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"You’re demon-dead I’m aware of that"

"That doesn’t bother you?"

"Why should it?" She saw a heat in Talon’s eyes A hunger That was a danger with having one of the de "Prince Theran, would you bring in a bottle of yarbarah? I’lass"

"A bottle of what?" Theran asked

Cassidy frowned at Theran "Yarbarah The blood wine"

Blank expression And Talon’s expression was equally blank

Hell’s fire, Mother Night, and may the Darkness be e?" Cassidy asked Talon

"Can’t say I’ve heard of it," he replied warily

"Well, then" What had he been consu if he didn’t know about yarbarah?

Best not to think about that because she was certain that whatever had been given had not been given according to the Protocol and rituals that had been created for transactions between the living and the demon-dead

She called in the sih Lord had given her when she’d finished her apprenticeship in the Dark Court Pressing the two spots on the sides to release the latches, she re the small silver cup and silver-handled knife She set the cup on the table, pushed up her left sleeve, and, before anyone knew for certain what she intended, picked up the knife and opened a vein in her wrist

A wash of sounds and protests was drowned out by the snarl of a Sceltie who knew her Craft

Stay! Vae growled This is ceremony!

Ceremony Ritual Sometimes formal, sometimes casual, but always, always precise in the intention

As soon as the cup was filled, she turned the blade of the knife flat against her wrist, hiding the wound as she used the Healing Craft she’d been taught to seal this kind of cut

Setting the knife on the table, she held out the cup to Talon "Freely offered," she said, knowing every man in the room would remember the words "Freely taken"

Talon hesitated, then took the cup, his hunger apparent in his face "You honor me, Lady"

Ts That was all the cup held But blood freely offered had a different flavor fronized the difference, even if he wasn’t quite sure of the reason

He set the cup on the table with great care

"Is that dog going to bite me if I heal your wrist?" Shira asked

In answer, Cassidy held out her wrist, all the permission her Healer needed

As soon as Shira finished the healing, Cassidy vanished the cup, knife, and box, preferring to clean them in private

She looked at Theran Was he relieved a for her blood to Talon? She couldn’t read hi

And she suddenly felt too tired to care

"Gentle day Prince Powell, please send the Province Queens "

Tense silence

"Aren’t the Province Queens aware that the Warlord Princes chose a Territory Queen?" Cassidy asked

"There are no Province Queens," Talon said

"All Territories are divided into Provinces and Districts," Cassidy said "There o," Talon said "The psychic storh Terreille took all of them"

Cassidy sank into the chair behind the table "District Queens?"

"A few," Talon said "The ones who are too old or weak to be a threat to anyone Or the ones too young to forht, and ht the Warlord Princes of Dena Nehele had gone outside their own Territory because there wasn’t a Queen they illing to have rule over all of them Theran hadn’t said there weren’t any Queens to help her