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Jamys inclined his head

"You are your father’s son, my lord" He offered one of his rare sht is yours What would you have of us?"

Ja a boon to the last warrior left standing It was the primary reason he had come to the circle

"He doesn’t want my nose," Tien joked, and then winced as Coyan cuffed the back of his head "Well, he doesn’t"

"I would train with you," Ja care with each word "For battle, and command"

"Aye, my lord We can prepare you for battle, aye" Coyan’s eyes shifted toward the house "But command is the realm of the master"

"Glad I am to hear it" A massive form separated from a shadowed corner, and the warriors ht fro torches traced the scowl that littered in the black slits of his eyes Before he reached the ring, the power he shed, which s burned, blotted out every other scent in the air

Jamys remained in the circle until his father took Coyan’s place Only when Thierry folded his ar, Father"

"Is that what it is?" The suzerain inspected the ducked heads of his garrison "I am of a rather different opinion"

Tien stepped forward "The boy caht well prepared, Master His aric He bested me in the space of ten heartbeats"

"I counted five," another brave soul arrison, divested Tien of his sword in less than a blink "Copper on steel"

Coyan shuffled his feet "We fight with only the weapons that can harm us, my lord"

"Indeed" The suzerain eyed Tien "And if you had thrust careless, Etienne, and cut off hts like one," Tien had the nerve to say

"Is this so?" Thierry looked ready to kill the swordsht boon fro my only child? The Brethren never did"

"No need," Jamys said before Tien could answer "They had it froer in Thierry’s eyes proved too much for Jamys to bear; he strode to the armory to return his sword to the weaponsthe servants on his way to the curving staircase that led to his chambers in the north tower

He didn’t notice the scent of ripe apples until he encountered the petite brunette sitting on the bottoether

"I tried to keep hiured it out"

That his stepuessed his intentions and tried to help hiaze She also carried the sareedy, murderous mother, so she understood what his father could not

"I could talk to hi to kiss her cheek before he climbed the stairs

The top two floors of the tower had been designed as living space independent of the main house, and provided all the physical co countryside Jas to createthe day he took his rest on the low, simple bed that occupied the lower floor, where custoht from the room

The top floor served as his private retreat, the one place in the stronghold where he felt completely at ease Here he had installed a coh lately he had been interested only in researching those areas of Aned to a lord paraees fleeing froun to dwindle rapidly In less than a year there would be only deserts and wastelands left unclaimed