<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#99ccff">Lucian nodded before standing straight up and taking his previous seat.</span><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4da6ff">“I know, and it really doesn’t help her keep calm. It just helps her focus, which may be exactly what she needs right now.” </span><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#99ccff">Looking over at Alexi, he motioned to the board forgotten between them.</span><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4da6ff"> “It’s your move i believe…”</span><br/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4da6ff"><br/>
</span><br/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ffffff"><i>Postscript</i></span><br/><br/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ffff99">Illian sat at his home, out of breath from having to move so quickly to get away from the angry people.</span><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ffff4d"><i> That damn skank, how did she know?</i></span><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ffff99"> Obviously the cat he had pushed around with his foot, but the cat had seemed to light… Wait. What if it was all an illusion? He never saw Ayla leave the shop, but he didn’t see her inside for long after he left. And he knew from experience that she was good with illusions. </span><i><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ffff4d">The cat had to have been a sensor of some kind that I tripped.</span></i><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ffff99"> Then he thought about the spell that had trapped him, and figured out why it had seemed so familiar. </span><i><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ffff4d">Of course. It is a version of the spell the bloodsucker uses to hold people still. Which means that it had to be her.</span></i><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ffff99"> He was stunned. She had found him stalking her, tricked him, and made it so that he couldn’t pursue her. </span><i><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ffff4d">That little minx would be a perfect assassin. I must find some way to recruit her.</span></i>