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He held her, giving what co defiant looks at the rest, offered to look after Mari, he let her go, sincerely hoping he’d never have to deal with landens again

He found Jaenelle a few steps outside the village boundary, curled up into a tight ball,desperate little sounds

He dropped to his knees and cradled her in his arms

"I didn’t want to kill," she wailed "That’s not what the Craft is for That’s not whatmy Craft is for"

"I know, Cat," Lucivar murmured "I know"

"I could have put a shield around theio That’s what I e just boiled out of me when KhevinI could feel theirto hurt I couldn’t stop the anger I couldn’tstop it"

"It’s the drugs, Cat The da time, especially in a situation like this"

"I don’t like killing I’d rather be hurt than hurt soue with her He was too exhausted and her emotions were too raw Nor did he point out that she’d reacted to a friend’s pain and death What she couldn’t, or wouldn’t, do for her own sake she would do for someone she cared for

"Lucivar?" Jaenelle said plaintively "I want a bath"

That was just one of the things he wanted "Let’s go home, Cat"

11 / Terreille

Dorothea SaDiablo sank into a chair and stared at her unexpected guest "Here? You want to stayher?" Had the bitch looked into a mirror lately? Hoas she supposed to explain a desiccated walking corpse that looked like it had just crawled out of an old grave? "Not here in your precious court," Hekatah replied, her fleshless lips curling in a snarl "And I’ you that I’ Always telling Always reh Priestess of Hayll without Hekatah’s guidance and subtle backing, without Hekatah pointing out the rivals who had too h Priestess as so strong even the Queens yielded to her

Well, shewas the High Priestess of Hayll, and after centuries of twisting and savaging , there were no dark-Jeweled Queens left in Terreille There were no Queens, no Black Widows, no other Priestesses equal to her Red Jewel In some of the smaller, more stubborn Territories, there were no Jeweled Blood at all Within another five years, she would succeed where Hekatah had failed--she would bethe High Priestess of Terreille, feared and revered by the entire Real very special planned for her mentor and adviser

Dorothea settled back in her chair and suppressed a sht have a use Sadi was still out there soh she hadn’t felt his presence in quite some time, every time she opened a door, she expected to find hi for her But if a Red-Jeweled Black Widow High Priestess was staying at the country lodge she kept for s, and if he happened to beco there quietlywell, her psychic scent peruish between the scent of the place and the occupant’s psychic scent It would be a sha, but she really didn’t think there would be anything left of it by the ti left of Hekatah, either

Dorothea tucked a loose strand of black hair back into the si my permission, Sister," she purred "When have you everasked ?"

"Reet," Dorothea replied sweetly "I have a lodge in the country, about an hour’s carriage ride fro You’re welco as you please The staff is very well-trained, so I do ask that you not make afeasts" Frowning at a fingernail, she called in a nail file and sain Finally satisfied, she vanished the nail file and smiled at Hekatah "Of course, if , you can always return to Hell"

Greedy, ungrateful bitch

Hekatah opaqued another mirror Even that little bit of Craft was almost too much

This wasn’t the way she’d planned to return to Hayll, hidden away like so relative dispatched to some out-of-the-way property with no one but hard-faced servants for coth returned

Hekatah shook her head The a for a servant to co on the fire, then dis up into an old, stuffed chair, she stared at the wood being embraced and consumed by the flames

Consumed just like all her pretty plans

First the fiasco with the girl If that was the best Jorval could do, she was going to have to rethink his usefulness

Then the Eyrien ed to escape her trap and destroy all those lovely Jhinka that she’d cultivated so carefully And the backlash of power that had coh her witch storm had donethis to her

And last, but far froe of the Dark Realm There was no safe haven in Hell now, and no one,no one to serve her -

So, for now, she had to accept Dorothea’s sneering hospitality, had to accept handouts instead of the tribute that was her due