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"We all have our devilsyours is just larger than most," she whispered as I downed the bottle of pink liquid she pressed into my hand "Here, drink this for the pain And if you need to talk, I’m here You know that, don’t you?"

"Yeah," I said softly "If Hyto isend of the pitchfork"

After she treated me, Sharah turned her attention to Hanna and I rejoined the others in the living roo to convince Sht without them joined to my hip, I followed her into the warm, cozy room

As I slid into one of the distressed kitchen chairs, wincing, she pushed a sandwich in front of th Eat more"

"Yes, ma’am" I pulled the sandwich to me--peanut butter and jelly? Since when did S at"Camillewhat do you need? You’ve always been here for us, and now it’s our turn Whatever you need, just ask"

She leaned forward and picked up a potato chip off the plate, lifting it to my lips I obediently opened ht over her question What did I need? My e between heartbroken and furious

I let out a sigh and put down the sandwich as she stood and poured lass of milk "What do I need? What I need is for none of this to have happened But it did, and now I need to figure out how to cope with it My emotions are all over the board I haven’t had time to process what’s happened Hytohe hus, but that--no He stripped oing to handle what hethe"

I shrugged "Rape isn’t about sex--it’s about wielding power I know that much, and I refuse to let him destroy my passion I won’t let hisI’ve never experienced pain like that before And you know I’ve been hurt a lot since we ca as you and Menolly The pain scared et through this It’s your nature, Camille But whenever you need to vent, just tell me--or Menolly--and we’ll be there for you If you need to scream in the woods, or beat up on some stupid troll, we’ll find you what you need and let you whop ass on it"

I sucked in a long, deep breath and let it out with a shudder "I thought I’d met evil before, but he is evil likelike Karvanak was--only less reasonable and far erous He’s a sadist He drinks deep from the pain of others And he’s jealous--he’s so jealous of Smoky"

"It’s sad when a father can’t rejoice in the joys of his children" Delilah frowned "At least S to, but e found out you’d been captured, he ild He totally blames hiet out of his sight, you wouldn’t have gone walking in the woods and been captured"

"I already had a talk with Vanzir about that Sy to soothe his fears And whatever happened, there’s nothing we can do about it now The iether I notice they’re in the saood thing so far"

I finished id by a splint They were about the only part of me that didn’t hurt, aside from the fractured bone But Sharah’s salve had worked wonders, and the pain was ue Whatever was in that little vial was a wonder drug as far as I was concerned

"We have to get over to the astral and find Chase He seey field--we have si to end up wielding soic in the future"

"Are you sure you’re up to it?" Delilah cocked her head, givingthat will save ht now I can’t sit here forever, worried that Hyto is going to co down on me Come on, let’s see if Smoky can take us over with hihtgown and robe "I guess I’d better get dressed first, huh?"

She laughed, and her laughter felt good as it rang through the air "Yeah, so clothes"

"You said it, not me" I forced a smile to my lips and we headed into the other room "I keep clothes out here for e coht out"

As I entered the bedroom, I saw that Hanna was back in bed, asleep Sharah motioned me to the side "She’s malnourished and exhausted and has a nasty case of asthot her on meds, and she’ll need to rest for a couple of weeks at least"

I nodded, quietly plundering the closet for a skirt, bustier, and jacket I longed forthat on

As I returned to the living roo the best place to approach Hyto I motioned for Delilah to lace ht" She pulled on the laces and I let out a gasp of pain

"It will help I checked with Sharah The support will ease h it makes the lacerations onto help this little bugger but ti an to relax just a little It would take tilanced around from face to face, I knew that with their help I’d be back in control sooner than later

"Chase was stronger than I’ve ever seen hiotten out on the astral, but the fact is he h "Smoky’s the only one here who can reach the astral He can’t take all of us If Roz were here, but he’s not"

"I can take three," Smoky said, "which means Delilah, Ca coldly at the dee hih of this crap I stood up

"Both of you--listen to h of feeling responsible for the hostility between you So right now, it ends NoWhat happened between Vanzir and me happened It shouldn’t have, but it did We were both injured by the aftereffects It’s over Done He’s been drained of his powers, and I ended up as Hyto’s plaything We’ve both been hurt So, Smoky, you have to stop You have to stop this"