The blacksmith smiled at her, as she stared transfixed at what was in his hands. As though it were an extension of his body, a blade of steel was protruding from his dark palm, and growing in length. Sephora was fascinated and almost wanted to vomit at the same time. It was like watching a sword eater regurgitating a blade from his mouth, only this time it was coming out of his hand. Sephora tried to ignore the phantom slice of pain that followed, as she imagined it. Ambrose chuckled from beside her. Sephora looked up to glare at her mate, he knew what she'd been imagining. She playfully elbowed him in the ribs. Ambrose grinned and this time the blacksmith released a huff of amusement, just as the blade reached it's end and he caught it with both hands."There you have it." He stared proudly at the blade, before offering it to Sephora. She wordlessly took it out of his hands, marveling at how light the blade was, how sharp -"Ouch." Sephora sucked on her finger angrily. After all her t

"Sephora!" Ambrose bellowed as he knelt before her, his hands shaking with barely restrained fury. Sending the earth trembling in his anguish, Ambrose peered at his mate's face for any sign that she was alive. But her beautiful ashen face was perfectly still, no movement what so ever.He was crying, crying uncontrollably, as he brushed her auburn hair off her pale face. Pressing two fingers on the place at her neck, checking for a pulse - though he knew he would not find one. His mate, is wonderful, brilliant mate. The world trembled again under the Lord's mighty rage.Ambrose's men were still fighting all around him. Vince's armies hadn't yet retreated, and were still trying to get to the veil-stones. But Ambrose didn't care. All he cared about, the one person in his life that made him start to think immortality hadn't been a curse - was dead. Taken, by Vince. Vince... Ambrose could feel that dark side of him scratching at his skin, begging him to set it free - to cleave the world in

Sephora and Ambrose set off early in the morning for The Seer's mountain. Ambrose left Joe and Ravyn in charge while they were gone, both the General and the Shadow seemed to just be relieved that the Lord and Lady weren't arguing anymore.It took Sephora a while to figure out why they had been so tense, when Ambrose and her had arguments before - when she remembered that her Soulborn power was now probably stronger than even Ambrose. For an argument to erupt between her and her mate, must have been like watching two mountains colliding. Sephora had apologized to both of them afterward, they both seemed to shake it off, saying it was understandable. She was reminded how lucky she was to have such loyal friends in her life.Ambrose seemed to be much happier, now that he was coming with and was making conversation with Sephora and making her laugh all the way there. Sephora wondered if his increasingly cheerful mood was anything to do with the fact that she'd almost been lost to him for

[Ravyn]Sephora and Ambrose had no idea how much it meant to Ravyn to have this particular day to herself. She hadn't been able to have this day to herself in a while, things had become so tense over the years, and Ambrose had needed her skills and information more than ever. But today... today she could take her time to do what she needed to do.It was Ravyn's birthday. Not that she'd ever tell anyone else that, nor did it really matter - Ravyn stopped aging the day she reached maturity at 21. And that had been over a century ago.No, Ravyn didn't care that it was her birthday - Ravyn marked it as the day of her mother's death. The day her mother stopped breathing after holding on long enough to give birth to her. No matter how many times everyone told her that it wasn't her fault, Ravyn knew that it was. Her mother had been perfectly healthy, only Ravyn had been too powerful for her mother to keep them both alive, and her mother's heart gave out before she could even lay eyes on her

SephoraFire flickered and entwined around itself and around Sephora as she stood there before the dias. Everyone was cowering in fear, begging some ancient gods to save them from this flaming death that had come to claim them. But Sephora wasn't looking at them up on that dias, the only person that held her attention was smiling at her with so much love and pride it almost threatened to bring her to tears.Ambrose's pine green eyes glowed from the brilliance of her flames as he gaze down at her, and she gave him a slow wicked smile. Their plan had done it's work.Sephora had spent hours with Ambrose those past few days before the assembly. The minister's words had given Ambrose a brilliant idea of how they would prove she was the Pheonix. The Pheonix was a creature of fire, a magnificent bird that flew over the heads of their foes and reduced them to ashes and simmering embers. Sephora had to become that creature, that force of nature. And so, together in the fighting pit, they had s