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"Shaved?" Kartane said in a strangled voice

"Didn’t anyone ever tell you how they make eunuchs?" Daemon slipped his hands in his pockets and turned away

"But" Kartane tensed when Dorothea and her coven walked through the door "Why this?" he whispered "Why all these chairs?"

Daemon’s eyes had a worried, faraway look in the, Lord Kartane This is the afternoon’s entertainuests of honor"

Kartane looked quickly at Daemon and then at the posts Dorothea wouldn’t She couldn’t Was that why Daemon warned him, because he wasn’t sure ifNo Not to Daemon Not to Dae into another with his ar like a sulky child "I have better ways to spend my afternoon," he snarled

Daemon turned, one eyebrow raised in question Dorothea walked toward the with annoyance at Kartane’s behavior

"Well, darling," she purred, "we’ll do our best to amuse you" She settled into the chair next to Kartane’s, and with a gracious gesture of her hand, indicated to Daemon that he should sit on her left

Kartane sat up straighter, but kept a sulky look on his face He flinched as the chairs behind him filled and fe for the play to begin

Dorothea clapped her hands, and the roouards bowed to Dorothea and left the roohtly built lance at theled to the posts, leaned away from Dorothea, and propped his chin in his hand

Dorothea hissed quietly

Daes, and steepled his fingers "Not that it matters," he drawled, "but what did he do?"

Dorothea put her hand on his thigh "Curious?" she purred

Daeh

Dorothea removed her hand, annoyed by the bored expression on Dae I just felt like having hiuards, and watched with great interest as they fastened their victile to the posts "He’s a Warlord but a valet by profession Comes from a family who specializes in personal service to darker-Jeweled Blood But after today, I doubt there’ll be a male in all of Hayll who’ll want hied and once more propped his chin on his hand

When the uards pulled the cloth off the table There were appreciative murmurs from the audience as whips, nut-crushers, and various other instrus the guard picked up were the shaving knives

Kartane felt ill and yet hopeful If all of those things were being presented, maybe

"No," Daemon said on a spear thread, male to male "She’ll shave him"

"You don’t know for sure"

"You can’t have the entertainment end too quickly"

Kartane sed hard "You don’t know for sure"

"You’ll see"

Dorothea raised one hand The guard went to the far end of the table and raised the first whip "What shall it be today, Sisters?" Dorothea called out gaily "Shall hip him?"

"Yes, yes, yes," a number of female voices yelled

"Or"

There was applause and laughter as the guard, looking

"Or" Dorothea pointed, and the guard lifted the shaving knives

Kartane studied the floor, trying not to shake, trying not to bolt for the door He kneouldn’t be allowed to leave, and he wondered with a touch of bitterness how Dae so bored Maybe because Sadi didn’t have any use for those organs anyway

"Shave him, shave him, shave him!" The room thundered with the coven’s voices

Kartane had been to dogfights, cockfights, any nuainst each other He’d heard the roar oftheir favorite to victory But he’d never heard, in all those places, the glee he heard now as the coven urged their decision

He jumped when Dorothea’s hand squeezed his knee, her cold s him know she was pleased by his fear

Dorothea raised her hand for silence When the room was absolutely still, she said in hermoment, then smiled sweetly "A full shave"