Heirot

Havi wanted to ask what a demon was, but his next question caught him unguarded. "I swore not to let my existence bring danger into her life, and yet it has. I have failed to protect her, and I do not know if I can properly Love her. If I stay, I could prevent her from finding what she needs. I ...

*Yes,* he answered her softly. *This...is me now. I apologize that it's not something more practical.* He rubbed absently at the scarred-over tattoo on his hand. Compared to a sword that could imbue her with the skills to fight any threat, a piece of jewelry was hardly useful. Across the yard, Vlad ...

Havi steadied himself from the dizzying journey and tried to get his bearings. It had been dawn at Laurius's estate, but here, the choked sky felt like dusk. He could smell sulfur on the air. He thought he spied something colorful on the ground, so he stepped toward it, only to have Vlad's hand on ...

In the window, Ren noticed Laurius's wave. He perked up, touching the glass uncertainly. Vlad put a hand on his hip and observed his daughter's condemned companions. He didn't have all the details, as usual, of the time when his soul was merged with Atul's. But if they'd become that angry, he had to ...

Ren looked back out the window again. "That is why you modified the sword," he muttered. "Because that place is full of people who will want to control it... and the person who discovered how to make it." __ "If it's a glimpse you need, just take it. That guy's been staring out the window like an ...

Ren met Tenara's questioning gaze with a worried one. "They both seemed well enough," he offered, but there was reluctance in his tone. "What kind of place is this Citadel?" He directed the question to Tenele, but he'd take any answer he could get. ____________ Vlad didn't look even slightly ...

Ren touched the edge of Tenara's blanket tenderly. He had no idea how much the princess had been awake for yesterday... be it the damage to the sword, Thvoros's banishment, or the terrible ritual he'd played a part in. "Laurius and Thvoros are both in good health. They will depart shortly to ...

Ren glanced back at Tenara, his expression drawn. He thought he'd heard her sheets rustle and wasn't surprised to spot her awake. "Princess," he breathed, tearing himself away from the window. He knelt beside the couch she was using as a bed. "You're awake... how do you feel?" ___________ "That is ...

Vlad didn't look at all satisfied with leaving the retribution to others, but the tremor in his wife's grip tamed his impulses. "You are both not wrong," he acknowledged stiffly. "Thank you for seeing to things, Lelana. Let's all get some rest." His gleaming eyes paused as they caught on Artisuren ...

Vlad was standing now. His anger rolled from him like steam from a pot. He cast gleaming eyes on Ren. "Did he suffer?" Ren looked a bit like a rabbit caught in a cobra's glare, but satisfied darkness still climbed into his voice as he said "Greatly." The vampire sneered at this meager comfort. "This ...

Vlad had been silently watching his sister work. Taking Tenele's blood had returned his energy, but his daughter's state had him uncharacteristically subdued. That was, until he realized what Lelana and Spiky II were talking about. He stiffened in his chair and stared at his sister in law. "Who?" he ...

Havi shivered awake. He'd felt something strange pass through him, a familiar heat, but then the sense of female authority at the other side of the connection faded. *Tenara?* he asked curiously into the ether. He felt somehow sure she wasn't holding him, but there was an odd sense of her there ...

Ren tilted the vial carefully against Tenara's hand. The Yurivis's hiss of pain, and his participation in it, sent shame and horror twisting through him. He watched Tenara's lifeblood gather in the glass and was grateful he'd already emptied his stomach outside. And in the midst of that sin, he was ...

Ren's hand twitched around the vial. "Laurius won't be able to control him?" he asked. It sounded more like a plea than a challenge, but his complexion had gone stone-gray. "What if Thvoros turns on him?" The memory of Laurius gored and bleeding out on the floor was still only hours old.

Ren was seated next to Tenara's bed, looking every bit like an uneasy canine would beside its unconscious owner. "What are you doing?" he asked urgently when Lelana approached her with the knife. His head pounded as he wondered how much to confront her.