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Caz could respect that, of course
He folded to the end point Stannett turned and said, "Right on ti Seer It made Caz want to spit venom
Caz did not like Owen Stannett He never had, not in all the centuries he had known him
The little prick, as he would always think of Stannett, stood fraarden that vied for beauty with any of the gardens at the White Tank Resort Colony itself
The Superstition Mountains Seers Fortress was situated not just within the raphic landmark called Weaver’s Needle Stannett’s office, as part of the fortress, overlooked a sharp incline of what should have been desert terrain Stannett, however, had altered a section of the land to create a doarden ed: Flowers cascaded over stone walls; stone paths led a sculpted beds full of lavender, succulents, and roses Throughout, tall Italian cypruses punctuated an intense blue sky beyond
Breathtaking
A man with a horticultural sensibility should have been someone Caz could appreciate Instead, his Fourth ascender instincts clanged in aard counterpoint to the beauty of the garden Soht with Owen Stannett, and this from a self-proclaimed sadist-hedonist
Stannett wore his short and very thick dark brown hair in a strange wave on the right side of his head Blackish chest hair protruded in clumps from the deep V of his embroidered red leather vest His jacket was of a similar ilk, but white and ereen and splashes of violet
He looked western in a Liberace sort of way He even wore cowboy boots
Caz turned to sit in a stiff brown leather club chair across frolad to see ether"
Owen drew a shallow breath "That was three centuries ago"
"Oh," Caz drawled "Seeht you enjoyed sharing h"
Caz clucked his tongue "Never hold a grudge Besides, how can you possibly be ? Hasn’t it turned out well, especially fro?"
"I confess that it has"
"Then I think you owe me a little favor or two"
Stannett’s shoulders dropped an inch Caz was i of a baby all those centuries ago, always co to be set free But here he was in coe of the Fortress that he’d single-handedly ha the ruler of Second Earth
"What do you want?" Stannett asked
Straight to the point Again, Caz was iave him the essentials about the fiasco at the Creator’s Convent Stannett nodded a couple of times Caz spoke of Fiona and obsidian flame and the little prick didn’t flinch, not even a little So the sly bastard knew about the eence of obsidian flame
"I’m not certain how I can be of use to you, Casih helpless, then sat down in his chair behind his desk
Caz narrowed his eyes "So hoell do you know the High Administrator of the Convent?"
"A little"
"Oh, I think you know her a lot How sly you’ve becoht and day "Yes, that would have been this ine, I’ to discern connections I’ve been trying to figure out hooman so recently rescued froive warning about an attack when she just doesn’t seem to have either clairvoyant ability or Seer skills Sort of a mystery, don’t you think? How did she know there were death vampires in the forest?"
Like Rith, Stannett held his face i Obsidian flame always comes in threes and yes, we have more frequent occurrences of the phenomenon in the Upper Dimensions, so I a above the battleground, I sensed a presence beside me before the battle occurred That hen I put two and two together I thought, what if there is a powerful ascender inside the Convent who soer"
"That would make sense"
Caz felt his temper harden and he knew a sudden and profound desire to launch on Stannett and literally tear him, limb from limb He took two very deep breaths He despised all this insidious pretense, as though Stannett didn’t have a clue
"Cut the crap, Owen Tell uerite Telland tell me now"
Only then did some of the former Owen Stannett return His chin even shook a little as he patted the wave on the side of his head "She is the ifted Seer I have ever known"
"Then why haven’t you moved her here?"
"It’s coence"
"She belongs to Warrior Thorne"
This, Caz would never have suspected "Marguerite is Thorne’s woman, as in he fucks her, a devotiate in the Convent?"
"He has, I believe, since early in her internment"