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A true de He’d been horror-struck, hadn’t come back to the meadow for three days Later she’d realized he’d flown home with the question: “Mom, Dad, am I a demon?”
When he’d finally returned to Lanthe, he’d been quick to present all the inforathered about how Vrekeners were coe demons
Vrekeners couldn’t teleport like derow black with e While de rituals (Thronos had blushed at that), Vrekener horns were only for s were for swift capture of prey, to stamp out evil as quickly as possible—because evil could spread
She’d rested her chin in her hand and asked in a saucy tone, “And your fangs? Do they stamp out evil too?” He’d looked troubled for the rest of the day
Seeing hi, his species was plain to her—just as it was to many others in the Lore When Loreans called Vrekeners deels, it wasn’t because they rese Vrekener origins Rydstrom had said, “They are sanctimonious, maniacal, and deluded My kind claims no affinity with theirs”
Now Lanthe blinked, and Thronos was gone As thunder rocked the night, he hted on one above her Fro the worst of the storm for her, but he was content to watch her suffer
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this helpless, this powerless The key to her collar was on the other side of the island Thronos had separated her fro off her neck Not that she could simply walk up to Emberine and Portia and ask for it back But Lanthe could’ve planned a sneak attack, anything
Her portal power sure would co fro their faces inches apart “I told you that I’d have you soon”
“You also told me you kneay off this island But you can’t find it, can you?”
“We’ll reach it in the morn”
“Uh-huh” Bully for us When she turned away, he vaulted to the other side, leaning in once o of the witch’s hand so she could protect her young Why would soain with the so? You won’t believe a word I say”
“Lies do spill so readily from those red lips But I learn much froauntlet to give hiritted teeth, he said, “Call ain, harlot”
She detested that word! With all the countless ies, as there no ainst her, sending her into a fit of coughing
His voice a harsh grate, he said, “A male shouldn’t be heartened to see his mate’s misery But this pleases ht one of his wings closer to her, easing that talon to her face The silver length was rounded, smooth as ivory on the outside of the curve—but she’d witnessed how sharp the tip was
“I could have killed you so easily, so many ti the threat hang between thehts to do it!”
“These lies again?”
Did Lanthe ever lie? Of course In the noble pursuit of gold, she pulled out all the stops She also lied to avoid trouble Those outside her new fas irritated herthe truth
“You foul Sorceri pride yourselves on falsehoods!”
Foul SorceriSomeone like you “I’m so sick of you! You’d think after five hundred years that you could take a hint I will never want you like you want me!”
“WANT?” His claw-tipped hand slashed the tree, his fury bubbling over—as if she’d hit an exposed nerve “Do not ever mistakein all ways!” His voice continued rising with every word “Instinct compels me to pursue you, to protect you Otherwise I’d take your head myself! I want you like a man with a badly set limb wants his bone rebroken It’s a bitter necessity You are the bitterest necessity”
His words didn’t hurt Lanthe She’d been scorned by men before Why would she care what a scarred, ht of her?
She didn’t care at all He mattered not at all
When she just blinked up at him, he seemed to rein in his fury “What either of us wants is immaterial I’ve taken you because that’s what fate decreed You’re mine by the laws of the Lore, the laws I uphold”
“And you always follow the laws? You act like Vrekeners are so righteous? I’ve seen more evil in your kind than in most Sorceri I’ve met”
“Now I know you lie! You resided with Oood, or ultimate evil, was born Lanthe’s half brother had been that warrior a few Accessions ago, bringing evil to the Lore for centuries After her iven birth to him, she’d been cast out in shame by the noble family of Deie Sorceri By the time Lanthe and Sabine’s father had come into the picture, Elisabet had beentroubled
This Accession, twin girls had been born for ultihters of Rydstrom’s brother, Cadeon, and Cadeon’s Valkyrie wife, Holly Lanthe was a doting auntie to the his reign of child sacrifices, orgies, and incest”
O concubine of his half sister Hettiah, who’d died the san, when O!”
Until that one fantastical day when Lanthe had challenged Omort, she’d been helpless to stop his she’d seen hiees”
“Then what evils do you think Vrekeners have perpetrated to measure up to that fiend’s?”
“Torture, murder, thievery Even you know your kind steals Sorceri powers” The fire scythe his father had wielded wasn’t good only for parent beheadings; it also drained powers fro
It was ruhts to siphon sorcery, instead of taking lives Yet in the last century, the knights had begun doing both—so that those abilities could never be reincarnated
“We harvest and store the used for evil”
“To us, a root power is like a soul You’re stealing souls!”