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"Ashe."
"Oh,
you do remember me, then? I'm flattered."
Her voice
was low and steady. "Leave now, and no harm will come to you."
An ugly
laugh escaped him. "How very generous. I'm afraid I can't do that,
but I can extend the same offer to you." Slowly he dropped his
cloak to the polished floor of the basilica and took a step toward her.
Rhapsody
felt the bony hand of the Patriarch touch her shoulder. "Leave now,
my child. I can't ask you to make this sacrifice."
Rhapsody's
eyes never left the handsome face that smiled at her as it had in her
dreams since she first beheld it in the forest. She reminded herself
that, whatever kindness he may have seemed to show her in the Past, he
was now her adversary. Her stomach turned in sickening betrayal. She
addressed the Patriarch without looking back. "You didn't ask. I
came unbidden, remember?"
Her opponent
moved nearer. "Listen to His Grace, darling. This is not your
fight. Go back home to the Firbolg lands; go pleasure the Lord of the
Monsters. That's something I could never understand; such a beautiful
woman, such a horrible fate."
"Stay
inside the circle, Your Grace," said Rhapsody, gently shrugging the
trembling hand from her shoulder, watching her opponent's approach.
"Go about your ritual and don't worry. Focus on your
celebration."
The
crystalline blue eyes lost their insolent twinkle. "I tire of this
game," he said, his voice growing nasty. "The more you make me
play it, the more I shall play with you after I kill him. I have waited
a long time to have you, dear."
Rhapsody's
face hardened with anger. "Come, then," she said, her eyes
narrowing, her voice calm and deadly. "I'll try to ensure the experience
is memorable for you." Her hand came to rest on the hilt of Daystar
Clarion.
"Promise?"
he asked suggestively, moving slowly to the side, his hands open and at
the ready. "I can hardly wait." He drew a sword, one she had
not seen before. It was black tempered steel slashed with a white band,
and the air around him hissed as he raised it before him.
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