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moments.
    The women were all beautiful, even for Dardaptoan females. Dardaptoans were always beautiful women; it was part of their allure. It helped the Dardaptoan people feed from humans in times of old. Humans would be more trusting of beautiful women. They weren’t an old group of Dardaptoans, from what he could tell. Most seemed very young; at least the females.
    There were too few males for a group even of this size. And it was obvious from the way the warriors surrounded the women and children, most were unmated.
    Yet there were so many children. Why? Most Rajnis died if their mate died; rarely did one survive even long enough to raise any children. So where did all these children come from?
    And why did the babes eat the simple meal of bread and cheese like it was the first true meal they had had in weeks?
    He studied a brunette female and the child next to her for a long moment. Her cheeks were gaunt, weren’t they? She looked half starved. More. Maybe it was the first meal they’d had in weeks?
    That saddened him and filled him with shame.
    He had never gone hungry; not in five hundred thirty two years.
    Had his female?
    Where was she?
    The male he searched for approached him. Marcos studied him for a long moment. He wore brown pardus and vestis, without a hasha to denote his family. Why?
    “You have questions.”
    “Many. Where is she?”
    “Lana remains with your brother. As Dahn of our people she has many responsibilities.”
    Marcos looked at the pitiful children. “And she has obviously failed to meet them.”
    “Do not speak of that which you cannot understand.” The male’s hand rested upon his sword. “ Dahn Amyenka has given everything to her people. Nearly her own life, and there has been many a night these past three years when she has gone to bed hungry to feed some of our children.”
    “Come. Walk with me.” Marcos had to get away from the hungry-eyed children, from the women who stared at him with fear. “Tell me of her.”
    “Why do you wish to know?”
    “Because I know about her brother, and I know the evil in his soul.”
    “Evil that is nowhere in his sister’s heart.”
    “Prove it. Tell me of her. Tell me why she fears me.” He headed to the only place he knew in this realm, the grotto. The big male—he still didn’t know the guy’s name—walked at his side.
    “I do not know why she fears you. She shouldn’t. You owe her great debt.”
    “How so?”
    “Three years ago? I released you on her orders, and then I returned to her.”
    “You her guard dog? Got something going on there?” He would hate to have to kill this man, but the way the jealousy was eating at him, Marcos knew that it just might happen.
    “She is my Dahn. I serve her as I am able.”
    “Tell me, why she looks so ragged and unkempt? When last I saw her, she glowed with good health.” And she would again. As soon as he spoke with the healers and learned what he had to do to care for her. A male Dardaptoan had the right and responsibility for the keeping of his mate.
    Marcos might have been a shitty catch for a Rajni but he for damned sure wasn’t going to let his Rajni down; not if he could help it.
    “When last you saw her was the last night she glowed with good health. She almost died that night. At her brother’s hand.”
    Marcos stopped walking. “How so? Spare no detail.”
    “I will tell you all that she would tell you, and no more. Just know that her brother has put a price upon her head, for her daring to help the women of our tribe. The night you met her, she was trying to distract her brother long enough for these people she now leads to escape him and some of his men. She succeeded, but he nearly beat her to death, flayed the flesh from her body, in the process. She still feels agony at his actions. Ragner Amyenka is a dark sorcerer of strong skill, and he cursed her that night with wounds that will not heal until he is dead. So either that happens soon, or she will succumb soon. I do