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Dragon

A Sword Master notices everything It&039;s part of what h it didn&039;t take his preternatural abilities of observation for Dragon Lankford to know soroup It only took following his instincts and asking one simple question

Shortly after second hour was underway Dragon instructed his students to begin their warm-up exercises, and told the at hi him Darius and Stark were talented Warriors-both more than capable in their specialized areas of weaponry Darius was probably the on had ever known, and Stark&039;s infal ibility with bow and arroas, indeed, awe inspiring

Neither of those abilities , iift in itself, and Dragon very much doubted that two such youthful vampyres had the experience and wisdom needed to be true professors

She had been young when she wasThat was how he&039;d met her-his mate-his life-his own He knehat Anastasia would say were she here She would se others harshly because of their youth-that once he had kno that felt She would remind him that he was in the perfect position to mentor the youths-to be sure they developed into worthy Warriors and exceptional teachers

But Anastasia was as dead as the past and because of that his life was utterly changed Dragon did not want to supervise or ht of the fact that they had begun this extra class so that he would not have to suffer the presence of the Raven Mocker turned boy But Dragon was finding that duty was an odd thing Even though he had stepped away from the path he&039;d walked with his mate and his Goddess, it seemed he had not become entirely free of the bonds that tied hily, Dragon gave in to the instinct that was telling hi Warriors and made the short trek from the field house to the arena of Lenobia&039;s stables where Stark and Darius had set up their Warrior training

As soon as he placed foot inside the sawdust arena, Dragon knew he&039;d been right to be concerned The two va-the human stable man was Lenobia was nowhere to be seen, and the two Warriors were following Aphrodite froust

"Darius!" he called The young vao ahead, and then he hurried over to Dragon "Why is a hu your class?"

"It cannot be avoided," Darius said "Stark and I must escort Aphrodite and Zoey"

"Escort theon could see that Darius was not co the subject with him, but he really had very little choice Noviews on Rephaion was still Darius&039;s ranking Warrior, and as thus he owed the Sword Master an answer

"Thanatos is going to lead Zoey and her circle in a ritual at her grandmother&039;s farm The spell involved is supposed to reveal the on felt the shock of it-this was er, even if the threat was more emotional than physical I should have been inforon kept his thoughts veiled and only asked, "Why now, during school hours, is this ritual taking place?"

"This is the fifth night after her ht for each of the elements Four would be incoht"

"Yes, that is how Thanatos explained it, too" Darius added, obviously uncoo, Sword Master? My Prophetess awaits"

"Yes, you o Then, with a gried direction and made his way quickly to the classroom Thanatos had h Priestess was still there, looking through one of the cupboards in the rear of the roo candles and herbs, which she placed carefully in a large spell work basket that was all too familiar to hiht of it made him feel raw and exposed Nevertheless, he cleared his throat and said, "Priestess, may I have a ith you?" Thanatos turned at the sound of his voice "Certainly, Sword Master"

"Darius tellsZoey&039;s circle in a reveal ritual and soh he didn&039;t frame the words in a question, Thanatos nodded "Yes"

"Priestess, I was under the impression that you are aware that I aht"

"I areed

"Then, though I do not mean to admonish you or show you disrespect, Ier"

Thanatos hesitated, and then she nodded, as if agreeing with him "You are correct, because of your position at this school I should have informed you of my plans I did not for a very simple reason: I decided that your presence at the ritual would be a distraction; therefore, I did not include you and did not inforize if that seems I did not respect your position That was not my intention"

"A distraction? Why would I be a distraction?"

"As Stevie Rae&039;s Consort and protector, Rephaion retorted, "What does Rephai a distraction?"

"If you harm the Consort of the Priestess who embodies the earth ele her very pivotal part in the reveal ritual, and it will hinder the spell work to follow"

"I would be there to protect our students Not to harh clenched teeth

"And yet Aphrodite has been given a vision wherein you appear to be har Rephaiering the other students!"

"Be that as it on, two other Warriors will be present, and the power of Zoey&039;s circle will be strong The students are protected And, Sword Master, let e in you since the death of your rieve her loss"

"Sword Master, I think the truth is that you are lost And even were Rephai to be at the ritual, I would not want you present"

"Then I will leave you so as not to be a distraction" Dragon spun on his heels, but before he could exit the room, Thanatos&039;s words snared him

"Please let me explain I would not want you present at any ritual wherein a spell was cast to reveal the truth about death with the intent to bring about justice and closure I do not mean to insult you, but I sense that you are in such conflict in your own life that your presence would siainst the very heart of the spell"

As if her words had foron stopped He did not turn to look at the High Priestess In a voice he hardly recognized as his own, he spoke "My presence would go against the very heart of the spell Is that what you said to me?"

"I spoke the truth to you as I know it"

"Is that all you wish to say to me, Priestess?" He still did not turn to look at her

"Yes, except that I wish you to blessed be, Sword Master"

Dragon didn&039;t bow to her He didn&039;t fist his hand over his heart in respect He could not If he didn&039;t get away so that he could think Dragon felt as if he would explode He stunoring the curious glances froht building and stumbled outside

Meh his mind He&039;d been present when a different Warrior had been kept froo, but he could hear Anastasia&039;s voice as clearly as if she&039;d just spoken the words

I do not mean to insult you, but I cannot cast a peace spell while I&039;ainst the very heart of the spell

The High Priestess at Tower Grove House of Night had agreed with her young professor of Spells and Rituals and coon escort Anastasia in place of a va her that night-atching over her while she cast a peace spell in the heart of St Louis

And he&039;d failed Anastasia

Oh, she&039;d lived She&039;d not been killed that night, but Dragon had allowed evil to escape his sword That same evil, one hundred and seventy-seven years later, had on was breathing hard He was leaning against so to the heat that boiled in his body Blinking, he looked up and realized where his feet had taken hiainst the statue of Nyx that stood before her teazed at the Goddess&039;swind blew the clouds fro her eyes

She see at him with such a terrible sense of sadness that it ht had been broken into so ain, ache

It was then that Dragon understood what heto the ritual I&039;ll watch and not interfere-unless evil tries to strike again If it does, this tiive you my oath I will cut it down" Zoey

"Are you sure we shouldn&039;t ask Shaylin to co with Rephaim in their usual place on the bus while aited for Thanatos to join us

"I really think it&039;s not right for her to come," I said "She&039;s only been Marked for just a few days She hasn&039;t had tiure out her True Sight thing"

"Plus, we&039;re not advertising that she has True Sight," Aphrodite said "The less people know about our business, the better"

"She was part of Krah," Stevie Rae said

"We don&039;t know that for sure The poem said"-I squinted, like that could help my memory and then, mostly accurately I recited-"the poeht, Darkness doesn&039;t equate to evil, and Light doesn&039;t always bring good&039; What if the True Sight part is the same as most of Kramisha&039;s poems-meant to be symbolic and not literal?"

"Goddess, I hate poetry," Aphrodite said

"Kramisha&039;s not co weirdly whiny "Shouldn&039;t we get her?"

"No, Stevie Rae, we need to stick with our circle-our core group," I said

"The Herd of Nerd, plus the guys and moi," Aphrodite said "Bumpkin, what&039;s your issue? It&039;s not like we haven&039;t taken on the world before and come out mostly ahead"

"You sound scared," Dalanced behindmidway back with Erin

"I am scared," she admitted softly

"Do not be scared" Rephaim slid his arm around her "Aphrodite&039;s vision has forewarned us Nothing will happen toscared isn&039;t sh onna see how onna have to be ready for so terrible and super hard to watch Aphrodite had a vision of Rephai ready to go do I think it&039;s okay if Stevie Rae is scared, you should be scared, too, Rephaih so you&039;ll both be prepared and ready for bad stuff if it happens"

"I&039;htened," Damien admitted "Jack&039;s death is still too raw, too close, and thinking about seeing another death frightens me"