â€œAmora!â€ Veronica chimed cheerfully, trying to keep the sheer venom she felt for the girl out of her voice, personally she wanted to dump a whole bucket of scalding water over her, see how pretty she was with third degree burns! â€œLike the French word for love! Isnâ€™t that beautiful!â€ she folded her arms across the lean swell of her chest, all of her outfit was made to show them off, but even that couldnâ€™t help her much.<br/><br/>â€œWell Amora,â€ she said softly, sweetly, â€œthereâ€™s no need to be nervous! Iâ€™m<span style="font-style: italic">sure</span>he wont do to you what he did to<span style="font-style: italic">the other</span>pets!â€ she cooed and before the girl could reply she glanced about the gorgeously furnished room, eyes settling on an albino crow with oddly shiny eyes perched on the window ledge, â€œOh look,â€ she pointed at the bird lazily, â€œWeâ€™re being watched! You know he takes out their eyes and replaces them with glass orbs so he can watch things through them!â€ she said cheerily, hoping to conjure images of the gory surgery involved in the new pets mind, â€œClever magic! You know,â€ she paused, pouting, head cocked, hand cupping her own chin thoughtfully, â€œI do believe he tried that spell on one of his old petsâ€¦ I say â€˜triedâ€™,â€ she giggled like it was a fond memory of a cake baking going wrong or something equally innocent, â€œit didnâ€™t really work! Took us AGES to clean the blood from the floors! Do you know how HARD it is to get blood stains out of stone!â€ she threw her hands up with an amused smile, â€œI suppose you will soon enough! If it were up to me Iâ€™d give you the easy jobs so that you can settle in, but you know the master! He gets these crazy ideas! Thinks throwing you in at the deep end is the best way! Well what do I know, huh! I'd untie you too, but he likes the pleasure of that himself!â€<br/><br/><br/>MEANWHILE IN THE CITYâ€¦.<br/><br/>Naeth watched his old friends apprentice cast. It was impressive, there was no denying that. The young boy murmured a few words of<span style="font-style: italic">Macyl</span>, the ancient language of magic, under his breath and summoned fire with a snap of his fingers. It ignited around the tips of his digits like matches and danced all the way up his wrists in wild, savage motions.<br/><br/>Naeth sat silently, glass of wine in hand, enjoying the last of the days sun breath itâ€™s final sweltering breaths, listening to the birds call and the crackle of fire. The air sweltered with that rich, metallic stench of raw magic and bonfires. All in all it should have been quite the pleasurable experience, but he couldnâ€™t hide the scowl of distaste that had crept across his features.<br/>Pyromancy, the art of controlling fire, IF you could call it an art, was such a destructive and volatile parlour trick. It went against every subtlety he valued in magic. To add insult to injury it was slowly dawning on him that his dear friend had summoned him simply to show offâ€¦ perhaps he had already heard about the demons new prodigy girl.<br/><br/>His mind wandered back to her, the slim, pleasing shape of her body, the large frightened, yet determined eyes, the softness of her hair, that no doubt his maids could improve uponâ€¦ he could already taste her on his lips, imagine the squirm of her lithe, virgin form against the body of a more experienced loverâ€¦ himselfâ€¦<br/><br/>â€œWell?!â€<br/><br/>His friends voice brought him crashing back down to earth, breaking away all the smokily formed fantasies, he sighed and took another sip of his wine, â€œYouâ€™ve trained the boy well,â€ he admitted with an unimpressed nod.<br/><br/>â€œIsnâ€™t he wonderful!â€ the demoness giggled, watching her apprentice dance with fire and then snapping a harsh curse at him when the boy flinched for burning himself.<br/><br/>It made Naeth grin, curling his fingers around a stray tail of dark hair, â€œAll this in whatâ€¦?â€<br/><br/>â€œThree years,â€ she replied slightly less enthusiastically, glaring at the young man for showing her up, â€œHe still has a long way to goâ€¦ so what about YOUR new human? Iâ€™m told you were seen in the market, buying! The market!â€ she repeated with a disbelieving laugh, â€œWhat in the heavens would send you THERE for a human! Arenâ€™t they all sick?!â€<br/><br/>â€œNot all,â€ Naeth replied coolly, swilling his drink in its glass.<br/><br/>â€œSo when will she be ready to compete? I donâ€™t suppose weâ€™ll be seeing her in the ring for a long time ye--â€<br/><br/>â€œThree months.â€ Naeth interrupted her bluntly, staring off into the sunset beyond the garden walls. The she-demon stared back at him gob smacked.<br/><br/>â€œI can do whatâ€™s taken you three years in three months,â€ he elaborated matter-of-factly, looking highly amused with himself and his ambition, his eyes flit back to her for a second, just long enough to catch the sceptical scowl.