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what I can find for you and have it when you rise. Will you require anything else?”
    “ No. I guess that’s it.” He started for the lower levels and turned instead to the stairs leading to where she was resting. He would check on her again before going down, he told himself. When he entered the room, several of the faeries flew to the ceiling, and he wanted to tell them to get out. But all he did was sit in the chair and look at Clar. One of the braver little ones landed on his knee.
    “ We’re afraid of you, sire.” Stephen nodded. He was a vampire, after all, and faerie blood was like a drug to him. They were right to be afraid. “It is said that you have been cured of the need of us. Is that true?”
    “ Yes. Ana, the one that works with Kaleb, took that away for me. She said so long as I was in one of the households of the other members of Samuel’s pride, I’d not have a need to drink from you. Before we arrived, I had Kaleb come and put the same spell on this house temporarily. When the woman here leaves, my house will return to a faerie-free home.” The little man nodded, then stepped up to the bed. “You guys, you know her then?”
    “ Most of us do. Her mother we know a good deal better. There was a garden that she cared for not far from here. It has not been the same since the mother has gone from there, but we do the best we can. The man who lives in the house alone, he would destroy it if he could, but he cannot because of the fact that she put it in the will that way. She told us that it would be that way forever.”
    Stephen knew that forever to a human was not the same as it would be to an immortal such as he was, and he thought the faerie was. When Stephen touched Clar’s hand, he could feel the chill of it and covered it with the heated blanket that he’d had put on the bed for her.
    “ You know her name then?” The little faerie didn’t answer, and Stephen looked at him. “I don’t think I know yours either, as a matter of fact.”
    “ I’m Daldon. My daughter, Ana, works for Sir Kaleb. My missus, she is the one who will watch over this young girl when she is better.” He looked up at him and frowned. “You do not wish to keep her as your mate even though she is yours? Surely that cannot be true.”
    “ It is and no, I don’t. I don’t want a mate, nor do I know what to do with one. When she’s better, I’ll make sure she has all she needs to be safe, but I won’t keep her here.” Stephen didn’t like the way Daldon looked at him and changed the subject. “There is a man in the kitchen of this house; his name is Kasen. He works for me and he knows that if you or she needs anything, you’re to tell him and he’ll make sure you have it. I’ll be resting during the day. And then I have to go to the council and explain something to them.”
    “ The one that my lady killed.” Stephen nodded. “He would have ended your life that day had she not taken the time to help you. It is so like her to do something like that. The other day when those men tried to take her body, she told everyone to leave so that we’d not get hurt. But they did not listen to her.”
    “ Someone tried to rape her?” Daldon nodded and sat down on Clar’s belly. The wound was there, but he was so small that Stephen knew that she wasn’t feeling it, but it bothered him nonetheless.
    “ They did. I think they hit her a great deal. I was not there, mind you, but heard about it. Several of the pixies were with her when it happened.” Daldon got up to move closer to her face and stared down at her as he continued. “There is none sweeter than this one, but no one is meaner when she needs to be.”
    Stephen had a feeling he was right. He’d not seen either side of her as yet, but he’d bet everything he owned that she’d be a bitch when needed. Getting up, he moved to the door; his body was shutting down. Looking back at the little man, he tried to tell him what he felt.
    “ She’s my mate. You