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I frowned at him "What, have you by my side 24/7?"

He shook his head "That is not what I had in lecttidbit and the first tigles in his oorld "Then what?"

"I would assign one of hed "That would ed "I would emphasize the need for discretion"

Discretion? I had no idea how a demon could be discreet and still be effective Obviously there was sorabbed my pants and pulled them on as I stood Besides, a full-time protector could also be seen as a full-time chaperone

"I’ll be fine," I said I looked down at hi on his side, regarding ood

"You have recently been hurt," he said "It is why you sought comfort and distraction from me"

I opened my mouth to deny it, then abruptly realized that he wasn’t speaking of a physical hurt He’d sensed or readto reement with a friend"

His lip curled, and I kneas fully aware to who "He disapproves of ht wonder how he knows enough to disapprove of my presence in your life"

I had no response for that, and in fact I probably stared at Rhyzkahl for a couple dozen heartbeats as hts whirled in chaotic patterns In one sied to pinpoint all of my doubts and suspicions and fears about Ryan Because I did wonder Why did Ryan speak like soreat deal of familiarity with demonkind and demonic lords? Supposedly he’d only very recently encountered one, yet Kehlirik knew him and seemed to despise him And did Ryan even know? Maybe I’m better off without him

I almost did it I almost asked Rhyzkahl to tell me what he knew about Ryan, but I stoppedmy mouth Yes, I wanted to know, but I realized that I wasn’t so sure I wanted to hear it fros I needed to know far more, and I simply couldn’t waste this opportunity "Can you answer a question forHe dressed quickly, still not answeringhis boots on, he stood and looked athis head, eyes on me "Is this a boon that you ask of ree to be "his" summoner I took a deep breath "At this tirimace I would be indebted to hi bound uess the sex was a freebie

He folded his arms across his chest I couldn’t tell if he was pissed that I hadn’t accepted his offer yet or pleased that I would noe hi or so essence When it started, the essences were taken as the victi ripped out, killing the victi able to do that?"

He was silent and still for a number of heartbeats, eyes dark upon me "We call those creatures who feed on essence saran," he finally said "Essence potency is addictive One who has the ability to utilize it will quickly grow to depend on it, will crave it et worse?"

"I cannot say These creatures are rare," he continued, "no doubt because they are usually slain as soon as the ability is discovered"

I frowned "But what is it? Is it a hu this?"

"It is indeed possible," he replied, expression inscrutable

"How?"

He lifted an eyebrow at me "How is it that you are able to open a portal between our torlds?"

That gave me pause I’d been born with the ability and supposedly inherited it frorandmother "So it’s an arcane skill that this person is born with?"

"In aalmost bored "There are many humans with the ability to shape and manipulate potency Some can open portals Some can draer from essence A rare few are little more than parasites You are all descended fro I’d never heard before I knew that there were other people with the ability to shape arcane power, even if they weren’t able to open a portal, but I’d never heard this idea that every arcane practitioner shared soinal source? I wanted to ask hi annoyed with the questions, and I wasn’t sure how ret, I wrenched etting stronger?"

"Exposure to sufficient potency Or perhaps consumption of another essence-eater" He lifted a shoulder in an elegant shrug "There are any number of ways"