“I'd heard that if you saw a Reaper, you saw what you expected to see, what you thought the agents of Death would look like. Personally, I wanted to see little, fuzzy pink bunnies, but apparently my subconscious visualized tall, scary, and skeletal. My subconscious and I needed to have a long talk.”

“You wearing a thigh sheath?”“Now what would be the sense of wearing just one? I have two thighs.”

“Do you trust me?” Tam said it almost too softly to be heard. I hesitated, sighed, then reached down and took his hand. Tam’s fingers wrapped warm and strong around mine. The magic sparked between us, though this time it was warm and tingling, not violent and lustful. “Though you’re the last thing I need,” I muttered. I heard the smile in his voice. “But I’m the first thing you want.”

“Mychael said the rock’s not affecting you, and from what I’m seeing I’m inclined to agree.”“I beg to differ.”“Feeling evil?” Justinius asked.“No.”“Having an urge to overthrow governments, kill thousands?”“No and no.”“Take over the world?”“Too much work.”

“I gave Carnades a slow, cold smile that told him that and much more. If Tam could act cool and confident, so could I. In reality I was scared shitless and mad as hell, but considering how close I was to a whole row of empty cells, I thought I'd keep that to myself for now. I could always let my rage out to play later. I didn't want to, but if Carnades pushed me too far, I would push back. He'd seen the Saghred's full power in me when I'd crushed a demon the size of a small house, right here in this very room. He know what I could do, but he thought I wouldn't do it. If he laid a hand on Tam or Mychael, I'd show him just how wrong he was.”

“I knew there was evil in the world. Death and taxes were all necessary evils.So was shopping."I hate shopping," I muttered."Of course you do," Phaelan said. "You're a Benares, [the daughter of a long line of professional thieves]. We're not used to paying for anything." Phaelan was my cousin; he called himself a seafaring businessman. Law enforcement in every major city called him "that damned pirate," or less flattering epithets, none of them repeatable here...."Have you considered something in scarlet leather?" Phaelan mused from beside me."Have you considered just painting a bull's eye on my back?" I retorted.My cousin wasn't with me because he liked shopping. He was by my side because being within five feet of me was a guarantee of getting into trouble of the worst kind. Phaelan hadn't plundered or pillaged anything in weeks. He was bored. So this morning, he was a cocky, swaggering invitation for Trouble to bring it on and do her worst.”

“My family's big on denial. And if we denied something long enough, we thought it'd go away. I know that's not how it works, but we're in denial about that, too.”