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all over the world but especially to Nadia; and he hated Lord Je'Kaoron more for giving him pause for consideration. He spoke of machinations within the Adepts but what of those of demonlords? What game did this one play?
    "Demonlord lies," Kaelen ground between clenched teeth, ready to defend himself and to die if the man took offense. He had seen the demonlord's capabilities against Nadia.
    Lord Je'Kaoron shook his head, his shoulders sinking. "Your mind is closed. That will be your undoing...Nadia has acted with honor to High Lord Je'Dron, to the Je'Gri clan, to Adepts, and to this world, but it was not without a price. That was what happened to her," he said in a quiet voice. "I suggest that if you wish to know more, you speak to her."
    He would, if she would let him.
    "What did you do to her?"
    Lord Je'Kaoron tipped his head, his brows pressed together in a wrinkle of confusion. "I have done no harm. I can assure you."
    Harm, nothing. The demonlords were nothing but a scourge on their world.
    "As I said, your judgment is colored by your perspective. I will not speak for Nadia. That is her place." A shadow fell over the man's features as he took a small step closer, his posture setting off an instinct for Kaelen to defend himself. "Nadia is not yours to control."
    "But she's yours?"
    Je'Kaoron's face hardened in a threatening glare. "She is no one's to control."
    Before Kaelen could argue, the demonlord blurred in the magic and transformed into a white tiger, which bared its sharp teeth in warning and ran off through the garden, putting an end to the confrontation.
    Kaelen watched him disappear back into the corridors, certain that the demonlord was hiding something. Kaelen wasn't leaving until he had that dagger and Nadia away from their influence, especially from that one.

 
    Chapter 4
     
    Nadia tightened the strap of her second bracer bearing the demon head with sharp teeth. Arrow tips formed of green imera stones pierced that fearsome head, the same design as her belt buckle on the black uniform. With those secure, she adjusted the dagger sheath and hesitated at the darkness creeping into her mind. Lord Je'Kaoron's warning returned and she did what she could to push the effects of the dagger's magic aside.
    Nadia slammed her fist against the wall, the turmoil raging inside questioning why the sorcerers ever created such vile weapon. Their search for ways to control or destroy the demonlords would only lead to bloodshed. They had cursed her and the world.
    The weapon did this to her. The twisted cruelty of its power whispered of conspiracies and rumors. She hated it, but she couldn't let anyone else bear it.
    It had to be destroyed.
    How many other devices or talismans had the sects discovered or created?
    The thought shook her to her core, not only in what it could lead to but also that only five months ago she had believed in their leadership and wholeheartedly supported the downfall of the demonlords.
    Had she changed so much?
    Nadia blinked and looked around at the room that had been hers for more than six months. In traveling across Tikeros, she had been summoned by then High Lord Je'Rekun to clean up that region of half-bloods.
    Now, she pitied them, admired them even. Je'Rol had changed her. And Je'Surana had changed her. Together, they had each demonstrated the humanity within. half-bloods could live in peace if given a chance.
    And Lord Je'Kaoron.
    Nadia caught her breath with a hand over her heart as if to hold it in from the surge that passed through upon thinking of him. He had shown that demonlords could care about humans and half-bloods. They weren't all cold killers.
    They had all changed her.
    Letting go of her hatred for Je'Rol and time away from the influence of the dagger had cleared her head. She saw how twisted the sects had become. Someone had to stop them, and she would but only after destroying the dagger. The only way to be sure no one else could use it was to destroy it. Then she could