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One part of hih--the part that had learned the Warlord’s code of honor from his father, the part that had been raised to serve the distaff gender But another part, a savage part that he hadn’t known existed, had howled in triuer inside hies of his er, even feared its presenceIt wasn’thiery one et hoh to see hisAfter that

There was no point thinking there would be anything after that But it would be enoughHad to be enough

Which ht Toin The witches who carounds acco the pens would be too edgy, too quick to react toanything a slave did

So tonight he would find a way to get close enough to the official landing place outside the fairgrounds and catch one of the Winds, those webs of psychic roadways that allowed the Blood to travel through the Darkness He would catch one and ride it all the way back to Ranon’s Wood

The decision made, Jared watched the sun set and the quarter ht about his mother, his father and brothers, his homeand the boy he used to be

Chapter Two

Krelis closed the siven him, then used Craft to vanish it

All the plans werein the Master’s officethat housed theFirst Circleguards and began walking aimlessly across the practice fields

Thank the Darkness Dorothea hadn’t deht While his bloodlines could be traced to two of Hayll’s Hundred Families, his farown up in a slittering aristo society thatone of these functions could watch the seductions and the gaed conversations, could observe the dance of wealth and poithout having to participate But the Master of the Guard was one of the three most important males in a court, and, when required, he was expected to socialize with the people who gathered around his Lady He was expected to talk with the other h not to give offense, without flirting sothe woh a couple of se tonight

Leaving the practice fields, Krelis followed a bridle path until he reached a s on a stone bench near the pool, he watched the still water

Either the forantly foolish or he’d turned traitor That was the only way Krelis could explain the failed attack on the Gray Lady when she was returning to Dena Nehele after the spring auction at Raej

It wasn’t strange that the Master hadn’t led the attack Along with the Steward and the Consort, the Master seldo his Lady His duties were no longer in the field But one of those duties was to choose the right nhter-Jeweled,Fifth Circleguards and a small band of marauders to destroy a Gray-Jeweled Queen and the escort waiting for her at the Coach station There had been no time to overwhelm the escort before the Gray bitch’s arrival There had been no backup force to attack her if she tried to escape on the Winds There had been nothing

Only one of those lighter-Jeweled Hayllian guards had returned to report the failure

One was all Dorothea had needed

Well, he hadn’tat the Coach stations the Gray Lady would most likely use on her return fro for her and send awith carefully selected, experienced First andSecond Circleguards, would arrive at the station just ahead of the Gray Lady to finish the kill If that ambush wasn’t completely successful, and Maryk and the men were killed, he still had a way to keep track of the bitch and leave a trail the marauder bands could follow The hunt would continue until the Gray Lady was destroyed

Krelis fingered the Master’s badge on his left shoulder

With the spells Dorothea had woven for hierous rival That would prove to the aristo bastards in the First and Second Circles that he wasn’t soained a coveted position in the court by using his cock

Of course, he didn’t know any oals

It hadn’t always been like that