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They had cut off his head

But Kaetien’s dark eyes still held a fiery intelligence

Saetan’s stomach rolled

Kaetien was demon-dead in thatagainst the open belly Tears trickled fro eyes Her white-knuckled hands rapped around Kaetien’s horn

Saetan sank to his knees beside her "Witch-child?" he whispered

Recognition came slowly "Papa? P-Papa?" She threw herself into his ar Kaetien’s horn scraped his back as she clung to him

"Oh, witch-child" While he and the others had been searching for survivors, she’d been sitting there all day, locked in her pain

"May the Darkness be merciful," said a voice behind hi every th that could do what he could not

Lucivar stared at Kaetien’s head and shook hi place on spear threads, but he was too tired to make sense out of them

Lucivar dropped to one knee, took a handful of Jaenelle’s blood-ently pulled her head away from Saetan’s shoulder "Come on, Cat You’ll feel better once you’ve had a sip of this" He pressed a large silver flask against her mouth

She choked and sputtered when the liquid went down her throat

"This time s it," Lucivar said "This stuff does less hars"

"This stuff will ive her?" Saetan deed in his arms

"A healthy dose of Khary’s hoainst Lucivar’s chest He concentrated on breathing for a h for this I’ on Sun-dancer’s coirls will take care of Cat A few minutes more and you can rest"

Rest Yes, he needed rest The headache that was threatening to tear his skull apart was gaining in intensity with" every breath

Someone took Jaenelle out of his ar hands kept hi he knew, he was sitting in the ca him to drink the witch’s brew she’da second cup, he sub bag He snarled a bit at being fussed over until Karla tartly asked how he expected the such a bad exa an answer for that, he surrendered to the brew-dulled headache and slept

Lucivar sipped laced coffee and watched Gabrielle and Morghann lead Jaenelle to a sleeping bag She stopped, ignoring their coaxing to lie down and rest Her eyes lost their dull, half-dazed look as her attention focused on Mistral hovering at the edge of the ca

Lucivar felt very thankful that the cold, dangerous fire in her eyes wasn’t directed at hi been tended?" Jaenelle asked in herstallion

Mistral snorted and fidgeted He obviously didn’t want to admit he hadn’t allowed anyone to touch hiet," Gabrielle said soothingly " ’I’m fine, I’m fine, tend the others first’ We were just about to take care of him when you and Uncle Saetan came in"

"I see," Jaenelle said softly, her eyes still pinning Mistral to the ground "I thought, perhaps, because they were hu to let thehann said "Now, coot her tucked in, they descended on Mistral

It would be all right, Lucivar thought dully It had to be all right The unicorns and the other kindred wouldn’t lose all their trust in huain behind the veils of power that had closed them off from the rest of Kaeleer Cat would see to that And Saetan

Hell’s fire Until today, he hadn’t given ht to the differences between a Guardian and the living At the Hall, those differences see sun would cause so h Lord had walked the Realms Oh, hekne old Saetan was, but today was the first time his father had see pretty beaten physically and emotionally, so it wasn’t much of a yardstick to measure by

Khary squatted beside him and splashed some of the home brew into the already heavily laced coffee "There’s so our four-footed Brothers," he said quietly "So more than that" He waved a hand at the still, white bodies lying within sight

The unicorns hadn’t cared what happened to the human bodies--except to insist that the intruders not remain in their land--but they had been vehe them to the land, they had said Whatever that meant

But as the woundedhill, the surviving stallions had becoht know," Lucivar said, sipping his coffee He sent out a quiet summons A few minutes later, the Sceltie trotted wearily into the ca," Ladvarian said when Lucivar asked hi to be the next Queen She wears an Opal Jewel One of the mares said she saw humans throw ropes and nets around Moonshadow, but she didn’t see where they went" Lucivar closed his eyes From what he could tell, all of the Blood hter Jewels, but enough of them with spelled nets and ropes could control an Opal-Jeweled Queen Were the spelled nets preventing her fro to the others, or had she been taken off the island altogether?