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"You could have toldthe final death"

"And have you stay around as the loyal, faithful Consort to a Queen who no longer needed one?"

Saetan refilled the glasses "I could have been a friend Or you could have dismissed me from your court if that’s what you wanted"

"Dismiss you? You? You wereareSaetan, the Prince of the Darkness, High Lord of Hell No one dismisses you Not even Witch"

Saetan stared at her "Damn you," he said bitterly

Cassandra wearily brushed a stray hair froo There’s the child to think about now"

Saetan watched the fire burning in the hearth She was entitled to her own life, and certainly wasn’t responsible for his, but she didn’t understand--or didn’t want to understand--what that friendship ain, knowing she still existed would have eased some of the emptiness Would he have married Hekatah if he hadn’t been so desperately lonely?

Cassandra laced her fingers around her glass "You’ve seen her?"

Saetan thought of his study and snorted "Yes, I’ve seen her"

"I’ to be Witch I’olden eyes narrowed "What do youabout the sa about Jaenelle," she snapped

"She isn’t ’going to be’ Witch, Cassandra She already is Witch"

Cassandra shook her head vigorously "Not possible Witch alear the Black Jewels"

"So does the daughter of my soul," Saetan replied too quietly

It took her a lass with shaking hands and drained it "H-how do you"

"She showed ifted with A full uncut set of the ’lighter’ Jewels--and that was the first tihter Jewel--and thirteen uncut Blacks"

Cassandra’s face turned gray Saetan gently chafed her ice-cold hands, concerned by the shock in her eyes She was the one who’d first seen the child in her tangled web She was the one who’d told him about it Had she only seen Witch but not understood as co spell on his cape and wrapped it around her, then warue of witchfire When her teeth stopped chattering, he returned to his own chair

Her emerald eyes asked the question she couldn’t put into words

"Lorn," he said quietly "She got the Jewels froht" She shook her head "It’s not supposed to be like this, Saetan Hoe control her?"

His hand jerked as he refilled his glass Wine splashed on the table "We don’t control her We don’t even try" Cassandra s to understand that much power and not emotionally ready to accept the responsibilities that coe, she’s too open to influence"

He almost asked her whose influence she feared, but Hekatah’s face popped into his , vicious Hekatah, who had ht he would h Priestess of Terreille at least or, possibly, the dominant female influence in all three Realms When he’d refused to bend to her wishes, she’d tried on her own and had caused the war between Terreille and Kaeleer, a war that had left Terreille devastated for centuries and had been the reason why many of Kaeleer’s races had closed their lands to outsiders and were never seen or heard froot her claws into Jaenelle and e

"You have to control her, Saetan," Cassandra said, watching hi, I don’t think I could There’s a soft fog around her, a sweet, cold, blackas she is, that I’d like to find out what lies beneath it without her invitation" Annoyed by the way Cassandra kept glaring at him, Saetan looked around the kitchen and noticed a priet that?"

"What? Oh, Jaenelle dropped it off a few days ago and askedat a friend’s house and didn’t want to take the picture home" Cassandra tucked stray hairs back into her braid "Saetan, you said there’s a soft fog around her There’s a mist around Beldon Mor, too"

Saetan frowned at her What did he care about some city’s weather? That picture held an answer if he could just figure it out

"A psychicher knuckles on the table, "that keeps demons and Guardians out"

Saetan snapped to attention "Where’s Beldon Mor?"

"On Chaillot That’s an island just west of here You can see it from the hill behind the Sanctuary Beldon Mor is the capital I think Jaenelle lives there I tried to find a way into--"

Now she had his full attention "Are you h his thick black hair "If she went to thatto invade it?"

"Because of what she is," Cassandra said through clenched teeth "I thought that would be obvious"

"Don’t invade her privacy, Cassandra Don’t give her a reason to distrust you And the reason for that should be obvious, too"