From the front of the court, Caspion demanded, "What is it?" Closer by, he asked, "Who is this pitiful creature? No, no, this isn't Tina. It can't be!" A touch on her forehead . . . a sucked in breath of recognition . . . a roar of grief. "Bettina!"
Raum bellowed, "What has happened?"
"Tina, wake up!" Caspion commanded her. "Ah, gods, stay with me. Stay."
For him, she managed to slit open one eye. His curling blond hair hung over his harried face. His own eyes had gone from midnight blue to black, signaling his emotion. They even started watering as he gazed over her injuries.
She saw a shining hero of old. Her beloved Cas.
He yanked off his warm coat, covering her. "A physic!" he yelled into the crowd. "Now!"
Others gathered around her. She heard Raum stomping closer. "Who's done this to my little Tina?" Something broke directly. No doubt from his fist. "Damn you, tell me! Who's hurt her?"
She tried to answer, parting her lips. . . . Her jaw must be broken.
Another anguished roar. Oh, Cas.
Visibly making an effort to control himself, he said, "You hang on and stay with me."
There's nowhere else I'd rather be than with you.
"I'll get you through this, Tina. I swear it. You're going to be all right," he said, his voice thick. "Don't leave me."
Bettina felt the tiniest sliver of hope, something to fight for. Surely Cas returned her feelings, saw her as more than a little sister.
"Will she live?" Raum bit out. "She's not hardy like a demoness, not strong like we are."
She hadn't been a true demon before. Now she was no longer a true sorceress. They took my root power. My soul.
A male she didn't recognize asked, "Has she frozen into her immortality?" The physic?
Cas answered, "She was on the cusp. Maybe by now . . ."
"We need a Sorceri healer. If we act quickly, the princess could recover," the physic said, but hastily qualified his statement: "Her body could recover from this."
What did that mean?
Raum ordered, "Find Tina's godmother! Don't return from the Sorceri plane without Morgana!" Coming into Bettina's line of vision, Raum yelled to Cas, "I should never have let her go! I was too lenient! Things will change in Abaddon!" His eyes were glinting, his voice choked up. The crusty old warrior was at a loss. He began ramming his horns against a stone wall, roaring to everyone, "Heed my words! We return to olden ways!"
Free of the attack, Bettina's body started trying to regenerate, nerves sparking to life once more. Pain erupted all over her, blistering waves of it.
Even in the midst of her escalating agony and lingering horror, the words olden ways struck fear in her heart.
Prince Trehan Daciano shot awake in the middle of the day, bolting upright from his pallet of furs.
He gazed around in confusion, seeing his usual surroundings-shelves of books, weapons, his sideboard with carafes of mead-laced blood.
Though he'd experienced no nightmare, sleep had been snatched from him, replaced by a marked unease. With each moment, he grew even more on edge, a feeling like . . . like emptiness settling in his chest.
Like dread. So different from his usual numbness.
Brows drawn, he rose, tracing across the spacious room to one of the curtained balconies.
These grand apartments had once been the royal library. Centuries ago, he'd moved in and never moved out, haunting this place until no other member of the family would enter.
Time and history seeped from these familiar stones. He knew every crag and groove as well as he knew his own grim reflection. Like these stones, I quietly endure the ages.
Drawing back the thick curtain, he gazed outside. From this height, Trehan could survey far into the Realm of Blood and Mist, the secreted lands of the mighty Dacians.