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"And if it’s thick?"

"No good The body will reject it" Saetan reclaiers "Witch-child--"

"If you can’t use your own venom, is there a safe poison?"

"There are some poisons that can be used," he said cautiously

"Could I have some?"

"Why?"

"Because I know someone who needs it" Jaenelle stepped away froe claainst a desire to sink his nails into flesh and tear it "Male or female?" he asked silkily

"Does it make a difference?"

"Indeed it does, witch-child If the distillation of poisons isn’t blended to take gender into account, the effects could be unpleasant"

Jaenelle studied him, her eyes troubled "Male"

Saetan sat still for a long tiive you Why don’t you see what sort of snack Mrs Beale has for you? This will take a few minutes"

As soon as Jaenelle was distracted by taste-testing Mrs Beale’s offerings, Saetan returned to his private study in the Dark Realoing to the secret door in the paneling beside the fireplace His workshop was Gray-locked, a sensible precaution that kept Hekatah out but still allowed Mephis and Andulvar to reach hihts at the end of the narrow corridor, locked the door behind him, and went into his Widow’s den

This was the place where he brewed his poisons and wove his tangled webs of drea to the worktable that ran the entire length of one wall, he called in a se cupboards that hung above it

The poisons sat in neat rows, their glass containers precisely labeled in the Old Tongue Another precaution, since Hekatah had never e

He relass up to the candlelight He opened the jar and sniffed, then dipped his finger into it and tasted It was the distillation he used for himself Since he wasn’t born a Black Widow, his body couldn’t produce the venom on its own He replaced the stopper on the jar, looked in the cupboard again, and took out a jar of tiny, blood-red flakes

Just a flake or two of dried witchblood added to the distillation and the pain Daeony that would be his last experience a Men had actually opened the to relieve the pain Or this one A softer death but just as sure Because he was sure now that Dae out to help him, but hoould Daemon repay that kindness?

Saetan hesitated And yet

When he’d walked a and raised his sons, Mephis and Peyton, he was one note and they were two others, harmonious but different Lucivar, too, was a different note, more often than not a sharp Saetan had known from the first tis stirring the air to help hiue as he threw hiant Eyrien respect for all things that belong to sky and earth

But Daemon From the first moment Saetan had held him, he had sensed on so to this son in the sa to him, that this son would be the father’s acy and a burden he’d never intended to give any of his children

His name

He had intended to teach Dae Jewels as devastating as the Black But because of honor, he hadn’t been there Because he believed in the Blood Laws and Protocol, he had accepted the lie when Dorothea denied him paternity And because he had accepted the lie, Daemon had been raised as a bastard and a slave, an outcast who had no place in Blood society

So how could he condemn Daemon to death when it was his failure to protect the child that had helped shape the man? And how could he not ht be at risk?

Saetan replaced the dried witchblood and locked the cupboard door

There had beenlife when he’d been required tostick to th to help Jaenelle when she needed it

He couldn’t repay that debt with a bottle full of death

Honor forbade it