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shatters, part of you will always belong to him. Egidius is a master of
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elegance. He works slowly, using five blades in the style called Fifteen
Piercings."
Beth shuddered as he walked his fingers over her, poking her in the places
where the blades would be inserted. Then he bit savagely into her breast, and
began to suck, determined to enjoy his final taste of Beth.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THE MADNESS OF ISRANON
Amiri sat at her table near the window, with the golden sunlight flooding
over her notebooks and journals. She dipped her pen into the inkbottle at her
right hand and began to transcribe her notes from the last few sessions with
Isranon. As far she could tell he was still not eating, unless someone besides
Randilyn was taking nibari and food up to him he was still chasing Randilyn
and the nibari she brought her out of the suite. Despite this, Isranon had not
grown weaker. If anything, his recovery was continuing at a swift rate.
Something very strange was going on. The colors radiating from Isranon's groin
shaukras had progressively intensified. Amiri pushed aside the journal on
Isranon and opened the one she was keeping on Anksha.
She wondered why Anksha had begun wearing scarves. Amiri knew the Beast did
not like clothes, so scarves seemed an unlikely affectation. Also, Anksha's
coloring was off. She seemed pale to the point of her ivory skin looking
translucent with heightened spots of color in her cheeks. Anksha's walk had
also been sluggish lately, and she no longer bounced on the balls of her feet
the way she normally did. Amiri wondered if, perhaps, the demon-eater had
spent too much of herself in taking fifty sa'necari in less than sixteen
hours.
Randilyn emerged from the bedroom, with her golden hair loose about her
shoulders, and a frown marring her normally sweet countenance. "Come here and
listen to this."
"Hmmmn. What?" Amiri glanced up and wiped her pen off before laying it
aside.
Randilyn wore a loose sleeping robe of soft material that made her
accessible to her master's appetites. "The noises that Anksha's making."
Amiri grinned. "Are you turning into a voyeur, Randi?"
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Randilyn blushed furiously, the deep rose spreading from her face to her
shoulders and down across the exposed mounds of her ample breasts. Amiri's
eyes ran to Randilyn's bosom and the healing bruise on her left breast from
Amiri's feeding as they made love last night.
Seeing where Amiri's eyes had gone, Randilyn jerked her robe closed
indignantly. "No. It's just that the sounds aren't usually loud enough to come
through the walls like this... And and I think he's hurting her."
"Isranon? Anksha would never allow a blood-slave to hurt her. She would
never tolerate anyone hurting her."
"That's just it. I think they are."
Amiri pushed her chair back from the able and stood. "I'll come listen."
They went into the bedroom, and already Amiri could hear the sounds coming
through the walls. Anksha was making noises as if she were in great pain and
terror, while Isranon cursed and grunted loudly.
The arrangement of the furniture was such that the headboard of their
amber-curtained bed was wedged between two built in cinnabar-lacquered
wardrobes along the intervening wall separating their bedroom from Isranon's.
Amiri climbed onto the bed and crawled up to the wall, pushing aside the bed
curtains to put her ear to the wall.
Randilyn crouched beside her on the floor, resting her elbows on the
mattress. "What does it mean?"
Amiri closed her eyes and extended her arcane senses to catch the vibrations
leaking through the wood. She sensed a pattern of charcoal and scarlet beneath
the emotions. Anksha's terror and a under current of inexplicable helplessness
bled through the pattern. The demon-eater both wanted Isranon to stop and, on
a deeper level wanted what he was trying to achieve. But Amiri caught no clues
to what that might be. Then she shifted her focus to Isranon who was swearing
abusively. For an instant, Amiri almost lost her scientific calm. Blast after
blast of enchantary energy shook the room beyond the wall with rage. Suddenly
it clicked.
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"It means that matters have gotten out of control. They aren't simply having
sex, Randi. They're mating. I wonder how long this has been going on?"
Randilyn's brow furrowed as she reflected. "This is the first time they have
been this loud."
"But you've heard it before?"
"A little."
Amiri blinked and settled back on her haunches. "He must have bitten her.
That's the only thing that could have brought Anksha into season."
"When I was cataloguing the texts last winter, I found only a few surviving
paragraphs on the mating behaviors of demon-eaters. Shall I look for them?"
Amiri nodded, got up, and walked into the parlor. "Yes. But observation is
important. And caution."
"But why is he being so cruel?"
Amiri exhaled loudly. "Because he doesn't consciously realize that he's
trying to impregnate her. So the bond is twisting his mind."
Randilyn's brow furrowed and she pressed her hands together, lacing her
fingers. "He can't do that." A hush of worry entered Randilyn's voice.
"They're not the same species."
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