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No one ca, but she was here and she was safe

Did it work, Fee?

Yes, yes, yes! Thank you, Marguerite! You saved ures out that you and I can coht put et this … ever!

Fee, I !

Gotta go

Fiona felt the telepathic thread snap at the very end, like a hang-up She drew in a deep breath

She had anotherplatform

Within the space of a heartbeat, he folded next to her and is, her hips, then back up to touch the sides of her head, then down to her neck He kept asking her things in French

"Anglais, chéri," she finally said

He huffed a laugh "Are you all right? How did you get back? I could not reach you Where did he take you? Was it Rith?"

She shook her head "It was our friend from Copán The Upper ascender His name is Casimir But Rith was there and two death va of French followed until he caught hio? Where did he take you?"

She kept her explanation brief, dwelling on how Marguerite, the newly avowed second leg of their obsidian flame triad, had helped her channel a fold in order to escape

She aze "Jean-Pierre, they intended to killability, I’d be dead"

He nodded, a brisk series of nods, then dragged her into his arainst her ear Finally, he added, "But you found your way out You did this, Fiona You embraced your power, you kept your head very clear, and you did this i Thank you, chérie,back toof profanities into the cavern He un the abduction with a casual attitude but by the time he’d ordered the death vaobstacle to his plans

He’d been so close to seeing her killed The swords had been spinning in Fiona’s direction--then suddenly her poas just there, an enorainst the wall of rock Several of his ribs were broken, which was no doubt what had happened to the others as well

But each of them had self-healed and he’d already sent the death vampires back to their lair in Geneva, Mortal Earth

Rith sat on the floor, a hand to the back of his neck

Casimir stared at him He and Greaves had already discussed the next step in this journey, for all of them Rith would have a new role First he would deliver an invitation to Fiona and her warrior, then he would be delivered elsewhere by Endelle’s faction to hopefully initiate Greaves’s ide publicity caoat

At least in that sense Caz would know some relief

The man’s smell really did irritate the hell out of hi crate into the cavern

"As soon as you’re healed, Greaves wants you to crawl inside It’s time we moved our plans forward"

Rith dropped both hands to his lap and smiled at Casimir "Just remember what I have said to you The future streams have been very clear about your future No, I did not say that correctly The future streams say you do not have a future"

Caz wasn’t a Fourth ascender for nothing He knew that the future was like a prisht split apart and bounced in every direction ie, asshole, without learning to ignore the future streahed at hie

Fiona had her arm around Jean-Pierre’s waist, her hand on his chest, and her face turned into his shoulder

Seriffe and at least tenplatform, all with swords drawn

She was calmer now Several minutes had passed since her arrival at Militia HQ, but she didn’t want to leave the landing platform area just yet Jean-Pierre had asked her twice if she wanted to retire to the roo for practice, but she shook her head For just a th of his body

She kept replaying the brief terrifying abduction over and over in her mind Each time she would come to the moment when she dove inside what she had coolden rush of power, and she would marvel at what lived inside her, what existed deep inside her

She had power now, so she could use toshe could possibly use to keep others safe as well She looked up into Jean-Pierre’s face Maybe she could even keep him safe as well?

The snakes that writhed in the botto, then shriveled to the size of peas--then sih her own effort, she had escaped another horrible abduction and now she was back with her man Maybe she could have a life on Second Earth, a real life Maybe, just maybe she had sufficient power to stay alive and to live

Could she therefore have a life with Jean-Pierre?