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Dorothea began her slow, hip-swaying pacing "How long?"

Krelis sed carefully, keeping his eyes away fro "A couple of days, Priestess, before I’ll be able to hand the Gray Lady’s bitch into your keeping"

"A couple of days," Dorothea ht a flash of amusement in her eyes He held his breath and waited By to he’d been overseeing would look like that quivering thing His pet’s infor Krelis wasn’t going to forget when he got to Ranon’s Wood

"A couple of days," Dorotheaat the table, she selected a knife and looked at the quivering thing

It whimpered Tried to shift its position

Dorothea put the knife down and approached Krelis "This has been a difficult ti?" she said as she stroked his cheek "And I do understand hoearing it can be when a person’s concentration is split between business and family Since you’ve obviously taken my incentives to heart, I’ll tell you what I’ll do Your cousin and protégé will remain confined but untouched We’ll discuss their future upon your return"

Krelis turned his face just enough to kiss her palm "Thank you, Priestess" When she lifted her hand, he stepped back and bowed low "If you’ll excuse reat deal to do"

"Of course"

He took a step toward the door Stopped Turned back Cutting off his ability to feel anything, he carefully studied the thing that had been a man

Dorothea eyed him curiously "Is there a problem Lord Krelis?"

Krelis’s lips curved in a small smile "My pet has not fulfilled his duties satisfactorily and will, I fear, require discipline"

Dorothea’s eyes filled with glittering pleasure "Yes, fear is always a useful tool So your predecessor didn’t understand"

Krelis almost reached the door when she added quietly, "But then,he was an honorable ers of whiskey into his glass Raising it to eye level, he studied it

A liquid cloak to cover the heart and protect it frorief at bay

He turned away frohts If he kept his mind harnessed to practical ht now, he couldn’t afford to think

"Jared" Yarek sipped his whiskey, hesitated

Jared leaned back and waited He and Yarek were the only ones left in the inn’s dining rooone for a walk after the midday meal He suspected Lia needed a little tie was trying so hard to keep reined in He’d seen the hunger in the males’ eyes, the relief in the witches‘ And he’d seen the way Lia had quietly accepted and eaten the full bowl of stew that had been placed before her--theonly full bowl that had been served She hadn’t sha the food offered, hadn’t denied the a Queen

She must have choked on everyher, but she never showed it

Sitting beside her, his heart had swelled with prideand sos Having been a pleasure slave--having his self so divided and debased--made it impossible for him to have what he wanted most

But he would love her for the rest of his life

"Jared," Yarek said again

Jared pulled his attention back to his uncle "What is it?"

Yarek cleared his throat Took another sip of whiskey "The witchlingthe Lady She’s got a kind heart, but"

"If she says there’s a place for all of you in Dena Nehele, then there is," Jared replied

"A land can only give so much, can only hold so many before the scales tip and we take too much"

"I think Dena Nehele can absorb a hundred of Shalador’s own" A hundred survivors out of two thriving villages Jared took another shiskey

"More andover the mountains," Yarek said worriedly "Plenty of them settle in the other Territories, but--"

Jared laid a hand over Yarek’s "You were the one who always told me not to plant troubles where there aren’t any"

"Suppose I did"

"So Dena Nehele will gain Shalador’s best and be better for it"

Naked grief filled Yarek’s eyes before he looked away

Jared leaned back, unable to offer any words of coile control

Shalador’s best would never leave Shalador--unless they found their way to the Dark Realm The war had seen to that

"The Coaches are intact?" Yarek asked after a ed to the destroyed Coach station hadn’t been daured out how they were going to fit everyone who couldn’t ride the Winds on their own into two Coaches that comfortably held thirty people between them And he didn’t knoould handle them The three Warlord brothers who had run the Coach station hadn’t survived the attack, and no one else had the training