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"So you intend to treat my darling Ashlynn like another mine full of unique treasures."

Nyrielle’s words exploded among the onlookers like a crack from Heila’s whip, shocking them to silence and bringing even the nearby servants to a halt.

Could Beilan truly have been that audacious?

Some shook their heads while others turned away, afraid to see the moment of a friend or business partner’s gruesome death at the hands of one of the most powerful vampires to walk the earth.

"Never!" Beilan said with more heat than he’d intended.

"The wonders that her Dominion can create are not just treasures, they’re living manifestations of her love for her home and her desire to protect it," he said.

His hands clenched into fists at his sides and a thin rivulet of blood trickled from one fist where his nail had pierced the soft scales of his palm.

Ashlynn hadn’t just described the treasures she could create when he met with her.

Because of Nereida and everything she had done to help the pair of witches when they arrived in High Fen City, Ashlynn had taken out a bottle of Thornback Egg Paste.

As a man and a husband who had always asked his wife to wait ’one more year’ while he secured one business deal or another, the look on his wife’s face when that bottle appeared told him that his days without children of his own were about to come to an end.

But when he’d asked Ashlynn the price for such a life changing elixir, she’d shaken her head and asked only that he lend the might of his business empire to her cause whenever he could.

What she’d asked for hardly seemed like sufficient repayment for the boon his yet hatch children would reap, but now that he stood before the cold and ruthless Nyrielle he realized why Ashlynn might feel the need to compensate him so well.

The things she would ask of him would not be easy, but if he couldn’t succeed here, at this very first hurdle, then he had no business calling himself her ally and working on her behalf.

"I will not trade such treasures for gold or jewels," he swore. Holding out the hand he’d accidently pierced with his sharpened nails he squeezed his fist and let blood drip to the stone floor, breaking the tense silence with the steady splat of falling drops of blood.

"I swear to you, there is no price that could match up to the value of these things, and I will never dishonor the gifts that her Dominion is willing to entrust to me.

For every wonder she sees fit to birth, I will return something that could not be obtained with lesser means or I will return to her what she entrusted to me. "

"My husband knows many powerful people," Nereida said quickly, slithering up beside her husband and holding tightly to his other arm arm. "What he’s offering to do is to give you and Lady Ashlynn access to his network of those people and to broker the kind of support from them that normal money can’t buy. "

"And, and if you demand it," Nereida said a touch awkwardly, feeling like she had to match up to her husband’s grand gesture. "Then I will remain at Lady Ashlynn’s side, as servant and hostage to ensure my husband never breaks his oath."

"Nereida," Ashlynn said softly with a complicated expression on her face. She understood that Heila’s friend was attempting to offer herself up as a hostage, but she’d been an aggressive social climber for far too long and her habits had betrayed her.

Perhaps Nyrielle would hear the offer to become a hostage for what it was, but it was more likely that she would see it as an attempt to insert herself more permanently into Ashlynn’s growing inner circle.

"Ashlynn, my darling," Nyrielle said, softening her tone and turning to look at her anxious lover. She could feel the echo of Ashlynn’s heart racing within her chest and she knew that despite the way she’d reacted, Ashlynn both wanted to protect this merchant and wanted to continue her plan.

"You’re being willful again," she said with a soft smile.

"I know," Ashlynn said, stepping close and wrapping her arms around Nyrielle so she could look up into the other woman’s midnight gaze from inches away. "So indulge me this time."

Suddenly, thunderous applause broke out across the arena on the floors above and anywhere on the first floor that was far enough away from Nyrielle to avoid getting caught up in the frigid darkness of her anger.

On the arena sands, Savis and Tausau stood proudly, covered in blood and victory.

Their victory alone, however, wasn’t enough to stir the fervor of the crowd.

Instead, it was the sight of the two vampires lifting the final surviving combatants to their feet.

One was a swordsman from the Clan of the Great Claw and the other was the halberd weilder from the Glass Eyed Clan.

"These men," Savis roared in a voice so loud it could be heard even over the cheering of the crowd. "Fought to the last, like true champions should! Tonight, we not only spare their lives... we offer them a place!"

"Join us, champions," Tausau said in a voice almost as loud as his elder brother’s. "Take a place in my brother’s Black Wolf Brigade and fight to cover yourselves in more glory than this arena can ever offer you."

"Join us," Savis echoed. "And one day, you may earn the right to become our progeny!"

Both gladiators stood in stunned silence while the audience erupted in shouts and mutters. Some chanted loudly that the honored warriors should accept the offer while others begged that they stay to bring even more glory to the arena.

Both men shared a single look, each one understanding that the opportunity they obtained had been won with equal parts luck and skill.

If Tausau had thrown his shield at the other man, or if Savis had targeted the man with a halberd instead of the one with a spear, the outcome would have been entirely different.

Now, if they stayed, the crowd’s expectations of them might be greater than they could ever fulfill, but if they came under the command of the men who gave them this opportunity, who surely knew that they obtained this chance through no small measure of luck.

.. The look they shared lasted for the briefest of moments before both men knelt before the powerful vampires who spared their lives.

"We pledge our lives to serve!"

On the first floor of the arena, Nyrielle turned away from the spectacle and gave the serpentine merchant and his wife a deep, evaluating stare that made the couple feel as though the vampire could see through their very scales.

And who knew, perhaps she could. It was said that the Harbinger of Death could destroy a person’s soul, so who was to say what she was looking at when she stared at them like a judge pondering whether or not they should be executed.

"My darling told me that merchants must have courage similar to warriors," Nyrielle said slowly.

"And that the wars you wage are no less dangerous than the battles fought on the sands. I still don’t know that I believe her," the vampire said in a very cold tone before her voice softened and she withdrew the last of the dark energy that pooled around her.

"But today, I have seen a man who fights for wealth stand before me with courage and conviction great enough to rival the men who just fought my great-uncles on the sands," Nyrielle said with a gentle smile.

"So I will accept your sincerity, and your company when the Willow Witch takes to the stands in the evening’s final battle. "

"I’m not yet convinced that this plan of yours is a good idea, my love," Nyrielle said as she wrapped one wing around Ashlynn, leading her away from the crowd and gesturing for Beilan and Nereida to follow.

"But I’m willing to give these two a chance.

If nothing else, I will accept their aid for the lesser challenge of improving our returns on what we obtain from Airgead Mountain. Does that satisfy you, my love?"

"A chance is all that I would ever ask for," Ashlynn said sweetly as they headed toward High Lady Erna’s private box.

The other arrangements she had in mind would need to wait until the days to come, but if the cannal project had been the most ambitious, this one had been the riskiest. Having gained at least some support for both, Ashlynn considered this to be her own victory for the evening.

Now, all that remained was for Heila to triumph over Yotsun’s challengers and the night would be a complete success...