tair
en a fraction of an inch,
hunched on a sta
he sweat of horrific labor, dark strands of
urlap, her jaw clenched, her gaze fixed on the doorway with
ace clearly, I froze
. The sharp, proud s
ra in her youth.My heart hammered a
-six y
d since the Abyssal breach
gions of demons in his grief, while my sister-in-law, Barba
of Clan Stafford-had been swallowed by the dark, lost to
caught the air rolli
nt, synchronized beats. Swirling around their downy crowns was a faint
e, uncorrupted, anci
tide of my own tree spirit back behind iro
obsidian, locked onto mine. There was no terror in th
dragged the burlap higher, shielding the babes. "This is
I had ever used. "I am an itinerant healer of the upper sanctuaries. The
no business walking the gutter-ways of the Middle Reaches. But a
king it, the thick, pearlescent vapor of pristine, first-press Silverde
epths of the lower tiers, any elf
en were breathing in shallow, terrifying gasps. The desperate
r the weight of her desperation. "Please. I have three mont
epping to her side and kneeling on
apor into a fine mist that settled gently over the infan
iny cheeks as their starved spirit conduits
rom my sleeve, passing it over the infant's thumb. A droplet of crimson
hed the rough coarse cloth wrapped around the baby, and her e
hief Healer of the Great Council,I mean you or your younglings no harm,I onl
rystal toward her."Place you
could see the fear beh
old wall while keeping her babies tucked under her chin. "I owe no
p, flawed testing stones of the lower realms to decide." Th
hen slowly extended her bare, blood-stained left hand and pr
the crystal into her veins.
and dead, just like every cheap sto
ips. "See? I told you. There is no Tree Spiri
a sharp breath. My eyes widened as
ted-not the green of a Warden or the silver of a
tching an ancient, sacred leaf t
lling the cramped, freezing ward with the warmth of spring and
e-something ancient and va
d of the Sovereign..." I choked
ia
of Erasmus and Barbara, reduced to bleeding on a
to my arms, to call her niece, to summon the Gryphon
d her hand back. The blinding light vanished
oice shaking as her heart raced wi
cil Sigil from my robe, bit my own thumb to smear a drop of blood a
he glowing rune, my composed noble demea
her. Lowering my head and tilting my neck in
my lady. You are the
he corridor outside eru
ood shards rained across the stone floor as a stout, red-faced head medic
zing Warlord seal. "By order of Warlord Jake Ellis and the high house of Buck, every room, bed, an
empt. "You have fifteen minutes to drag your bastard runts into the
air turned to
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