The five males silently arranged themselves around the circular table. Megan unsurprisingly, sat herself directly opposite Ambrose, while being sat next to the Governor. Sephora, naturally took her place beside her mate, on his right - the bastion of flame, next to the eternal mountain.Ambrose gazed around the table, content that everyone had his attention, he opened is hands out before him, in a gesture for them to begin. As before, it was Emissary Brock that spoke first,"Lord Inferus understands that Lord Mortem has declared war on you and your lands, for reasons currently unknown. And therefore, we need some clarification before our Lord would be willing to sacrifice our men, on your behalf." The male's brown eyes were dull, resigned, and as formal as his words.Sephora was a stranger to such politics, but she supposed there was no better way to learn - than on the job. Everyone knew she was a young new Lady of the court, and so she would be forgiven for making any naive mistakes

Everything was muffled, the only thing Sephora cared about was that screaming female, and that damned hand that she'd dragged down her mate, like he was some possession. Sephora allowed a bit of heat to escape from the flames, enough that it had begun to slowly, painfully burn the female's delicate hand. She could hardly hear Megan scream for mercy, under the rage that thundered in her ears, though she could have sworn what smelt like burning flesh reached her nose. Ambrose tried to stop Sephora again,"My Lady, you can stop now, I believe you've made your point." Ambrose's voice was surprisingly calm. Like he wasn't worried at the fact that Sephora had just broken his promise, not to harm the visitors. No, in fact it was almost the opposite - pride gleamed behind those gorgeous green eyes, his features were relaxed and neutral.And just to prove a point, just because he was her Lord and her mate - and he had asked her to, Sephora stopped. Her flames winked out as though they had neve

She knew Samhain was approaching once again, and she could only pray that none of her family would be picked, that she wouldn't wake up to see her brother standing before her throne. Life as an Ardanam wasn't all that terrible, but it was not a life she wanted for her brother. No matter how long Sephora would live, she would always feel different, she will always live her new life, knowing that she was once a human. That small part of her was still there, that human side of her hadn't been entirely destroyed within the Veil. It was probably the reason the Veil hadn't given her Ardanam immortality - because under everything, she had fought to keep that one part of her human. And it was that part of her, that wouldn't allow Vince to destroy the veil-stones, that would give everything she had and would fight with all her might, to ensure the same thing didn't happen to her family.Dressed in her favourite leather armour, Sephora jumped into the fighting pit and landed with a smooth roll,

Sephora couldn't have been more amazed at the reactions they got, and by the time they had visited all the families - it was safe to say that Sephora was utterly exhausted. Ambrose noticed."You should get changed out of that heavy thing, and have a rest - you've earned it." He mused, on their way back to the palace. Sephora's feet were screaming at her from all the walking, and she was obliged to agree with him."That sounds like a wonderful idea," She breathed, and then quirked a smile, "As long as you carry me to my bedroom."Ambrose laughed, just as the gold and silver gates breezed open for them. "I would never carry you in that monstrosity -" He nodded his head toward her black dress, with an amused grin. "It's so big and puffy, I would most likely drop you on the way up the stairs."Sephora chuckled, as they walked up to the huge obsidian stone doors at the entrance of the palace. "Who said I had to be wearing anything?" She purred, casting him a side-long glance for his reacti

The next few days were the happiest of Sephora's life. Her combat training with Ambrose had resumed, and now she was learning how to wield a dagger. It was harder than it looked, and most of the time Sephora managed to cut herself more than the wooden training dummy Ambrose had provided for her. And Ambrose... Ambrose was her joy, her happiness, her soul. He was everything she wanted and more.He was so patient with her, as she tried and failed to throw her knife at the targets he'd set up. Carefully instructing her how to angle her wrist, how throwing knives was all about flicking your wrist with the correct amount of force and speed. He'd demonstrated how it was done, by throwing a dagger of his own at the target, and hit the bulls-eye first time. It was such a good shot, that even Ambrose had been rather proud of his aim, as though it didn't happen very often - Sephora chuckled at that.Frustratingly, Sephora still hadn't managed to wrangle out of Ravyn what had made her cry. She k