Defiant, through and through.He needed her to leave at the same time his heart screamed for her nearness.
The uncertainty in his expression coerced Neyu to take another small step forward.Panic and desire flared in equal measure, and Saer snarled.“Enough!Help if you want, but we’re not doing this again.”
Neyu didn’t seem convinced, but she ceased her advancement.“If that’s your wish.”
“It is.”
Neyu schooled her features into a neutral expression.“Kalia, join us.”
It took everything in Saer to keep his disappointment from showing.
Kalia returned with stilted caution, and Neyu relayed the events which led them to Saer—a trek through the desert, being found by the scouts, up until the ruckus outside his dwelling.Once she’d finished, Neyu grimaced.“Tell us what we need to know.”
“Straight to business after all that?”Saer muttered under his breath as he stepped towards the paper-laden table.
“You didn’t leave the option for much else,” Neyu sniped.
Saer’s hands fumbled on the leaflets as he shot a cautionary glance towards Neyu, but he otherwise gave no indication that he’d heard the comment.Kalia didn’t appear fazed.
He forced a deep breath.“There’ve been complications.”
“Complications?”
Saer raked a hand through his hair.“You met the root of them on your way in.Ahraan—”
“That man!”Kalia interjected.Neyu and Saer turned towards her, and she shrank.“He said something to Neyu before we came in here.”
Saer’s eyes slid back to the demoness.“I noticed that as well.”
“Only to greet us.”
Saer gauged Lust a heartbeat longer, not believing her but not willing to push it quite yet.“Ahraan is interfering with my plans.I was all but this village’s commander before he showed up—they’re divided, now.He’s winning the lot over at present, and they’re less likely to listen to me.”
“The two who brought us here did what you told them,” Neyu challenged.
Saer leaned his hip against the table.“Not without argument.That hasn’t happened before.I was fortunate when Ahraan backed away from you.No doubt, he’s biding his time or talking to them as we speak.”
“How do we convince them of our ways?”Neyu sank down until she sat upon Saer’s leafy bed.
Again, Saer shook his head.“They won’t come by force.Fewer and weaker join in such a manner.But I’m running out of tricks.”
Kalia picked at her fingernails as she considered Saer’s statement.“They’ve seen the healing?Sealing wounds with fire?That’s usually sufficient.”
Saer hesitated.“Ahraan can do it, too.”
“What?”Neyu and Kalia exclaimed in unison.
“Yes,” he said.“And without pain.”
Kalia’s jaw dropped.She turned towards Neyu’s equally shocked face.
“What is he?”Neyu’s quiet voice broke the tense moment.
“I don’t know,” Saer said with equal softness.“I’ve been trying to figure that out.But he is very, very good.”
“So, we find his weakness and exploit it, or otherwise find a way to discredit him,” Neyu said.
Saer shook his head.“Don’t think I haven’t tried.He’s held in reverence.Verbally attacking him without cause will only weaken my stance.The situation is…” he paused, clenched his fist, and dipped his voice lower.“Delicate.”
