Heirot

Laurius kept walking, not certain why Havi's words made him angry. He felt this odd protectiveness towards the girl who clearly loved this being, and who he knew would be hurt if he left. "I think its ultimately up to you," Laurius said. "It matters not what I think—whether you should or shouldn't g ...

It's beautiful, Tenara said, admiring the way the morning light glinted on the jewel, turning the inside of it different shades of deep red. Her aunt patted her back and brushed past her, through the door. A blip in the snow, a shadow appearing out of nowhere, caught Tenara's attention, and she ...

Laurius looked to the vampire, thumbing the rock in his pocket that was his link to the sorceress woman, as well as Ren and Tenara. "I don't know how long we'll be," he reminded the king. "We've likely beat them here, if they are heading here. We will have to wait, and if it turns out they are not ...

Lelana nodded and placed her hand in her brother’s. She showed him a thermal lake and muddied path in the shadow of a massive black-rock volcano, with fire and molten rock writhing at its apex. Black smoke choked the light from the sky. The path was lit by spelled stones, offering dim patches of a ...

Tenele nodded. “Yes. It is safer if he only has one master.” Tenara stood slowly and went to the window, standing close to Ren as she looked out to see her father speaking to the others. “Is someone going with them? Aunt Lelana?” Tenara didn’t want them to go at all, but after what had happened, she ...

“It is a dark, fortified school of sorts. It is where Arken sends its talents to learn how to harm—sorcerers, witches, poison masters, and…” Tenele looked around the room, and with a great amount of disdain said, “weapons makers.” Tenara arched a brow, wondering if her mother had deduced, somehow, wh ...

“Depart?” Tenara asked, frowning. Tenele hesitated, looking her daughter over. There was this awful sadness in her eyes. Then, her gaze slid to Ren, and the sadness melted away a bit. “Don’t worry too much. It’s a straightforward trip. Laurius knows where the witches might have taken the spellbook, a ...

Tenara nodded, bracing herself up with one hand and rubbing her eyes with the other. “I feel less like a bag of bricks,” she replied, looking around the room curiously. “I thought I had dreamed we came back. Or is this the dream?” Her mother approached, sitting near her feet. She rested her hand on T ...

Lelana nodded. “As ready as they’ll get. I gave them an extra peptalk,” she said, but knowing Lelana the peptalk had likely been less than inspiring. “She was very descriptive about what would happen should we fail or decide not to come back,” Laurius said, admiring the sword she had given him and it ...

Tenele nodded, her hands settling on his arms gently, as if she could press down his rage to keep it from burning the room, “I know.” There was no avoiding it now. She was taken not once, but twice by the same kingdom—no matter their reasons or if one party acted without the other’s knowledge. If the ...

Lelana’s angry grinding eased. The sound of the pestle resting against the rim as she dropped it and placed it on the table felt like a gong. She hesitated, meeting Tenele’s eyes. “The Arken brat,” Lelana said, her throat dry. “As for his accomplices, I don’t know.” Tenele shifted towards her husband ...

Lelana’s gaze snapped from the sword to Ren, sharp and quick as a dagger slice. Then, her gaze shifted slowly to where Vlad was, because she had not been able to tell if the vampire had retained Laurius Marr’s confession to his alter ego. A bud of nagging guilt turned her stomach sour, because she co ...

Lelana took the vial from him and went back to the table. “Hold her hand until her mother returns,” she instructed the being. Lelana took the blood and poured it over the red ribbon she had stretched across the table, whispering a hellish chant as she did. She saturated the ribbon and took the sword, ...

“Who?” Lelana asked, not connecting Thvoros to Havitharon until a moment later. She shrugged as she angled the point of the blade toward Tenara’s palm again, now that she had some vague awareness of what was happening. “They have a common goal. If the merchant wants you back, he has to be nice to Thv ...

Lelana angled her eyes on the being. “I need to bind her to the sword so that, if it is to ever fall into someone else’s bands, it will obey only her,” she said, uncertain why she was explaining it to him. “Her mother will fix it when she returns.” Then she turned to Tenara and went to draw her dagge ...