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The following evening, Qhuinn stood in the far corner of Wrath&039;s study, wedged into the juncture of two pale blue walls The roo and forty feet across, and it had a ceiling lofty enough to give you a nosebleed But space was getting tight

Then again, there were a dozen or so big people packed in around the prissy French furniture

Qhuinn knew froone mother had liked the style, and back before he&039;d been disavowed from his fa on her Louis-the-soth crap

At least that was one area where he hadn&039;t been discriainst in his own house - she&039;d wanted only her and his sister to park it in those delicate seats He and his brother had not been perrimace, likely only because he&039;d paid for the stuff a couple hundred years before

Whatever

At least Wrath&039;s co as a car and probably weighed asit as the throne of the race And the huge desk in front of hiirl, either

Tonight, and as usual, Wrath looked like the killer he was: silent, intense, deadly Your basic anti - Avon lady Beside him, Beth, his queen and shellan, was co Eye dog, was looking well, kinda postcard-y But then golden retrievers were like that: picturesque, pretty, and pettable

More Donny Osain, Wrath more than made up for that one

Abruptly, Qhuinn dropped hisHe did not need to see as standing on the far side of the queen

Ah, hell

His peripheral vision orking far too well tonight

His slut of a cousin, his cocksucking, suit-wearing, Montblanc-up-the-ass cousin Saxton the Magnificent, was standing next to the queen, looking like a cone ad

Not that Qhuinn was bitter

Because the guy was sharing Blay&039;s bed

Nah

Nope Not at all

The cocksucker -

With a wince, he thoughta little farther away from what the two of theo there Not if he wanted to breathe

Blay was also in the roo away fros, or outside of them, they were never closer than three feet apart

Which was the only saving grace to living in the same house as the pair of the hands

Although it wasn&039;t as if Qhuinn didn&039;t lie awake during the day anyway, torturing himself with all kinds of Kama Sutra shit -

The door of the study opened and Tohr in Man, he looked as if he&039;d been rolled out of a hway, his eyes like piss holes in the snow, his bodystiffly as he went over to stand next to John and Xhex

At the arrival, Wrath&039;s voice cut through the convo, shutting everyone up "Now that we&039;re all here, I&039;e I got nothing good to say about any of this, so he&039;ll beyou"

As the Brothers got to ed his cane into the floor and got to his feet As usual, the half-breed was dressed in a black pin-striped suit - God, Qhuinn was starting to despise anything that had lapels - and a mink duster to keep him warular hits of dopamine, his eyes were violet, and mostly un-evil

Mostly He really wasn&039;t someone you wanted as an enemy, and not just because, like Wrath, he was the leader of his people: His day job was being king of the syhts he spent here with his shellan, Ehlena, living la vida vampire And never the twain shall hly valuable asset to the Brotherhood

"A nuo, a letter was sent out to every head of the re bloodlines" He reached into the mink and took out a folded sheet of what looked to be old-fashioned parche Mine took a while to reach me because it went to the Great Caot the address, and yes, I have confir his cane against the delicate sofa he&039;d been sitting on, he opened the parchertips, like he didn&039;t enjoy the feel of the thing Then in a low, deep voice, he read each sentence in the ancient language it had been composed in

My old, dear friend,

I a to advise you of h we have long tallied in the Old Country, the dire events of the previous few years in this jurisdiction have ood conscience, where we have previously established our domicile

As you perhaps have heard fro efforts have eradicated the Lessening Society in theit safe for our fair race to flourish in peace and security there Clearly, it is ti this stout arm of protection to bear on this side of the ocean - the race here in these parts has sustained untenable losses, ones that mayhap could have been avoided if we had been here sooner

I ask for nothing in return for our service to the race, although I would appreciate the opportunity to meet with you and the Council - if only to express my sincerest condolences at all you have borne since the raids It is a shas have coard,

Xcor

When Rehv was done, he folded the paper up and disappeared it No one said a thing

"That was my reaction, too," he ates, everybody talking at once, the curses flowing rich and heavy

Wrath ed on his desk until the la under his master&039;s throne When order was finally restored, it was like a stallion brought under control with a bit; a tenuous respite,than a true settle-down

"I understand the bastard was out last night," Wrath said

Tohred with Xcor, yes"

"So this is not a fake"

"No, but it ritten by someone else He&039;s illiterate - "

"I&039;ll teach the fucker to read," V ress up his ass"

As grunts of approval threatened to turn into ain "What do we know about his crew?"

Tohr shrugged "Assu he&039;s kept the same ones on, they&039;re a total of five Three cousins That porn star Zypher - "

Rhage harruh he was now very happily end - and it was him

"And Throe ith hioing to lie - it&039;s clear that Xcor&039;s ainst"

When he didn&039;t finish the statement, Wrath nodded "Me"

"Which would mean us - "

"Us - "

"Us - "

More voices than you could count uttered that one word, the single syllable co from every corner of the room, every seat cushion, every flat plane of wall so Unlike Wrath&039;s father, this king had been a fighter and a Brother first - so the bonds that had been formed were not out of some artifact of prescribed duty, but the fact that Wrath had stood beside them all in the field and saved their asses personally at one ti smiled a little "I appreciate the support"

"He needs to die" When everybody looked at Rehvenge, the guy shrugged "Plain and sis Let&039;s just take him out"

"Don&039;t you think that&039;s a little bloodthirsty, sin-eater?" Wrath drawled

"Fro you the ht now" And he ith a smile "Symphaths are known for efficiency"

"Yeah, and I can feel where you&039;re co from Unfortunately, the law provides that you have to make an attempt on my life before I can bury you"

"That&039;s where this is headed"

"Agreed, but our hands are tied My ordering the assassination of what is otherwise an innocent lymera"

"Why do you need to be associated with the death?"

"And if that bastard&039;s innocent," Rhage spoke up, "I&039;ood," so Hollywood from now on"

"Beasty Bo Peep," somebody else threw out

"We could put you in a Cadbury ad and finally e barked, "the point is that he is not innocent and I&039;m not the Easter bunny - "

"Where&039;s your basket?"

"Can I play with your eggs?"

"Hop it out, big guy - "

"Will you guys fuck off? Seriously!"

As various cottontail coht, Wrath had to pound the desk another ti froh, if they didn&039;t blow off a little stearim fast It didn&039;t , they all felt like Qhuinn did - socked in the gut

Wrath was the fabric of life, the basis for everything, the living, breathing structure of the race After the brutal raids by the Lessening Society, as left of the aristocracy had fled Caldwell to their safe ho the vamentation, especially in the forhtful ruler

And Rehv was correct: That here this was going Hell, even Qhuinn could see the path: Step one, create doubt in the lymera about the Brotherhood&039;s ability to protect the race Step two, fill the "void" in the field with those soldiers of Xcor&039;s Step three, create allies on the Council and stir up anger and lack of confidence against the king Step four, dethrone Wrath and weather the store as the new leader

When order in the study was finally reestablished, Wrath looked downright nasty "Next one of you ain, I&039; you the fuck out" On that note, he reached down, picked up the cowering ninety-pound retriever, and settled George in his lap "You&039;re freaking outboxy head in the crook of the king&039;s arm, Wrath stroked all that silky, blond fur It was absolutely incongruous, the treentle dog, but the two had a symbiotic relationship, trust and love thick as blood on both sides

"Now, if you&039;re ready to be reasonable," the king said, "I&039;ll tell you e&039;re going to do Rehv is going to stall the guy for as long as he can"

"I still think we should put a knife in his left eye," Rehv ot to hold him in place He wants to see and be seen, and as leahdyre of the Council, I can stonewall hilymera is not e need"

"In the o out and meet personally with the heads of the families, on their turf"

At this, there was an explosion in the roo: People juer hands