It had been decades since Nyrielle's last visit to Tausau's ramshackle fortress but the underground levels had changed very little since the last time she visited. The tapestries hanging on the walls had changed and the number of oil lamps had increased but Nyrielle noticed none of these things in her haste to reach the underground chamber that had been prepared to receive her and Zedya.
"Mistress," the unremarkable-looking vampire said as she dropped into a curtsey when Nyrielle swept into the room. "You didn't spend much time with our host… did it fail?"
"The sorcery didn't fail," Nyrielle said bluntly. Her midnight eyes swept the room, ignoring the opulent suede-covered chairs and elaborately carved furnishings until she spotted the lacquered screens that gave an additional element of privacy to the place where her coffin-like daybed had been placed.
