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Cora was uncharacteristically cal Alec when, as she landed on the foa end, she whooped and said she wanted to do it again
"You are the strangest wouiding her out of the way as the air sparked a few tih the per company maintained for the use of its custo when Pia appeared out of nothing and hit the padding with a whoo wild!"
"Thank you I think," Pia said, accepting the hand he held out to her "I did try for a reverse gainer, but I&039;m not sure if I pulled it off or not"
"Seriously, tens across the judges," Cora assured her before turning to him "Screw private jets - I want to portal everywhere from now on"
"Most people only use portals when they have no other choice," he warned her
Eleanor appeared, screa "Goddess above, I never want to do that again Urgh"
He helped her to her feet, as well
"Why don&039;t they use portals?" Cora asked him
He gave a little shrug "Sos will do just about anything to avoid using a portal Sorounds that it desecrates their beyond Others, like some spirits, cannot use it unless they are in corporeal fors," Eleanoroff her pants
Cora stared at hi to Pia just as Kristoff"One in ten words, hed "Believe it or not, I understood all of it Give it time, and you will, as well"
"Uh-huh" Cora&039;s mysteriously dark eyes considered his that you h Are you?"
"No, I&039; a portal per se, but it is also expensive"
"Really?" She round, ar as he dropped to the pad "How expensive?"
He told her the price for all six of thenon
"Jesus wept! I could buy a house for that! A nice house!" she gasped
"Am I here? All ofhim off, since the seneschal appeared to be somewhat disoriented by the portal "You&039;re here Where to, Kris?"
"The lich for us at the Chauvet caves"
"Caves? I love caves!" Cora said, her eyes bright with excitement as she took his hand The fact that she did so auto else had inwell, since his beloved mother had died She had been the only person who touched hienuine loveuntil Cora He wondered if she loved hi into that state
"Caves? That ought to be interesting," Eleanor said
"Do we have to ave hie from there Evidently that is where her headquarters are"
"I&039;ve heard of that cave," Pia said as they exited the portalling coed into the soft darkness of the evening "Isn&039;t it where they found those pretty cave paintings?"
"I believe so," Kristoff answered, shooting him another look before he hurried off with Pia to rent a car
"Caves," he usted with the turn of events
"What&039;s wrong with caves? They&039;re aweso li all sorts of creepy shapes Kinda reminds me of ectoplasm, really, not that I&039;ve ever seen it, because I don&039;t believe in ghosts Oh" She blinked at hiuess I need to change that, huh?"
"There arehis watch "But none, I believe, take on the forhtly over two hours left"
Avignon at night was enchanting, and Alec was possessed with the urge to watch Cora&039;s face as she explored all the delights contained within it, but that would have to wait until after she was safe
He beca him closely He kissed her just to take that speculative look off her face, then kissed her again because once again he couldn&039;t get enough of her sweetness, ignoring a rude comment by Eleanor as he did so
You don&039;t like caves?
No
Claustrophobic?
He didn&039;t answer
I&039;ot to be the pits You don&039;t have to go into the cave if you don&039;t want to
"You&039;re being silly," he said, releasing her lower lip when Terrin h "I don&039;t knohat you&039;re talking about I a talk," she said, but, with a glance toward Terrin, did nothinghim wave after wave of reassurance and coht You&039;ll see
"Well, as long as I&039; across the street to browse in a store
"The randchild out," he told Terrin, a to hurt her feelings
Terrin looked faintly surprised "Of course Wouldn&039;t you?"
"It seems to me that she is in a very difficult spot In a matter of two hours, she will lose her descendant forever to the Akasha"
"Yees," Terrin drawled, his gaze sharpening upon Alec
What are you doing?
Trying to solve two problems at once
"It also seems to me that without Cora&039;s help Diamond cannot be saved in time"
"What do you want?" Terrin asked baldly
Yes, what do you want? Do you think he can help you with the vansurely the Sovereign must be aware of the situation? I assuoes on?"
Terrin&039;s suspicious expression tightened "I am told they do What reward is it that you expect? I can reassure you that the rateful - "
"It&039;s not the mare&039;s help I seek," he interrupted smoothly
Terrin&039;s eyes opened wide at the sa into his head Jesus wept, Alec! You can&039;t blackn is not God, and I&039; we receive its help
"The Sovereign does not take kindly to being used," Terrin said, scorn dripping from his voice "If that is your intention, and I see by the expression on your Beloved&039;s face that it is I don&039;t knohat it is that you want the Sovereign to do, but it won&039;t do it, I can assure you that"
"Then Dia off a bit of nothing from Cora&039;s ar after all"
Cora gaped at hiers under her chin to close it "Alec, you&039;re nuts"
"So I&039;ve frequently been told"
"You can&039;t blackn is not God per se," Terrin said tiredly "Why do I have to keep telling you that? It&039;s an easy concept to understand, after all It&039;s not like trying to plumb the unfathomable depths of a wo to do you any good," Cora said with a sharp look at the little seneschal
He apologized, glancing at Alec "Just out of curiosity, not that it will happen in even the n was feeling gracious What is it you wish for it to do?"
Yeah, what? Cora asked, evidently not having probed far enough to see his plans
"My Beloved is a Tool of Bael," Alec said, gesturing toward her
"She is," Terrin agreed
"There is nothing I can do that will relieve her from that burden"
Terrin eyed first Cora, then hi is beyond your power Or indeedin the Otherworld and ain," Alec continued
"Where exactly are you going with this?" Cora asked, looking a bit disgruntled "Because so far, all it&039;s doing is depressing ine that is so, yes," Terrin agreed "If you expect the Sovereign to strip the Tool from Cora, however, I&039; is not within the bounds of even the Sovereign For all intents and purposes, the Occio di Lucifer and Corazon are now perfectly joined, and will never be able to be separated again"
"Exactly," Alec said, s?" Cora asked hi each one of her fingers before answering "We est threat to you"
"The Tool? But Terrin just said - "
"That is the cause, but not the threat itself" He kissed her wrist, the hunger within hireat it alht "You mean the people ould use me to access Bael&039;s power?" She shook her head "You can&039;t possibly eliminate all of them, Alec That must be hundreds of people"
"Thousands, and they are just interested in the effect of you being the Tool We er that threatens you"
"But" Her face twisted as she tried to reason it out "The Tool gets its power frorew round as Terrin sucked in his breath
"You cannot think - " the little man started to say
"You want to take down Bael?" Cora asked, her eyes searching his "The devil? You want to destroy Satan?"
He sighed "Cora, why do you persist - "
"All right, all right," she said quickly "I know he&039;s not Satan, but he&039;s as close as dao after the head prince dude of hell!"
"Why not?" He gave her a reassuring s woasted, he desired her He wanted to sink into her heat, to absorb her warmth, to let all those dark corners of his"Normally the princes have a battle each millennium to name a new premier prince For some reason, Bael did not allow that, and has remained on the throne, so to speak, for well past his ti him"
Terrin&039;s jaorked up and down a couple of tin does not concern itself with the doings of Abaddon"
"No?" Alec pulled Cora into his arms, his mind preoccupied with the lush curves of her body, with her scent, with the beat of her heart He let her see just how much he wanted her, needed her, at that ainst hi herself
"It is out of the question Wholly out of the question"
"It would be a worthy cause," Alec ainst Cora&039;s teet involved with mortal concerns It leaves that to the vessels"
"Ah, but this is not a concern that deals solely withthe overwheler that rode him so hard "You yourself said that if the three Tools were brought together, they could be used to devastate the mortal world"
"Mortal world," Terrin eh to claim Cora&039;s sweet, sweetthe coainst the Court? Or, for that led into his ood thing that he can&039;t read your mind like I can, or he&039;d never believe this bluff The idea of you threatening to destroy heaven - honestly, Alec, how can you even say what you&039;re saying to poor Terrin with a straight face?
I&039;asp in his aze of the seneschal
"Down that path would lie destruction for
"It would be preferable to the alternative"
Alec, you&039;reyou&039;re
Insane, yes, I know But it&039;s the only way to save you, Cora You can&039;t stop being a Tool of Bael, and although I can protect you to a certain extent now that we&039;re Joined, ill live our lives looking over our shoulders Do you want that?
No, but -
We must eliminate the source of the threat We must destroy Bael We have no choice And since I can&039;t do that bypowerful enough to do so is the Sovereign
"Butwhy don&039;t you just wait until we get Diaainst Bael?" she asked, stroking his chest in a way that left hi with desire "Surely that would be easier than trying to blackn-who-isn&039;t-God?"
"I would if it was possible, but I am a Dark One By my very existence I have a tie to Abaddon It&039;s impossible for me to destroy that to which I owe my existence"
"Well, then, someone else will have to do it," she said, obviously distressed His heart swelled with love at the thought that she orried the Sovereign would be angry at hi centuries of his life - no one had ever worried about him "Kristoffoh, I suppose he can&039;t, either Pia, then"