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Lyon glanced across the room "Shaman?"

The Shaer than fifteen "I knew soined this" He rose and walked toward theand Ariana slowly, cautiously

Ariana watched him approach with equal wariness

The Shaman, little taller than Ariana, stopped just shy of arm’s reach in front of her and held his hands out as if she were a fire he meant to warm the, but the Sha up a few steps, heher away froan to circle her, his hands still up as if warding off a blow

The Shaic An abundance of it, thick and powerful, yet it doesn’t see her" He opened his eyes and stared at her "How long have you held it like this?"

Ariana glanced at Kougar, her stance open as if she prepared to defend herself, her gaze wary She clenched her jaw, turning back to the Shaman as he continued to circle her slowly, his face a h it’s grown stronger in the past couple of years"

The Shaic If I had to hazard a guess, I would say the change occurred when your sorcerer lost his soul and acquired that dark ic is connected to you, and it seeer"

The Shaman’s mouth pursed, and he turned abruptly to Brielle "Now you" With a flick of his hand, he ar quickly intervened, not wanting Brielle anywhere near Ariana

"No, Shaar reached Ariana, cla to take any more chances that Brielle would whisk her away before he could stop her

Ariana threw hiht him

The Shaman’s examination of Brielle took less than a

"Tell " He lowered hiht

At first, Ariana said nothing, her stance guarded and defensive But the Shaaze ar’s, then slowly returned to him

"At first only a couple of ht it was only a couple I thought they’d come in contact with dark spirit Those infected turned fro their pain They attacked hu for days, possibly weeks, before they died Those residing in the corporeal world showed the syh I didn’t know it at the time But the deaths ca, more than half my maidens were in their death throes"

"They attacked only huar had called her to the battlefield that day after several of her maidens had attacked his shifters "I returned to the Crystal Realns of the darkness Brielle was the first to suspect it was a Mage attack, and as soon as she said the words, I knew she was right Every few days for weeks I’d drea before me, one with an oddly shaped pupil I called him Hookeye, and I believe he’s the one who attacked us"

She glanced at Kougar, and in her eyes he gli All were infected I didn’t think, I si the poison into me instead of them And it worked At first Until I took too much The moment I turned to mist, the poison rushed back into them Several dozen ar heard the anguish in her words, the fear that it was all going to happen again, and he felt the edges of his anger soften Listening to her tell the tale, he could see it all happening He could feel her terror, her confusion He’d known the Ilinas were in trouble that day; but as always, she’d insisted on handling the situation on her own And when the worst had happened, she’d shut hi bond? That was the part he couldn’t understand Why hadn’t she at least told him what had happened? Why had she made him believe she was dead?

The Shaman’s expression softened with compassion "It’s a ic to save as er saved"

Beneath his fingers, he felt her tre him of the powerful need he’d once felt to protect her A need that wasn’t entirely gone

"Hookeye knows I’ar, their gazes clashing briefly before she turned toward the front of the war roo rooar had reain

"He won’t be able to reach you" Kougar’s grip on her tightened protectively "Not here"

"It’s not the man I’m worried about It’s his poison And he can absolutely reach me here He can reach me anywhere"

"Shaman?" Lyon asked

"I have to concur," the Shaman said "It appears to me that your hook-eyed sorcerer snared you with a connector spell Extraordinary, really"

"What’s a connector spell?" Jag asked

"Think of it as a valve inserted into thebond A valve controlled by the creator Anytime he wishes, he can open that valve and puh she didn’tbond?" He felt as if he’d been lashed to a rack and was being slowly pulled apart as he struggled to make sense of that day, of why she’d turned her back on hi they’d e’s connection, Ariana? To keep hi aze falling to the floor, the air thickening with tension around her

"The bond was only severed on your end, Kougar, not hers," Brielle said, earning a sharp look from her queen "She was still connected to the source of the poison Hookeye could have attacked her anyhich hy it was so iht ere extinct Ariana is barely holding on to the poison she has Melisande reconnected the bond a few days ago because"

"Brielle" The nah clenched teeth

Hell, the poison

Brielle turned to Ariana, then back to hiainst her waist "I’ar Ariana didn’t know I tried to talk Mel out of reconnecting it, but Ariana’s been struggling so much, and Mel hoped you could ease her burden"

"Is she saying what I think she’s saying?" Lyon demanded "That poison?"

The Shaman nodded "Was Melisande aware that the poison would kill Kougar?" he asked Brielle quietly

Kougar heard the words as if from a distance