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"Corathis isn&039;t going to hurt, is it?"

I gave Ulfur a reassuring sle, like you&039;re al an electric fence wire Why would you think it hurts?"

His lips twisted "Everything else does Why should being the Tool of Bael be any different?"

I stared at him for a few seconds as Pia cooed over hiuys?

Alec was startled for a moment Another one? You can feel my pain?

I did before we Joined, yes Shouldn&039;t I have?

No Once I realized we had a sympathetic link, I ht of the anguish, the endless well of torhtly it would have driven anyone else stark raving

"Are we all here? Excellent I&039;ve taken roo," Terrin said as he bustled out of the elevator of the hotel at which we&039;d arranged toat his watch to add, "We have slightly less than twenty et started"

"What exactly does a suether in the elevator "I&039;ve never seen a Tool being used before Is there so now that I&039;m officially his licherfar, far away," KristoffAlec a crabby look Kristoff hadn&039;t taken very well to Alec&039;s plan to overthrow Bael None of thereed that if Ulfur, Diamond, and I wanted to live any sort of noro

That didn&039;t mean that Kristoff hadn&039;t pulled Alec aside as soon as we got to the hotel, and had what appeared to be a heated discussion in Ger the two of them as they stood in a corner of the hotel&039;s lobby, Alec standing with an i wildly, evidently vented his spleen

"No Which, I have to say, right now I&039; Kristoff isn&039;t being very nice to Alec, and I really would hate to have to yell at hi for Ulfur"

We watched for another ry at me?" he asked

"No Kristoff doesn&039;t seem to like Alec&039;s plan, and I don&039;t think Alec likes being yelled at Oh, now that was just uncalled for" Kristoff had, with an angry word, turned away from Alec, who put out a hand to stop him Kristoff shoved Alec back

"Ouch," Pia winced as Alec returned the favor, shoving Kristoff, who stu his head on a table She sighed "I suppose we should intervene On the other hand, s out between theht?

Yes

His ansas as terse as his mood, so I didn&039;t push him, simply waited for Kristoff, who had leaped to his feet and was now yelling in Italian at Alec, to get done so we could continue on By the time they had done so, and Ulfur inquired worriedly about the level of pain involved with being one of Bael&039;s little playthings, the two men had worked outbeen drawn

Terrin eyed Alec as we rode up in the elevator "I spoke to the Sovereign on your behalf"

"And?" Alec asked, one eyebrow rising in question

Terrin sighed "The Sovereign wishes it to be known that it does not involve itself in situations not of its , or which lack a direct impact on its purviehich, despite your threat, this does not fall under"

Alec swore under his breath My sto Alec to pull me up next to him, his arm around et involved in situations like ours?" I asked, alternately wanting to cry and to yell at the head of heaven that it had to help us because ere the good guys

"No, that&039;s not all that was said It s, one in particular which I think you ht find pertinent" Terrin&039;s eyes twinkled with amusement

"What&039;s that?" I asked

"It was in the form of a personal addition to Alec"

"And that would be?" Alec asked

Terrin s it on?" I asked, astonished

"That&039;s what it said, yes"

"Bring it on!" Fury roared throughis that to say? Bring it on? I don&039;t think I like this Sovereign at all Just wait until we get Diaot the attitude then!"

"Cora, I don&039;t think - " Pia started to say, but I interrupted her

"Your precious Sovereign wants us to bring it on? Well, we&039;ll just do that!"

Terrin looked shocked as Alec pulledin a weary voice, "Mi corazon - "

"I will not stand here and let some jerkwad flip us that kind of crap, Alec!"

"Jerkwad?" Terrin asked on a gasp

"Oooh," Pia said, her eyes big

Alec&039;s eyebrows rose as he considered gressive, not overly so," I said, pushing upto battle thatpushed around by anyone, not you, not Bael, and not soels and cherubs andandand whatever else they have in this lame version of heaven!"

Terrin blinked

"Why don&039;t you tell us what you really think, Cora?" Kristoff suggested with a hint of a smile

Before I could do just that, we arrived at the floor where Terrin had taken a suite Iwiththat our sole hope for help had dis a heavenly eyelash

"Bring it on," I growled to ed Ulfur andcurses to yourself is not going to help our cause

Perhaps not, but it sure makes me feel a whole lot better Besides, our cause is lost at this point At least it is until we show the Sovereign that we mean business

Not lost, no We have yet to hear what the Sovereign will do to help us, although if you continue invoking curses upon its head, you risk losing that help

I stared at Alec as Terrin put one hand onhis eyes to chant softly to hin refused to help

He stated the Sovereign&039;s policy toward mortal involvement, yes He also ine Terrin is waiting until your friend is safe before revealing what form the aid we seek will take

I really hate it when you are slare thatin his forest green eyes

I&039;m not smarter, love I simply have more experience with Otherworld officials like this one And if you keep looking at me like that, I will take you off to the nearest bed and ravish you exactly as you are i at this moment

Oh, that would be lovely My attention, unfortunately, was demanded by Terrin at thatlicking every inch of Alec&039;s body, and focused on the task at hand

The su was much briefer than that conducted by the Guardian Noelle, presuive Terrin&039;s summons a bit of an oomph Whatever the reason, no sooner had he spoken the feords of suathered itself up into the forht pinkover her shoulder, "Now, if you restructure the focus group to include participants who haven&039;t been strung up by their toes, you&039;d have a better idea of what torroup has Why, hello, Cora!"

Terrin&039;s shoulders sagged in relief as he released his hold on our shoulders "Thank the stars Welcome back, Diamond"