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Weary, Surreal leaned against the wall "What are you going to do?"

Daeet Lucivar out of Pruul"

4 / Kaeleer

Saetan appeared on the s web carved into the stone floor of one of the Keep’s many outer courtyards As he stepped off the web, he looked up

Unless one knehat to look for, one only saw the black ht of all that dark stone But Ebon Askavi was also the Keep, the Sanctuary of Witch, the repository of the Blood’s long, long history A place well and fiercely guarded The perfect place for a secret

Daht bitterly as he slowly crossed the courtyard, leaning heavily on his caneDamn her and her schemes for power Greedy, malicious bitch He’d stayed his hand in the past because he felt he owed her so his first two sons But that debt had been paid More than paid This time, he would sacrifice his honor, his self-respect, and anything else he had to if that was the price he had to pay to stop her

"Saetan"

Geoffrey, the Keep’s historian/librarian, stepped from the shadow of the doorway As always, he was neatly dressed in a slim black tunic and trousers and bare of any orna As always, his black hair was carefully co a person’s eyes to the prominent ’s peak But his black eyes looked like shly polished stone

As Saetan walked toward him, the vertical line between Geoffrey’s black eyebrows deepened "Colass of yarbarah with me," Geoffrey said

Saetan shook his head "Later perhaps"

Geoffrey’s eyebrows pulled down farther, echoing his ’s peak "Anger has no place in a sickroom Especially now Especially yours"

The two Guardians studied each other Saetan looked away first

Once they were settled into colass of the blood wine for each of thee blackwood table that dominated the room It was usually piled with history, Craft, and reference books Geoffrey had pulled from the stacks--books the two men had searched for touchstones to understand Jaenelle’s casual but stunning remarks and her sometimes quirky but awesome abilities Noas empty And the emptiness hurt

"Have you no hope, Geoffrey?" Saetan asked quietly

"What?" Geoffrey glanced at the table, then looked away "I neededoccupation Sitting there, each book was a relass and reached for his cane

Geoffrey walked with hiht, hesitant touch and turned back

"Saetando you still hope?"

Saetan considered the question for a long ive "I have to"

Cassandra closed her book, rolled her shoulders wearily, and scrubbed her face with her hands "There’s no change She hasn’t risen out of the abyss--or wherever it is she’s fallen And the longer she remains beyond the reach of anotherher back"

Saetan studied the woo when Cassandra had been Witch, the Black-Jeweled Queen, he had been her Consort and had loved her And she, in her oay, had cared for hi to the Darkness and walked aearing Black Jewels After that, it wasof skills--his in the bed for hers in the Black Widow’s Craft--until she faked her own death and became a Guardian She had played her deathbed scene so well, and his faith in her as a Queen had been so solid, it had never occurred to hiet away froain

But as he put his ar her comfort, he felt that inner withdrawal, that suppressed shudder of fear She never forgot he walked dark roads that even she dared not travel, never forgot that the Dark Realh Lord while he still had been fully alive

Saetan kissed Cassandra’s forehead and stepped away "Get soently "I’ll sit with her"

Cassandra looked at hilanced at the bed, and shook her head "Not even you can ile girl lying in a sea of black silk sheets "I know"

As Cassandra closed the door behind her, he wondered if, despite the terrible cost, she derived some small satisfaction from that fact

He shook his head to clear his hed He wished the roos to break up the long walls of polished black stone He wished there was a young girl’s clutter scattered on the blackwood furniture He wished for so much

But these roohtmare at Cassandra’s Altar Jaenelle hadn’t had the chance to imprint them with her psychic scent and make them her own Even the small treasures she’d left here hadn’t been lived with enough, handled enough to make them truly hers There was no familiar anchor here for her to reach for as she tried to climb out of the abyss that was part of the Darkness

Except hiently brushed the lank golden hair away fro, but slowly, because there was no one inside to help it hter of his soul, was lost in the Darkness--or in the inner landscape called the Twisted Kingdom Beyond his reach

But not, he hoped, beyond his love

With his hand resting on her head, Saetan closed his eyes and made the inner descent to the level of the Black Jewels Slowly, carefully, he continued doard until he could go no further Then he released his words into the abyss, as he had done for the past three weeks