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a
line of them hurried by the Singer and Luthan and the large Friend, through the
door to the chapter house. The Singer ignored them. Luthan couldn’t, he sent
what Power he could to soothe their fears. They didn’t acknowledge him.
    He’d
made the right decision. He would no longer represent the Singer.
    “Look
at her,” the Singer said, pointing at the woman in his arms. “The shadows
beneath her eyes, the gray tone to her skin, she is exhausted.”
    Luthan? Bri called.
She, Sevair and the roc were just outside the octagonal tower door that led to
the caverns. He was connected to her through his bond with his brother, who was
pairbonded with Alexa. All the Exotiques except Raine were strongly linked to
Lladrana men—and to each other.
    “Summoning
is hard on a person, she’ll recover, better she be with her own kind,” he said.
    The
Singer’s smile was knife-edged. “ My Song has reverberated in her life.
She was fated for me, will probably be my successor. That means she has
prophetic Power, untapped and untrained. Can’t you sense it?”
    Focusing
now on the inner woman and her Power—her great Power—instead of her outer
beauty, Luthan studied her. He’d never heard such a complex Song, and as the
Singer had pointed out, there was a well of Power within her that appeared to
be trapped behind a door just cracked open—recently. She’d seen visions in the
caverns, he realized. His gut tightened.
    “You
can take her from me—” the Singer’s voice held a mocking note “—but her Power
for prophecy has already been unlocked. Will you take the task of training her?
Do you forget, then, how it was when you had your own first visions?”
    He
suppressed a shudder. He would never forget the visions that had come to him as
he’d gone from boy to man. Terrible to experience that alone, to fear for your
sanity.
    Luthan,
I know you’re nearby! Bri kicked the outside door.
    “So,
what will you do, Luthan Vauxveau?” the Singer asked.
    His
lips firmed as he considered. If he broke ties with the Singer now, he’d be
leaving an Exotique solely in her Power, with no connection to the others from
Exotique Terre.
    Or
he could let the Singer think he was yet her dupe, come and go freely in the
Abbey. So he bowed his head. “Very well.”
    “You’ll
explain to the others?” She smiled again.
    He
wanted to refuse. “I’ll do my best.” But his loyalty had changed, from the
Singer to the…Not the Marshalls, even though Exotique Alexa and his own brother
Bastien led them. Not the Chevaliers, he’d outgrown them and their specific concerns.
    He’d
serve Lladrana itself, the planet Amee, and the Exotiques. They were the
spearhead against the Dark.
    He
would double-check all the Singer’s statements. Reluctantly, he transferred the
lovely new Exotique to the burly Friend. Chasonette settled on the man’s head
and he winced.
    Bri, Luthan said
mentally, keeping his tone calm and un-hurried. The Singer has convinced me
that the new Exotique should remain here.
    But—
    There
are good reasons. The last Friend sidled through the chapter house door. The Singer went to her
own door and flung it open for the man holding the Exotique. There was a tinier
room that Luthan understood was a box that moved between floors. The Singer
stepped in, watching him.
    “She
will be taken to a luxurious suite that has been prepared specifically for
her,” the Singer said, her smile turning satisfied.
    Luthan
didn’t like any of her previous smiles, nor the smug one she sent him now. She
lifted a hand. “You have been an excellent representative. Take care of the
problem of the other Exotiques. We will talk later.”
    Anger
welled again. She’d held great Power—the Power of the Oracle of Lladrana—for
too long. And her secrecy had helped separate the factions over the past
decades.
    He
had much to discuss with the Exotiques and they didn’t totally trust him
because he’d been the Singer’s man. He’d have to talk