When the executioner returned, he busted through the outside door with a frantic edge to his voice, repeatedly calling for the Necromancer. Warrick quickly left my side and in the silence I wondered if the supposed kiss was a figment of my over-tired imagination and both my lips were liars. I fancied I could taste the man upon them. I will have to kiss him.. again.. to ever really be sure.

They were noisy in the front room with their exclamations and the hollow thunk of a heavy load being dumped unceremoniously on the floor. I was dead on my feet, yet I crept down the hall to investigate. I found the two men standing over a dead body, looking nonplussed as to what to do about it too. Yet before I could ask what happened, Warrick noticed me and began to herd me back to my cot in a back room of the house.

I begged him to let me stay close, claiming the executioner's house is scary and vile .. and I did not want to be alone. This was no lie for Priam's residence is all those things and I was indeed incredibly apprehensive. But I must confess, I am drawn to Warrick and I was much more content when curled into a rocking chair in the corner while the two men prepared to use the talking board.

I did not mind watching the action like a wall flower and was fully prepared to do so but it was not meant to last. For the Necromancer soon spun his spell and convinced me to not only join in but to call for Taltos again. If the planchette would've ever stayed on the board, I think the conversation with Asmodeus' ancient enemy would have gone smoother. As it was, I did most the talking.. nay, begging for a pact to be drawn between us in our mutual endeavors against the Briar King.

I never did get a clear and concise answer but as the ceremony ended, Warrick took me hard by the shoulders and covered his mouth with mine. Not to kiss necessarily but to exhale his lungs into my mouth which I swallowed like a little chick eats from her mother's beak.

The attraction we share walks on egg shells, no more.

[0 petals fell]