She grunted. “Do I?” she asked rhetorically.


    “How do I exin their disappearance to their female breeders, then? I have merely lost their sons in a


    ce that nothing can escape from. An excellent job, indeed,” she growled Looking away from me.


    I stood silent and watched the y of emotions across her terrifying face. The men were in my mind.


    Christof’s quiet voice told me the predominant emotion that yed across Nu-reeh’s face was worry.


    “They can’t have gone far-” I started to say and stopped as her eyes zed into mine.


    She bent forward until her face was in mine. The hint of glitter on her fangs told me the venom was


    close to seeping out. Inadvertently, I had enraged her.


    “Do you imply I cannot find them in my ownnd?” she asked.


    “They are not there!” she roared. “They are not in the barren stretch. They are not in the mountains.


    Are they lost and lying broken in the field we built to contain them? No one knows. I allow too much


    freedom and they have wandered too far. I will not fail again!”


    I shook like a leaf standing before her. Nu-reeh was more powerful than anything I’d evere across.


    My eyes were Locked on her form and my mouth was dry. This was how I always thought a ve on


    this would die.


    Damien’s voice broke the silence and Nu-reeh turned to him.


    “Mistress, how may we serve you?” he asked humbly striding toward us with purpose,


    N?velDrama.Org owns ? this.


    The rest of the family followed taking on the shape of a regimented unit.


    “You may go back to the sorting room and take care of my ore,” she stated drolly.


    The men didn’t slow down until they had pushed me behind Bane and stood staring at Nu-reeh.


    “ves are difficult to speak to, Mistress. We did not wish to subject you to one such as this,” Damien


    said politely.


    “We will return to our duty immediately, but first: How can the female ve serve you?”


    A N G E L A ‘s L I B R A R Y


    Nu-reeh’s face was stoic for a moment appraising the grouping of men in front of her. They hadyered


    themselves, so I rested behind all of them. She took it all in, obviously understanding the defensive


    posture.


    Nu-reeh ran a casual w across Damien’s cheek. It was a contained threat and one she wielded well.


    We all knew what she could do with her ws.


    “This is all I needed,” she murmured, “to win your devotion?” The question hung in the air and we


    couldn’t decide what the appropriate answer was. Nu-reeh shook herself from her reverie and


    answered Damien’s question instead.


    “The ve will read from a list of topics I provide,” she said bing more businesslike.


    “My Sisters and I will test the ve’s knowledge of the subjects. If we find itcking, your family will


    suffer.”


    “Yes, Mistress.”


    “The topics are listed on the pad. The ve only needs to enter the word ‘list’. It will know what she


    needs. Study them well,” she ordered.