Quinlan Elysiar left his women to their war and walked out into the corridor, where the noise of the sickroom followed him through two closed doors.
He had one more woman to see, and she was the only one who had watched the whole thing.
A seam of pale light opened in the corridor at his gesture, and beyond it hung a sky full of stars no navigator on Iskaris had ever charted. He stepped through, and the estate closed behind him.
The soul realm was quiet, as it always was, no wind, the stars low, dense, and motionless overhead.
Pink light pulsed from the tree at the heart of the clearing into roots that curled deep into the dark soil, and up in its branches a small blue shape was swinging its legs.
"He's here!" Mimi called down.
On the throne, the Primordial Demon of Lust had already arranged herself.
