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"Who stole it from me What I did only set the universe back in order"

"You don’t want this fight, Sage," Mott warned "Now please, where’s the rock?"

I setthe heel ofto adan, who pulled out his knife and ordered rabbed an by my side, and Mott on my heels, alked back to Farthenwood

Conner aiting for an threw me into the chair in front of the desk, and he and Mott stood on opposite sides of me

"Where is the rock?" Conner asked coldly

"Isn’t it in your desk where you left it?" I countered with an equal coolness to an, who slapped me hard across my cheek I tasted blood ineased enough that I could open thee!" Conner yelled "That ed to you! That rock is old, then why do you want it?" I asked

"Because I don’t want you to have it! I will not present soold in his pocket Where is it?"

"Maybe you lost it," I said

Cregan slapped eon," Conner whispered "Do what you must, but leave no scars"

"No, wait!" My eyes widened as fear gripped me I kneould happen there "Don’t do this, Conner! It’s just a rock Is that what you want to hear?"

Conner pressed both hands flat on his desk as he leaned toward e, is for you to bend to my will If I tell you to jump from a cliff, I want you to jump If I tell you to swim to the far side of the ocean, I want you to swim I don’t care about the rock But if I tell you that it’s no longer yours, then I will have your loyalty, respect, and obedience I’ll give you one last chance Where is it?"

My heart pounded so loudly in my ears that I barely heard hiet that rock even if my life depended on it And I suspected that it did

"Take hirabbed each of , out the door

Conner’s dungeon suely wondered who else had been brought here and how long ago The dungeon was only a single rooh-hewn rock walls and rusty iron bars There were no s and no lights except for the few lit candles in sconces on the wall outside the bars It was damp down here, and I shivered in the cold air Except it wasn’t that cold I was terrified

When Cregan used a hand to open the barred door, I wrenched an arood punch on his neck Mott grabbedtheether

"I’ll an hissed Once ere inside, he sliced offfro When he raised the chain, I could only barely touch the floor with one to the far corner of the room, but now he approachedhandle, with a thick leather strap on the end that he held tightly bundled

"Conner said not to leave scars" It was impossible to control the trerin revealed his eagerness for that whip to fly "He said nothing about bruises As long as he hits you with the broad side of this strap, you’ll feel the pain, but it shouldn’t cut you"