Page 39 (1/2)

Karla sniffed "You don’t think ood either"

Dujae flipped to the last sketch "What is this?" he deer

Karla pulled her shoulders back and narrowed her eyes

Saetan stifled a groan and held on tighter

"It’s a vase," she said coolly

"Vase Bah!" Dujae ripped the page from the pad, crumpled it, and threw it over his shoulder He pointed at Karla

Did Dujae realize just how close his finger was to Karla’s teeth?

"You are a Queen, yes?" Dujae continued to roar "You do this for fun when you are finished with the hard lessons of your Craft, yes? You do this because Ladies ood Queens, yes? You do not s" He scrunched up his shoulders, scrunched up his face, tucked his wrist under his chin, andmotions "Bah!" He pulled Karla out of Saetan’s aran e, circular motions "There is fire in your heart, yes? That fire needs charcoal and a large pad to express itself Then when you want to draw a vase, you draw a vase"

"B-but--" Karla sta her hand sweep round and round

"That vase you try to draw, that is soood Then you drawyour

vase,the one that reveals the fire, the one that says I am a" witch, I am a Queen, I am--" Dujae finally hesitated

"Karla," she saidon?" Jaenelle asked from the doorway Gabrielle stood beside her

Saetan settled on the corner of his desk and crossed his ars were about to do

Seeing the other girls, Dujae released Karla and stepped back

"Do we have any charcoal?" Karla asked, wiping her eyes

"We have some, but Lord Stuffy says charcoal is messy and not the proper medium for Ladies," Gabrielle said tartly

Saetan stared at Gabrielle and wondered what sort of idiot he’d hired as an art instructor

Then he felt the blood rush out of his head He gripped the desk, willing himself not to faint He’d never fainted This would be a very bad tiirls around thele of power Karla, Gabrielle, Jaenelle Three strong Queens ere also natural Black Widows

May the Darkness beor anyone --or build anything they wanted

"High Lord?"

Saetan blinked He took a deep breath His lungs still worked, sort of Finally sure he wasn’t going to keel over, he looked around Dujae was the only one left in the room

Dujae twisted his cap "I did not mean to interfere"

"Too late now," Saetan muttered

Three blond heads appeared at the study door

"Hey," Karla said "We’ve got the charcoal and large sketch pads Aren’t you co?"

Dujae continued to twist his cap "I cannot, Ladies"

"Why not?" Jaenelle asked as the three of thely at Saetan, who refused to look at anything but the point of his shoe

"I--I am Dujae, Lady"

Jaenelle looked pleased "You paintedDescent into Hell"

Dujae’s eyes widened

"Why can’t you give us drawing lessons?" Gabrielle said

"I am a demon"

Silence

Karla cocked a hip and crossed her ar has to be taught in the daytime? Besides, the sun’s up now and you’re here"

"That’s because the Hall retains enough dark power so that sunlight doesn’t bother the demon-dead when they’re inside," Jaenelle said

"So that’s not a proble the daylight hours, candle-lights or balls of witch light would h to work in," Gabrielle said

Dujae looked helplessly at Saetan Saetan studied his other shoe