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TheFound that rogues’ nest for you"

"Found it empty," Krelis snapped "If it hadn’t taken youthree days to pick up the trail, it would have been stuffed with prey"

"Wouldn’t have ued "Itold you what those protection spells were like"

"Yes, you toldsure the man understood he hadn’t believed half of what he’d been told "But you didn’t have to take the risk You didn’t have to flush thee to uards to take care of theuards to do the hunting," thethee burned Krelis

Doubts and fear froze hi posts, he snatched the knotted, triple-tailed whip froh the air Struck Cut deep

"Beg for ain "Beg for Hayll’s o"

The ed, pleaded

Deaf to all of it, Krelis let his anger sing through the whip

Long after the , Krelis finally dropped the whip and turned away

Eyeing him warily, Lord Maryk stepped forward "What should we do with that?"

Krelis didn’t look back at the mess that had once been a man "Castrate him and break him," he said harshly "Then let the slave Healer see what she can do If he lives, work hi the need to run

Once he was safely inside his office, he closed the shutters on the s that overlooked the courtyard and pulled a bottle and glass froe brandy, downed it, and poured another By the third glass, he felt like he could take a steady breath

Turning, he stared at the two brass buttons that sat in the center of his desk

Deceitful, Gray-Jeweled bitch Deceitful, cowardly bitch to hide within the borders of her Territory It was one thing to be up against the Gray Lady’s cunning; it was quite another to have so a fool of him He should have had her by now It would have beenfinished by now if the little bitch had shown so she’d done was continue to head northwest toward the Tamanara Mountains, and even then her choices had no rhyme or reason She was either very smart or very stupid Either way, it shamed him that she’d eluded him so far

Unless someone else was behind this

Like that Shalador Warlord

No The man had spent the past nine years as a pleasure slaveHe wouldn’t have many useful skills outside the bedroo to be a warrior, a guard

He would show everyone, including the older guards who still had doubts about his ability to co Master of the Guard by bringing the Gray Lady to her knees

Except Dorothea wasn’t helping, which was so he hadn’t calculated on and didn’t dare point out Perhaps it was better to say she was helping too much That trap she’d convinced another Black Widow to set at the creek hadn’t done anything except spoil a good aold marks and promised favors would keep etting caught in so he could do about Dorothea, but that little bitch-witch

She was threatening all his plans, all his dreams What made these puny, flash-in-the-pan races think they could be anything but Hayll’s servants? The Green-Jeweled bitch ht see a hundred years He could reach five thousand Who was she to snuff out his aer-snap of time while he would reap the rewards or suffer the disappoint so close to her, Dorothea had the power and the vision to rule the entire Realm of Terreille Hell’s fire, almost half the Realm already stood in Hayll’s shadow And all those Territories would eventually need overseers to rereatness and ensure that they remained loyal

When the time came, why shouldn’t he be one of them? Why shouldn’t he receive the wealth of a Territory’s tithes and the power that was the right of those who ruled?

And with that influence, why shouldn’t he have a light-Jeweled witch for a wife, one ould be so grateful for the safety he offered that she’d submit to his wishes, in bed and out? Why shouldn’t his children serve in important positions in a court?

Lady Arabella Ardelia threatened all of itAll of it

Krelis carefully set the glass on the desk

He would find her He would bring her back to Hayll He would teach her how to serve like a good little witch

Just like he’d taught that other little bitch-Queen