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Still alive For the life of me, I couldn’t understand why this filled me with ambivalence Part of me wished the creature to the pit, and the other half felt suffused in ridiculous, inored the schizophrenic reaction as I popped the lock with a burst of ick

Butch lunged out the door at , and then he drew up short His barks grew more hysterical when he sniffed at me, and then he scrambled away toward Chance, who picked hiraceful hands, he soothed the sht for how lovely it would be to recline in his arms later and receive that same treatment

But first we had work to do

“Greydusk, our bags”

The demon complied with a s a lifetime to hear my commands And the Imaron was, unquestionably, male—one with submissive tendencies, which made him an ideal servant I wondered why I hadn’t been sure of that before; it seemed so obvious now

I reclai over his shoulder, the colorful one that belonged to the girl I’d come to save At thethat she’d been taken to Sheol My hoerous than the human realm, and even less so for the queen’s companions Here, she would be well Safe Protected Yet the saht to those who had stolen her The Drinkers would be humbled too

Chance took the other bag and stashed the dog in it I was pleased he’d taken charge without being asked As first male, it was his role to find ways to satisfy ood start

As I closed the closet door, shouts ca and donned them, then he handed me back the broken spear “This is yours,” he said softly

I nodded

Greydusk took a defensive position on , I crooned their death in deick flowed inriver of energy beneath our feet Here in their stronghold, the Sare i power from the Vortex and had built up a private supply that flooded the foundation itself The rock had channels cut into it with azed into the astral, I saw the dark tracery swih the stone

This tirunts to kill us…or capture us Twenty, instead of ten Unfortunately, they were low-ranking Sareick The leaders, like Oz, kept the but frontline fodder I watched they surging beneath our feet

This will be…delightful

“Kill them all,” I said softly

Chance whispered and flames formed around his fists Greydusk shifted forht, and whirled intoclaws My consort stayed clear, and with each blow, he set the Sareht They screa, their skin, and in their distraction, Greydusk gutted thehter

When there were twenty corpses, I stepped lightly through the pile “Where do you suppose they’re keeping my father?”

Greydusk considered “Hard to say Oz said they had been experi on him, so the labs would see whether to warn me “They’ll send spell casters from this point”

“I am aware”

“We’ll kill them even quicker,” Chance said

“You are worthy” Surprised and pleased, I leaned over to kiss him He must kno favored that made him, for me to show affection before witnesses The queens of Sheol had never been known for their softness

In another part of the co; they would thin the resistance we faced Distant noises hinted at marvelous destruction—booms and thumps and shudders and the faint, delicate scent of smoke Perfection

“I’ht,” he said as we pushed deeper into the compound “I mean, you’re such a powerful sorceress that they should have suspected it would be hard to restrain you afterward”

“I suspect Oz didn’t know I could tap their secret well He i e”

“Secret well?” Greydusk asked

Which answered my next question The Imaron couldn’t sense it, apparently “Tell me about the Saremon,” I ordered

“They’re descended froh scions who interbred with deanized sufficiently to form their own caste They focus on events in Sheol over the hu their own arcane powers They maintain an occult library which is the envy of the other castes”

I thought about that “That’s probably why I can sense their source”

“And I cannot”