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"So, what, Vampirie just came in and kicked Drake out?"
"Yes Then rounded up a number of vampires--any who had committed offences in the past--and handed them over to Lilith She kept these va the world, once again, of around three quarters of the population of vao?"
"He and Anandene disappeared for a while"
"And then what? How did he come to kill Lilith?"
"Some years later, Drake returned to Loslilian and reunited with his sister The family feud had healed and all ell, for a while But Anandene was a well-known, very powerful witch, and when she learned of the Stone’s powers, sought to use it to cast a great spell"
"What kind of spell?"
"I don’t know I only know that Lilith warned her this spell would bring a curse down on the lands"
"Why?"
"Because it was black ood"
"And the Stone doesn’t condone that?"
"No" He laughed "It doesn’t"
"So, what happened then?"
Arthur looked at his watch "Anandene went behind Lilith’s back She used the Stone and, sure enough, a plague hit Many people died In a desperate atte, Lilith went to her father He told her the life that cast the curse iven back to the Stone"
"Anandene?"
"Yes"
"Lilith had to kill her?"
"On the Stone Yes"
"Did she?"
Arthur hesitated "This story, my dear, is not the one you will read in books--nor is it the one you will be told, should you ask Morgaine And I do hope this will stay between us"
I nodded "But, why doesn’t anyone know this story?"
"They knohat Drake wanted the so conclusions IBut it has been kept a secret, for reasons unknown to ether"
"Okay I won’t tell anyone"
"Be sure you don’t"
"So…did she do it? Did Lilith kill Drake’s wife?"
"To begin with, Drake actually offered his life in place of Anandene"
"And Lilith agreed?"
Arthur nodded "But when he went to the forest to die, Lilith had him captured--locked away under hold of Created Lilithian veno his beloved scream, he was released to a healed world--the curse lifted, Anandene cold in the ground"
I covered my mouth "So, he wanted Lilith dead because she killed Anandene?"
"Yes"
I let out the breath I’d kept inside for too long "Woell, that’s a different spin on the story to what Morg gave me"
"I know Try not to listen too closely to what she says She…Drake gives titbits of inforreater purpose of his own She believes he let slip the story about the co of a Pure Blood and a prophecy, but I don’t believe he is that careless"
"So, you think he wanted her to set up a knighthood--set up hope for the Lilithians?"
"I cannot even begin to understand his strategy, and I have exhaustedAll I can do now, Princess, is try to stop hihed inside that he called me Princess "So, did the other Set leaders know about Anandene?"
"For some reason, no When I approached even the World Council leaders, they knew nothing of her death"
"How can that be? Weren’t you all some kind of brotherhood?"
"Yes"
"So, how can you know, but they didn’t?"
"These proceedings occurred here in the United States, and the world was a ossip did not travel the way it does today Our only method of coot on the grapevine?"
"Grapevine?"
I laughed "It’sin the loop"
His eyes narrowed "H"
I sat back a bit then and rubbed open palhs "I don’t understand how Drake kept it a secret all this time--to the point were Miss Nosey herself doesn’t even know"
"Miss nosey?"
"Morgaine"
Arthur laughed "Well, there was no one left to tell the story Morgaine lived in Paris at that time and, within a month of Anandene’s death, any who knew she passed were dead"
"Vampires too?"
"Yes"
"How? If Drake killed Lilith, how did he kill the va stores we had"
"Oh" I looked down at ths to keep this a secret?"
"Yes"
"So, Morgaine doesn’t know any of this--at all--not even one bit?"
"No Even Lilith kept what Anandene did and what she did to Anandene a secret froreater population in the weeks before Drake caret They were on Lilith’s Council then? Do they know?"
"No That is why they’re still alive They were living human lives at the ti on So that’s why Drake stormed Loslilian and killed everyone--because they all knew Lilith killed Anandene?"