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me recently. Well, that you were here. That’s all I really know.”
    “And why are you really here?”
    “To make you more comfortable.” She patted the bed. “Come now, as I understand it, it’s been centuries, has it not? Let me rub the muscles in that new body of yours.”
    Blood racing, Sidebor’s body was responding to the wiles and smells of the exotic underling woman, and though he had sealed his lips tight, his mind battled with his body not to pounce on top of her.
    I’m no fool. Needy, yes. Foolish, no. “Elypsa, tell me more about yourself.”
    With a sigh, she flopped back on the bed. “Oh, all right. I’m here to keep an eye on you. Show you around a little. Keep you in line. And if you pose any danger, I’ll just have to kill you.”
    “You, kill me?”
    Checking her nails, she said, “You wouldn’t be the first underling male to fall under my spell. I wouldn’t take me lightly, Master Sidebor. Do you really think Sinway would have you watched by a weak emissary?”
    “I suppose not, you cunning little wench.” He pushed her legs back and sat down. “Scoot over.”
    “You are cranky.”
    “I’m well over a millennia, and I’ve had more concubines than you have hairs on your head.” He grabbed her ankle and gently squeezed it. “But I must say, I do find you intriguing. It’s extremely rare that a female is used in this kind of circumstance. Please tell me, what is so special about you?”
    “Well, it’s no secret. My brothers were a pair of Master Sinway’s favorites. When they failed to return from their demise, the family was indebted to Sinway.” Her pale purple lips made a long frown. “I’ve been serving him ever since, and he likes me because I’m the best of all of them.”
    “I see. And these brothers of yours, what were their names?”
    “Catten and Verbard.”
    Sidebor’s eyes brightened. “I know those names. Let me see, gold eyes and silver eyes. Very rare. Almost as rare are your violet eyes.”
    “Oh, these are hardly rare,” Elypsa said. She sat up and stared into his eye. “But the red in yours is quite a sight. Ruby but with a great fire within.” She let out a seductive chuckle, reached over, and rubbed his arm. “You know, Sidebor, I like a damaged man.”
    “ Do you now?” He clasped both of her hands. Her palms were cold as ice. He liked it. “So Elypsa, are you to stay inside this room with me for the duration, or can we go somewhere we can breathe?”
    “What’s the matter?” she said with a purr. “Are things getting too cozy for you?”
    His good eye grazed over her body. Her graceful figure, willing and seductive, was more than ample. The whisper in her voice alone almost curled his toes. He touched the soft folds of her hair and gazed deep into her magnetic eyes. “I need to get out. Stretch my legs.”
    Nuzzling his hand, she kissed him on the palm. “As you wish.” She eased up off the bed and smoothed her gown down over her heart-shaped backside right in front of his eyes. “Are you sure you want to leave right away?”
    “I might be old, but I’m far from foolish.” He stood up. “Out is what I wish.”
    “So be it then.” She started for the door and began to pull it open.
    Sidebor tensed up.
    The female underling’s power came from many crafts. Seduction was one of them. Underling men, cunning and intelligent as they might be, were just as subject to a woman’s wiles as the men were in the world above. Sure, the underling women, petite and harmless as they might seem, were anything short of that. They were master manipulators, just very, very quiet about it.
    The door swung open, and Elypsa stepped through.
    Following her, Sidebor found himself face to face with two, not one, Vicious. The cunning brutes had a dark and heavy look in their catlike eyes. They looked as though they could kill a man with a glance. “Are we going to be leaving the castle?”
    “We can go anywhere in the Underland,” she said.
    There was