strings of boiled dough. Those were noodles.

  Diners chose their type of noodle, then their sauce, then their meat.

  Settie ordered for them, and in the end, Gray got a plate of steamy, creamy flat noodles with a piece of deep-fried bird on top. The bird didn’t have bones, and seemed to have been hammered as flat as the noodles. With it came a greasy bread with some kind of sharp flavor, almost like onion, but not quite.

  Settie gave him a playful look, her mask down and her hat hanging off her back. “How is your stomach?”

  “Not good,” he admitted. “Those sweet worms didn’t sit well.”

  “This, precious Gray, will either kill you or cure you. You wouldn’t be the first to leave a goblin counter puking their guts out. Try it. Revel in the grease. Indulge your most gluttonous desires.”

  Another patron, down the way, a very large orc, wheeled away, spewing up what he’d been eating. It had been red, but the light leaking out of his belly was a bright yellow.

  The goblins let out a cheer. One toothless old goblin, with more white hair on his bristly chin than on his balding head, let out a cheer. “Huzzah!”

  The rest of the cooks shouted that out as well, as did Settie. It was obvious she’d been there before and knew to cheer.

  Other goblins scurried to clean up the sick from the dirt.

  That didn’t help Gray’s appetite any.

  He sniffed the meal. It smelled good, and he felt the hunger. Was his gluttony just now awakening?

  He ate one long noodle, and the flavor exploded in his mouth. “What…what…what magic is this?”

  Settie chuckled. “That, precious Gray, is more magical than all the mana in all the fourteen gods of sin and virtue put together. And even more mysterious than the eighth instinct. That, my friend, is garlic.”

  The flavor was good, but the texture of the doughy noodle was even better. His mouth was greasy, and yes, it was so rich, but there was no way he wasn’t going to indulge in more. The chicken was crispy and delicious, and yet, so heavy. The bread had been blessed by the magic of garlic as well.

  It was the finest meal of his life, even better than those times Lilian snuck food from the royal kitchens to him during their time together.

  “Well, precious Gray, is this better than gladiatorial smack gravy, Gray?” Settie asked.

  His eyelids flickered. “Without a doubt. I can die now. I can’t imagine having a better meal.”

  “Perhaps you have a gluttony resonance after all.”

  “I think not, captain. My belly is full, but my core remains empty.” He pushed his plate aside with half the noodles gone and three quarters of the chicken left. He’d barely touched the garlic bread.

  Settie had finished her meal and pulled his over to her. “Don’t worry. I won’t eat until I puke. I’ll just indulge in the gluttony because it makes my core feel so good.”

  Then she proceeded to eat the rest of his plate.

  Gray glanced around. In the fading light, he saw the familiar shape of Lust Tower in the distance, north of them. To the south, above more rooftops, he saw another tower, even more grand. The sunset made the top of the pylons gleam so beautifully.

  “What is this place?” he whispered.

  Settie snapped her fingers, and a goblin brought her more thick red wine. “This place, precious Gray? It is Gorgonzola’s Counter. That old man there is Gorgonzola himself. There is nothing he can’t do with cheese, and I don’t mean the foul white stuff you’re used to. Seacows are nothing like the Belly’s cattle. You liked the garlic and cream, but it is the cave-aged asiago that is doing most of the work.”

  Gray couldn’t handle the red wine, and so drank bubble water, something new to him. It was one more little piece of magic that made this place so special.

  “Fuck,” Gray cursed. “Only one question left.”

  Settie finished off her meal and slipped her mask back into place. Every so often, she’d move the mask to sip her win. “I will be kind. I’m feeling a bit drunk, and I’m stuffed so nicely. If I move, I will spew like that orc. Ask me your questions.”

  “What happened to the Wrath Tower?” he asked. “When was the Hellbinder Barrier built? Why do you live in Old Town?”

  She sighed. “And there is the flood questions. I shall pick and choose what I want to talk about because there are some things best forgotten.”

  Gray had to wonder how old the dragon woman was. She’d been around a very long time. “Tell me what I need to know to understand this place. Since I know nothing, you have complete freedom.”

  “Before the Hellbinder, the Wrath Tower was perhaps the most powerful. It linked all the seven towers together. It was a wonder. The Weeping Well was sealed so completely, that the seven Watchfire families had no fear of building right up to the edge of the well itself. Actually, people paid more for apartments that looked into the hole. They found it exciting. If there is one constant in the universe, other than the seven instincts, is that people are idiots.”

  Gray wasn’t going to argue with her. He just wanted to keep on talking. Blind John said that wine can open doors the truth would rather keep closed.

  “But then, there was a tragedy, which is another constant. People are idiots, and tragedy sits waiting for us all. We might escape fate for a time, but in the end, tragedy will always find us.” She sipped wine and was quiet for a long time.

  “When the Wrath Tower fell, when the orcish ruling family was killed, this was a wasteland, completely swarmed by demons. Walls were built around the other six towers, but they were nothing like the Hellbinder. Once that wall was complete, and Old Town was abandoned, things changed for the better. The six Watchfire families ruled the Belly from their palaces built at the bottom of the Pylons. Only the most wretched and desperate moved back into what everyone started calling Pit City. There is an orcish duke, but he is mostly ignored. It is a constant fight for survival, and yet, in that all that fighting the desperate can find opportunities. You’ll see that for yourself in time. Hell, by the slut gods of old, you already have seen it. You got to feast at Gorgonzola’s counter, you lucky, lucky boy.”

  “I am a lucky young man, a young man with promise,” he said softly. “Thought it seems I might have a core but no resonances. Why did the Wrath Tower fall?”

  “No one knows,” Settie said abruptly. Her eyes gleamed red and she pointed to the south at the ornate tower there. “There. Do you see that? We used to call it the Seventh Pylon…all the pylons were numbered, but people didn’t like remembered the numbers, so they started calling it Pride Tower, since its in Pride City. We name every fucking thing after one of the magics. Why shouldn’t we? Magic is what gives the Belly all of its wealth and power.”

  “The Belly of the World,” Gray said. “It is the continent. It is the city. We are at the bottom of the world.”

  “We are, and you are correct. It is both the continent and the city, which stretches for miles and miles, circling the Hellbinder.” She smiled, her dark eyes sparkling. “You are clever to make statements and not ask questions. And I can’t help myself. I’ll have to endeavor to be as clever, or you might surpass me. We can’t have that.”

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  “I doubt that will happen.” He didn’t add that he’d probably never surpass her. She was up to four resonances, envy, lust, pride, and she certainly had eaten like a glutton. She was also guzzling wine as fast as the goblins could pour it.

  She nudged him. “You don’t see dragons here, do you? Neither do I. Not even the hidden ones, like myself. Because the dragons don’t come to Pit City.” She pointed again. “They stay in Pride City. There, precious Gray, there be dragons.” She snorted laughter. “Come on. Let’s try a couple more places. Don’t worry, I have the shekels to pay. Enjoy your poverty while you can. If you survive the Testing, you’ll get a stipend. Until then, I’ll continue to finance your lavish lifestyle.”

  She babbled and talked and threw money around, and joked with the goblins, even though Gray was pretty sure they had no idea who she was.

  Even though the sun had set, the marketplace was even more crowded that it had been before. Lanterns on light posts glimmered, though these didn’t have the same light as seacow oil. They were lit by some kind of magic. Still, some shadows remained for the cutpurses and cruel-eyed beggar children, who had exchanged their beggar bowls for knives.

  This Gray could understand. The Pit Market was like the streets around the Arena where he’d grown up. Only the ruthless survived. This place, though, had added magic, which made it seem far more dangerous than even the roughest parts of Cradleport.

  Settie wasn’t done drunkenly teaching him. “As we walk through the market, feel the cores of the crowd. The magical races all have cores, but not all the humans do. That’s what you get when you’re a mixture of chaos and order. There’s no rules to you. Sometimes you are kind, and sometimes you are cruel, and sometimes your weakness is your strength, and sometimes your weakness is just weakness and you fucking die. Like Carter. Like Blind John.”

  “No,” he hissed. He spun on her, grabbed her arm, and felt his blood boiling. The rage took him over so quickly, which was a shame. Before then, he’d been enjoying himself. Now, he wanted to thrash her, which was a joke. She was a dragon. He was some young man with a drained core and a newly repaired heart. “No. You don’t get to throw around Carter’s name like that.”

  Settie’s smile was hidden by her mask, but he could hear it. “Poor Carter. That’s what you tell yourself, over and over. Poor, poor Carter. You have such shame. Perhaps shame is the eighth virtue. See how fun magic can be?”

  Gray shook her.

  Wonder of all wonders, she allowed that. She didn’t have to. He’d seen her breathe fire.

  He repeated himself, his voice shaking with anger. “You don’t get to speak Carter’s name. Not again. And if you know what happened to Blind John, you’ll tell me now.”

  Settie inhaled sharply. “Such rage. Oh, such wrath. It is the Survival Instinct. What you want is a freedom from the shame. I can’t give you that. No one can. I can give you my word that I don’t know what happened to Blind John. As for Carter, I will not speak his name again.”

  Gray let her go and marched off. He wanted to run. He wanted to smash something. Suddenly, this magical world seemed cold and ugly and full of malice.

  He fought his way through the crowd and reached the eastern edge of the market.

  He came to an intersection. The streets to the right were dark while the streets to the left glimmered with red lights. There was hooting, and hollering, and someone yelled out, “Just fuck her already!”

  “Someone is having fun,” Settie said.

  She’d followed him.

  They stood there, in silence.

  The dragon removed her mask and pushed her hat back. “I apologize. I needed to make you angry. Did your anger fill your core any?”

  He shook his head.

  She sighed. “I thought for sure that would do it. It is a pity. There are two other places to take you, but my hopes are dwindling.”

  “But you have a way of replenishing my core,” Gray said quietly.

  Settie paused. “I didn’t think I could make you angry. You have handled this all so elegantly. Do you hate me for draining your core?”

  He shrugged. “You gave me my core.”

  “No. I simply ignited it.”

  He finally found a smile. “After spending a year fixing my heart.”

  “And the travel.” Her smile was cautious. “Don’t forget the travel.”

  “I don’t remember much of the travel.”

  “The gods continue to both bless you and curse you, Grayson Fade. Now, forgive me, so we can continue this pleasant evening. No more tests, I promise.”

  “I forgive you, Captain.”

  “Good.”

  They walked down the dark street first, to a temple. Inside, people were singing softly, the air was filled with the sweet smell of incense. He knew that smell intimately, just like how he knew symbol above the ornate doors—a triangle in a circle in a square, all perfectly aligned.

  “I grew up in a place like this,” he said softly. “It is a Children of Order temple.”

  She pulled him against the wall and sat down on another bench carved into the rock. “Inside are those who want to be virtuous. Sometimes they are, sometimes they aren’t, but I find this place very soothing. Even attempting to rise above our more base instincts is admirable. Don’t be fooled though, precious Gray. The so-called seven deadly sins can be so useful. Do you feel anything?”

  He breathed in the incense and then smiled because he recognized the hymn.

  His core remained empty. “I don’t feel anything other than nostalgia. The singing, the smells, and the stillness of the temple brings back so many memories.”

  They sat, and Gray had to laugh a little. They’d sat next to a bank and didn’t feel anything. Now they were sitting next to a church, and still nothing.

  Walking back down the dark street, they made their way into the redlight district.

  Women, of all the various races, beckoned to them from doorways drenched in a scarlet light. There was a rather attractive she-orc there. Her tusks might take some getting used to, but the rest of her was very shapely.

  They found another bench, in a little square with sweet-smelling trees. Leaking from the open windows of the tall, ornate houses came the cries of love-making, or quiet murmurs, or laughter and giggles, moans and groans.

  Gray sighed, thinking about what was going on around them. He felt the dull lust in his belly. Was that filling his core? He didn’t think so.

  He didn’t know how the people were having sex, since supposedly people with cores risked becoming bonded forever. Maybe it was just humans without a core.

  “What about this place?” Settie asked. “Do you feel the mana from the lust?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t believe so. I’m rather surprised, since we seem to be in the sinful heart of Pit City. Or should we call it Sin City?”

  “Already taken, precious Gray. There’s a section of town in Lust City that’s called Sin City. This area is known as the Pleasure Market. The Dice Market is down the way, where there is gambling. We’ll go there next, but I don’t have much hope. You don’t seem like a gambler to me.”

  “I gambled everything on a ruby necklace,” he said quietly.

  “And I’m gambling everything on you.” She turned to him, so they were facing each other. She slowly removed her hat and mask. The strange light of the magical lantern made her black hair seem like darkness itself.

  Then he noticed the glimmer of yellow light in the air, coalescing around the bright sphere of energy in her belly.

  “Lust,” he whispered.

  “Lust,” she agreed. “Do you feel it?”

  “Not in the way that would fill my core.”

  She gave him a long, smoldering look. “Something else is filling, I think.”

  He swallowed and nodded. He felt weak still, yet he could ignore that, because his new heart was beating fast but wasn’t hurting. It was such a miracle.

  “Ask me your third and last question,” she said softly.

  He lost all will to play any kind of game. He wanted an answer to their quest. “What’s your plan to refill my core and why is it awkward?”

  She leaned in close. “I’m going to kiss you, and if you want magic, you’ll kiss me back. It will be lust between us, but there will be something else as well. You can’t fall in love with me, Grayson Fade. We will never be together in that way. Never. Promise me.”

  “I promise, Captain.” He then went to her, leaning over, their faces inches part. “I’m going to kiss you, and if you want your investment to pay off, you’ll kiss me back.”

  Her face had lost all emotion. She smelled so good. She was shining so brightly, she seemed like a second sun.

  Then, he closed his eyes and pressed his lips against hers.

  Immediately, he felt her core, swollen with all of the energies of the night. She had filled her mana core with all seven magics, he was sure of it. She was impossibly powerful, which explained why she lived on the wrong side of the wall. It was how she could fix his heart and ignite his dead core that had never known magic.

  He gasped, and she deepened the kiss, grabbing his head.

  He grabbed hers, filling his fingers with her soft hair. She moaned. That single moan was filled with so much lust, so much desire, that he was nearly pushed over the edge. He felt her desire as keenly as he felt his own.

  The strength flowed into him. Her core emptied as his filled. There was so much lust in the air, that it flowed into her, and then into him.

  She finally pulled back, eyes closed, breathing hard. Her lips quivered for an instant, until her face seemed to shatter like glass. “No, no, you precious, precious boy. No.”

  She got up, sobbing, and snatched up her hat and mask. Then she marched away, clearly in torment.

  He watched her shoulders shake. He’d never seen anyone cry as hard as she was crying. He knew, somehow he knew, it wasn’t just one lifetime of sorrow, but countless. She was ageless and sorrowful, and that kiss, that powerful kiss, had broken something inside of her.

  He knew going to her would be suicide. She was not the type of woman who would ever let herself be comforted.

  After a time, she stopped crying. By that time, her core had been replenished.

  He wasn’t full of mana, but he could feel the absorption, however slow, happening again. In a sense, she had re-ignited him, and he felt good. No, he felt like a god, with a magical core and a fully functioning heart.

  He watched as Settie replaced her mask and hat.

  She walked back to him. “Is there more mana in your core?”

  He nodded.

  “Good. We’ll go to the Dice Market, but I don’t doubt you have a Greed resonance. Then we’ll go home. You’ll continue your training, and you’ll become strong. I will never…ever kiss you again, so don’t use your magic until we can find a more suitable way to replenish your core.”

  “Okay, Captain. I understand.”

  He didn’t, but he couldn’t ask her anything more. He’d run out of questions.