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"You certainly took your sweet time," Janco said to Valek as he plopped into one of the arhed

Ari shook his head "The boy has no manners"

"What? I’m supposed to wait for an invitation toin another are frame "You both look better," he said

I opened my mouth to thank him, but Janco waved a hand "Pah Sreed "You’re here to say goodbye"

Janco straightened "How did you know?"

Valek waited

"Yeah, well, I guess we spent a lot of tiether" He frowned "But we think we’d be bored here in Sitia"

"We?" Ari asked

"Well, Ari is too polite to use the word bored, but we realize that you are going to build a nest and settle down"

"Nest?" I asked

"Ho in the way And Little Miss Assassin needs us lad Onora has a rough road ahead of her, and having friends will make it easier"

"We’ll visit, of course Soet aith stuff that you won’t let hilanced at Valek "Remind me to never leave Janco alone with our child"

"Hey!"

We all ignored hi and coe diapers Then forget it" Janco waved a hand under his nose

"Just remember, we also can offer aid if you need it," Valek said to them

"Will do" Janco saluted "Our herd may roam, but we all knohere is hoician’s Keep on the first day of the cooling season The New Beginnings feast was a highly anticipated affair I hadn’t been to one in years But this year’s feast represented so much more than the start of a new school year Everyone needed a night of celebration and fun after being under the Cartel’s influence

Before the party, Valek stood in front of the mirror in our rooms in Irys’s tower He wore a silver silk tunic with black piping, black pants and a silver belt--formal Sitian dress clothes--and they showed off his athletic physique He’d regained weight and muscle tone since he’d recovered froained about a hundred pounds in baby weightor so it seemed He was sleek and sexy, and I was the size of a heifer