At this moment, I wish for nothing more than to faint.

Unconsciousness would be absolutely splendid. Then, I wouldn't see Momo attack Thane with a stinky sock. Or Mishu and Mushu throw rocks at him... and miss.

I also wouldn't see Alnue scrambling up Thane's leg and biting his wrist, then trying to fill his vial, that I thought was filled with sacred water, with Thane's blood.

"No, you little shit! No more bloodletting!" Thane shakes his wrist furiously, dislodging my gargoyle. Harku winds his way around my legs, staring at the scene with his ears laid flat on his head. I can feel the little beastie trembling. I thought he was so upset at leaving his temple, or with Momo's sock, but now I'm wondering if my gargoyles knew about this, about him.

Alnue flies off and lands close by, black eyes glaring at the undead, returned First House Lord.

"All of the blood I've been drinking in the wine... It all came from him?" I hear myself ask Alnue.

He halts his scampering charge towards Thane and tosses me a guilty look.

"I've been drinking his blood," I confirm. There's a strange buzzing noise in my head. Are there mourners here?

"Is it for you, Princess?" Thane smiles at me. "I thought it was just another torture, albiet an odd one," he says thoughtfully. He blocks Momo's hands absently, deftly avoiding sharp teeth and ignoring his hissing curses.

I've lost my mind. That's it. Thane isn't really here. Momo isn't trying to suffocate him with a sock. Alnue isn't eyeing his wrist with stubborn calculation.

Desert flies are blown into my eyes, little black spots that I try to wave away with a suddenly limp hand.

"Princess?" Thane steps toward me, concern in his eyes. I try to suck in a breath. The last time I saw his eyes they were panicked, full of anger and desperation as he tore my heart out with his cruel rejection. How can he look at me so softly now?

"Mara, breathe!"

Oh, now I faint.

---

I catch my Lady in my arms just before she hits the ground.

I have to pause for a moment. I knew I would see her again, of course, that is my purpose here. But... to hold her, to see her, to hear her speak...

My entire world centers on her, the balance that my demon and I have sought for so long is back. Whatever happened in the past, this is my Princess and I am her Captain and it is so right.

I pick her up. She is slight... too thin. I look to my right, where the ugly little stone goblin is creeping closer, his beady black eyes fixed on the pulse in my wrist.

"She needs to drink blood?" I ask it.

He nods, hissing something that sounds remarkably similar to "yuuurssss."

I look up at the Postites of Death standing around me. "She needs water and to be taken to the shade" I order.

Two of them step forward, eyes wide on me. I am pleased with their gentleness as they pick her up. It's hard to let her go, but her pulse is fluttering too rapidly and I need to deal with the goblins. I will fulfill my duties to her, first.

Orange eyes glare at me just as a filthy sock hits my shoulder.

"Stop it," I warn the little sock-wielding goblin. I don't know where he got the sock from, but it smells as if something is fermenting inside of it. The other brown goblin, the one who is hiding in my Lady's skirt like a scared mouse, is staring at the sock with pure disgust on his ugly little face.

Sock-wielder hisses and makes a very rude gesture. I shrug it off. I have bigger concerns. My Lady is ill. Her cheekbones could cut stone they are so sharp. Her elbows are sticking out of her skin that is stretched too tightly over her bony frame. She's starving.

"Hurry up, goblin," I tell the one with the vial. I take off my glove from my right hand and hold out my wrist.

Letting out what I can only describe as a cheer of joy, he reaches out and slices through my vien with his talon.

He's good, I have to admit, catching all of the liquid in the vial without spilling a drop. He takes a vial from the mouse goblin and fills that one, too.

I stand, wrapping my wrist with a cloth to stem the bleeding. I feel only slightly woozy, so I don't rest. I have to free my warriors. The Basru needs to defend their Lady. It's clear that there is something terribly wrong with what is happening with her. She should never be so malnourished.

Where is he? My... brother?

Why is he not defending her? Making sure she eats properly? Drinks properly? 'The shield is broken...' is he lying somewhere, wounded? Did he leave? Did she leave him?

I walk over to the shade cast by my grandfather's tomb. All of the males who are with my Lady stare at me with pure hostility as I kneel next to her and watch her face for signs of wakefulness.

She stirs, blinking. The most beautiful smile crosses her face. "Thelios," she murmurs.

It is only my training that keeps me from showing the pain on my face. The most intense training in the Underworld taught me that not everything is as it seems.

She may hate me but I will still protect her.

"You need to drink, Princess," I tell her.

The smile slides away. A tear falls, making a track through the desert dust clinging to her cheek. "Thane. You're real." There's no emotion behind her words. Her eyes are foggy.

"Come on, Princess. Sit up so you can drink." I help her sit. Her body is lax against mine. Nervousness thrums through me. I have been in the above for only a moment and she is dying in my arms.

"Feed it to her," I tell the bloodletting goblin standing next to me. "All of it. As much as she needs."

He eyes me with pure disdain, but listens, thankfully. Tipping it carefully into her mouth, I watch her swallow reflexively.

"She should eat something, as well," a frail male voice interjects.

I look at him. He wears the familiar darker grey robes of the Patriarch. This must be Rimon's earthly replacement. He is the only one of the males who is brave enough to venture close to me. He holds out the small bit of crackers and I take them.

"Who are you?" he asks me as I help the bloodletter feed my Lady.

"I am the Captain of the Basru, Patriarch," I say proudly.

He pales, staring at me. "The Basru?" he whispers. He pronounces the name in the old way, from the language of the covens, before the first brick was laid in the city. The syllables roll off his tongue like the hissing of snakes.

"You are Thane of the-"

"Do not," I interrupt harshly. Even the bloodletter jumps a little. I catch a spilled drop of blood and place it on my Lady's lips. "I am the Basru Captain, Patriarch. I am no longer of that House. I belong to Nateos and to his daughter. I am sworn to the Death god to protect and cherish his living child."

"Why you?" the soft whisper draws my eyes back to my Lady. I smile to see that she is awake and lucid. "Why did my father chose you?"

"Because, I am the best."

She turns her head and starts to weep softly.

I gather her close when the Patriarch backs away helplessly. "Her tears..." he says sadly.

I run my gloved thumb along her cheek. Her tears slide off of the gloves, making the fibers in the leather thin and weak almost immediately.

"You are a powerful little thing, my Lady," I murmur, cradling her and letting her cry against my chest. I wipe her tears every so often with a discarded piece of her robes, the fabric soon saturated and dissolving.

"I don't want you..." she gasps out.

"I know," I tell her. She doesn't want me to hold her, but I can't let her lie in the sand as she sobs out her heartbreak.

"Let me go," she demands, smacking my chest weakly. "Let me go, Thane."

"I will when you compose yourself," I tell her quietly. My demon snarls at my words. If he had his way he would never let her go. Letting her go before drove him mad. I pushed him away. I damaged him as much as I hurt this precious female.

That motivates her to pull herself together. She sits up, gasping and shuddering as she forces her tears to stop.

"There, Princess. Now, sit and wait here. Bloodletter has some more for you to drink. Don't get up until you feel strong enough." I fight the urge to kiss her wet cheeks, to pull her closer so that the embrace changes from comfort to one of lovers.

A good idea, judging by the fire in her eyes as she glares at me.

I stand and stretch. "Patriarch, how did you open the tomb?"

"With water from the sacred pool," he grunts.

"Do you have more?"

He casts a reluctant glance at Mara, then at the cloth in my hands.

I grin, taking the rapidly-swindling cloth to the first tomb. I run the cloth along the seal of the door in the few places the mortar is holding.

"Captain?" the faint voice of Carnak calls out from behind the door.

"Kick it down!" I bellow back to him, as I retreat from the slab.

Three kicks is all it takes for the door to crumble outward in a shower of sand and broken stone.

I laugh exuberantly. "Impressive!"

Carnak steps out, slapping me on the back enthusiastically. "Thought I'd be sitting there like an ass for the rest of my days."

"Now you can be an ass out here for the rest of your days!" I tell him, dodging his blow.

I turn to the next tomb, "was this Grey or Rolle? I can't fucking remember."

"That was Ililie's choice. Grey went into the cliff with the carving of the wolf, didn't he?"

"That's right. But I'm certain this is Rolle."

We approach the tomb, still arguing. At the entrance I turn to Carnak. "Bet you this is Rolle."

He smirks arrogantly. "For the next week you sharpen my blades."

"Done."

"Rolle?" I shout out.

"Captain?" he calls back, the words faint.

I toss a smug grin at Carnak. "Told you it was Rolle."

"We'll see," he taps his nose.

The door slides to the side when we push it. Ililie steps out.

"Shit, I forgot your sense of smell is so keen," I sigh.

We open the next two and Grey and Rolle step out to join us.

The next tomb is a little harder. Holsten is locked in there. We shout out for him to push the slab open, but hear nothing in response. The silence from within makes me nervous. Was there a Forgotten hidden in there?

Finally we manage to open the door. Holsten emerges, eating.

"What the fuck are you doing?"

He pauses, halfway into biting the lizard leg in his mouth."We're above. I can eat now."

"I'm going to beat you bloody," I tell him mildly.

His eyes widen and he beats a hasty retreat behind his brethren.

I toss him a warning look, but I'm too eager to open the last two tombs. Nasir's is easily opened, the male looking bored as he steps out into the desert.

"We're really back, huh?" he says quietly.

I just nod and head over to the last tomb. It opens slowly.

"Welcome! ...to the above," a deep voice greets me.

"You're an ass, Lier."

He emerges from the dim interior of the tomb, laughing. Until he sees the bandage on my wrist. "You have already been fighting, Captain?" he pouts.

"No, just the bloodletter. Remember the little goblin who kept stealing my blood?" Lier nods. "He was giving it to our Lady to drink." I can't help the feeling of pride and happiness welling up. I helped my precious Princess even when I was chained in the pits.

"Captain Lier," her soft voice sounds astonished and happy.

He turns to her, a white smile slashing against his dark skin.

I punch him hard enough to knock him out cold.

"Damn Captain," Holsten has resumed eating his lizard.

I wince. She is going to hate me even more, now.

---

I watch Thane fell the dark warrior with just one well-placed blow. I can't help the gasp. It was so fast, just a blur of movement and then Captain Lier was on the ground.

My father and I are going to have a very long discussion about this. Very long. Very, very, very long.

My heart is pounding away in my throat. My hands are shaking and I feel cold. This is a nightmare come to life... literally. Thane has returned from the dead with his companions from eight months ago. And... and Captain Lier is with them? I don't know what to do. I'm lost.

"You should not be here," I whisper, feeling the chill crawl down my spine, making me shudder. "You... I can't... I just can't."

Thane clears his throat. He is facing away from me and my eyes flit back and forth between the former Recondite Captain lying on the ground and the red creeping up the back of Thane's neck.

"Please just leave me alone," I whimper, closing my eyes as my tears come back.

"Bloodletter!" Thane shouts out. My eyes pop back open as he moves past me quickly and silently. "Did she drink it all?"

Alnue looks completely offended. I suppose I would also be upset at being named 'bloodletter.'

"I did," I protest weakly. Then I realize what he just said, "and you had no right to assume that I would drink-"

"Where's Socks? I'd rather not smell that nasty thing again," Thane interrupts me rudely.

"Socks?" I ask in disbelief.

"The little orange-eyed grey goblin, Socks."

"His name is Momo. And that is Alnue. And you are-"

"That's Rocks," Thane disrupts me, again. He points at Mishu. "Rocks and Socks."

"His name," I say through gritted teeth as anger washes away everything else, "is Mishu. Mushu is his brother. Harku is hiding behind Patriarch and you are an-"

"There are two Rocks?" he asks. "Well, damn, Princess." He looks over at Harku. "I'll call him Mouse."

"You are an ass!" I shout out furiously.

Male laughter greets me ears and I blush. I forgot we had an audience.

Thane is in front of me, his wide frame blocking the harsh desert sunlight. Grey eyes look over my face carefully. "Feel better, Princess?"

Damn him, but I do feel better.

---

The Euphrates River looks bleak today. Sluggish and cold. But, the sky is clear, the sun rising with a burst of red light.

A smile flirts on my lips.

It's a good day for a battle.

"Thane," the voice purrs my name and I stiffen, the smile falling away. Like a snake out of the grass she comes up to me and places her hand on my shoulder.

"Love," I greet the goddess in a formal tone.

She pouts at little. "How do you always know that it's me, Thelios?" Then she brightens, "you know your true lover, no matter what form I take!" she laughs.

I don't tell her the truth. My heart feels like solid ice when she is near. She may be in the form of Thane's wife, but she is not Anthea. Not even that bitch leaves me so frozen in my soul.

She wraps both of her arms around my bicep and rests her head on my arm. "Are you going to fight today, Thelios?"

"Yes," is all I say.

"I look forward to watching you, my lover." She smiles proudly up at me.

I nod, feeling the familiar sensation of cold sweat trickling down my back. I don't want to have to fuck her. Not now. This day was going to be perfect.

"After you win and drive the filth from this city then we can truly be together, Thelios."

"How?" I croak out. The icy claws of Love are sinking into me deep.

"Nateos will protect his daughter at all costs. He beguiled your brother, Thane, to fall in love with his daughter and forsake his true wife." Love hisses, "Nateos has never respected my bonds. He wishes for all souls to have a choice... to determine their own fate."

I frown, confused, "so Nateos spelled Thane to fall in love with his daughter?"

"Yes, and something has happened, Thelios. Something dreadful. He allowed your brother to escape the Underworld. He's there, in the Death district, right now."

"I will be fighting my own twin?" I ask. I look around the palace of the First House. Something aches, fiercely, in my chest. I have always wanted this. A home, a family, a wife. Instead all I ever received was blood and gore and that deep, unending cold.

I will happily kill my brother, I think. Let him know what the Underworld is like.

"Yes, and if you destroy them, then we will rule this city. Natoes will stay in the Underworld where he belongs with his whore of a daughter and your brother. You can stay here, in the above, and have everything you ever wanted."