Heir to the Shadows

still wears the Black. If someone tried to 'hold' you, what sort of memories would that stir up?"
    "She's right, Lucivar," Saetan said calmly. "If he thinks this friend is leading him into a trap, no matter what her real intentions, what little trust he has in her will shatter, and that will be the last time she finds him. At least, while there's anything worth finding."
    Lucivar thumped the wall with his fist. He kept thumping the wall while he swore, long and low. Finally, he rubbed the side of his hand against the other palm. "Then I'll go back to Terreille and get him."
    "Why should he trust you?" Jaenelle said bitterly.
    Pain flared in Lucivar's eyes.
    Saetan felt Jaenelle's inner barriers open just a crack. He didn't stop to think. At the moment when she was torn between anger at and distress for Lucivar, he swept in and out of that crack, tasting the emotional undercurrents.
    So their little witch thought she could force them to yield. Thought she had an emotional weapon they wouldn't challenge.
    She was right. She did.
    But now, so did he.
    "Let her go, Lucivar," Saetan crooned, his voice a purring, soft thunder. Still leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, he tilted his upper body in a mocking bow. "The Lady has us by the balls, and she knows it."
    He felt bitterly pleased to see the wariness in Jaenelle's eyes.
    She looked quickly at both of them. "You're not going to stop me?"
    "No, we're not going to stop you." Saetan smiled malevolently. "Unless, of course, you don't agree to pay the price for our submission. If you refuse, the only way you'll walk out of here is by destroying both of us."
    Such a neat trap. Such sweet bait.
    He confused her, had finally managed to unnerve her.
    She was about to find out how neatly he could spin her into a web.
    "What's your price?" Jaenelle asked reluctantly.
    One casual, flicking glance took in everything from her head to her feet. "Your body."
    She dropped the knife.
    It probably would have cut off a couple of toes if Lucivar hadn't vanished it in midair.
    "Your body, my Lady," Saetan crooned. "The body you treat with such contempt. Since you obviously don't want it, I'll take it in trust for the one who already has a claim to it."
    Jaenelle stared at him, her eyes wide and blank. "You want me to leave this body? Like I did before?"
    "Leave?" His voice sounded silky and dangerous. "No, you don't have to leave. I'm sure the claimant would be perfectly willing to give you a permanent loan. But it would be a loan, you understand, and you would be expected to give the body the same kind of care you'd give any object lent to you by a friend."
    She studied him for a long time. "And if I don't take care of it? What will you do?"
    Saetan pushed away from the wall.
    Jaenelle flinched, but her eyes never left his.
    "Nothing," he said too softly. "I won't fight with you. I won't use physical strength or Craft to force you. I'll do nothing except keep a record of the transgressions. I'll never ask you for an explanation, and I'll never explain for you. You can try to justify abusing part of what Daemon paid for with dear coin."
    Jaenelle's face turned dead white. Saetan caught her as she swayed and held her against his chest.
    "Heartless bastard," she whispered.
    "Perhaps," he replied. "So what is your answer, Lady?"
    * Jaenelle! You promised!*
    Jaenelle jumped out of his arms, back-pedaled to try to keep her balance, and ended up with her back smacking against the wall.
    Saetan studied Jaenelle's guilty expression and began to feel maliciously cheerful. Noting that Lucivar had come up
    on her blind side, he turned his attention toward the annoyed, half-grown Sceltie and the silent, but equally annoyed, Arcerian  kitten who now weighed  as much  as Lucivar and still had five more years to grow. "What did the Lady promise?" he asked Ladvarian. *You promised to eat and sleep and read books and take easy walkies until you healed,* Ladvarian said accusingly, staring at Jaenelle.
    "I am," Jaenelle stammered. "I did." * You've been playing with Lucivar.* Lucivar stepped away from the wall so that they could see his left arm. "She was playing rough, too." Ladvarian and Kaelas snarled at Jaenelle. "This is different," Jaenelle snapped. "This is important. And I wasn't playing with Lucivar. I was fighting with him."
    "Yes," Lucivar agreed mournfully. "And all because I thought she should be resting instead of pushing herself until she collapsed." Ladvarian and Kaelas snarled