"So you intend to treat my darling Ashlynn like another mine full of unique treasures."
Nyrielle's words exploded among the onlookers like a crack from Heila's whip, shocking them to silence and bringing even the nearby servants to a halt. Could Beilan truly have been that audacious? Some shook their heads while others turned away, afraid to see the moment of a friend or business partner's gruesome death at the hands of one of the most powerful vampires to walk the earth.
"Never!" Beilan said with more heat than he'd intended. "The wonders that her Dominion can create are not just treasures, they're living manifestations of her love for her home and her desire to protect it," he said. His hands clenched into fists at his sides and a thin rivulet of blood trickled from one fist where his nail had pierced the soft scales of his palm.
