“It was a risk,” Elgar agreed, staring down at the skull that had been placed in his hands as soon as he had returned. “But it was necessary.”
“Was it? Was it really?” Balthazar sounded as if he didn’t believe that at all.
“He saved us,” Demos said.
Ryder had already left them to find Grayson. He had named Demos the representative of the Weryn Vampires in his stead.Whatever emotions Ryder felt towards Legion were obviously trumped by those he felt for Ashyr. Putting Demos in charge had been a good choice. The Weryn Vampire was even-keeled and thoughtful. He was like an anchor in a storm, which was helping as Balthazar rode the waves of a very stormy sea.
“Elgar took charge,” Sana pointed out. “He had a plan and it was a good one.”
Balthazar pinched the top of his nose. “Of course, he had a plan. Of course, he took charge. But I wonder if he had to do quite all that he did. Or was he trying to prove to me that he doesn’t need to be taken care of?”
Elgar shrugged. “It was both.”
“Well, I hate to inform you of this, Elgar, but your strength doesn’t stop me from needing to fuss over and take care of you!” Balthazar’s hands were resting on his hips now. “So you may be big and bad, but you willalwaysbe my fledgling. No matter what! So that means I want to keep you safe above all things.”
Elgar smiled at the skull and whispered, “Thank you, Master.”
“We give to others what we want ourselves,” Fiona chuckled at Balthazar.
“Roan’s attention wasnotsomething to be desired. It was certainly nothing that ever made me feel safe.” Balthazar shuddered.
Fiona looked alarmed. Her eyes flickered from Balthazar to Caemorn. “No, I meant…” She clearly thought better of bringing up his relationship with Caemorn. She likely feared that seeing Roan again had inspired all sorts of bad thoughts and she likely was right. “I don’t know what I meant. Just not what you were thinking.”
Caemorn understood that Balthazar was rocked by there being more Roan slices out there. The fact that they had not reformed around him told Caemorn that they were indeed verydifferent from him. Unrecognizable actually. Which was good. But he was also responsible for creating them and having them enter Balthazar’s life in the first place, which was bad.
“Roan is–wasoris?--god, I don’t even know! To think I only killedoneof him. That there are more! In some ways, that makes me glad, because killing him once wasn’t enough. And because there are many of him, people who want revenge on him whether for themselves or for others get their shots in too. Maybe we should all have enemies that can slice and dice themselves! Highly useful to scratch that revenge itch!” Balthazar let out a sharp laugh.
“How many do you think there are?” Demos asked, his expression darkening.
Balthazar’s gaze flicked to Legion and then Shaela. “They don’t know. But considering the amount of power it took to bring the Harrows back, Caemorn, I’m imagining that he cannot have made a ton of them.”
“He did have access to Nightvallen and the Kaly Palace,” Caemorn reminded him. “I will have to do an inventory of soul gems to see how many are missing.”
“Good grief! Could there be dozens out there or something?” Balthazar had paled.
“No, Roan would be far more insane if there were,” Caemorn assured him.
But he would have thought thatthreeslices–one had been killed by Balthazar and one killed by Elgar while there was at least another out there–to be impossible. Maybe Roan had melded his soul with the people he’d overtaken. Almost like gene splicing. That would have made their souls more stable, but also account for the differences between himself and these Roans. That raised a whole host of possibilities that he wasn’t sure he wanted to contemplate with Balthazar in this state.
“Considering the company he keeps, I’m not sure he isn’t crazy,” Sana said with a grimace. “You two didn’t hear what he said to Legion. The joy he took in having them mutilate themselves.” She shuddered and Fiona patted her back. “Roan wasn’t normal.”
“I saidmoreinsane,” Caemorn corrected quietly. “I am certain he is quite unhinged, but not shattered and unable to act or plan. That is the difference.”
“He was shattering at the end,” Demos said. “The stress and anger… he forgot himself.”
“Yes, he was lost, which made him easier to catch and control,” Elgar said.
“Don’t downplay your accomplishment here, Elgar! Shattering or not, wasn’t what Elgar did impressive, Caemorn? Fiona, you must admit, he controlled Shaela and stopped her from teleportingpluskept Legion from tearing them all aboutandmade Roan gem himself!” Balthazar was smiling now though he still looked quite peaky.
“I wonder if you’re aware that bragging about Elgar–however earned it is, I might add–will likelynotencourage him to act more safely in the future,” Fiona pointed out mildly as she was making sure that Sana was fine.
“Well! Yes, but… it was impressive!” Balthazar was irrepressible as always.
“It was,” Fiona agreed. She gently placed a hand on Elgar’s arm. “Thank you for keeping Sana and everyone safe, Elgar.”
Elgar blushed. He ducked his head even lower. “You are most welcome, Wyvern. But my actions were not enough. Roan used the Necrolyte and we have lost Forsworn.”
“Don’t you worry about that, Elgar,” Demos said. “There would have been a lot more damage done if you hadn’t acted. Ryder meant what he said when he told us he accepted what happened to his territory.”
